Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-03-25
WEAK Insurgents
ORGANIZING The House OF REP.
RFSENTATIVES.
Speaker Cannon Had no Difficulty in
Whipping the insurgents into Line.
Twenty-Five Republican Votes
Would Have EmanCipafed the

WASHINGTON, d. c., Mar. "a
When the House of Representatives
of the Sixty-first congress was organ
lied only nine members were absent
three Republicans and six Demo-
Gratis. But on the vote for Speaker
Mr.. Cannon fell fifteen short of the
full vote of his party, while Mr..
Clark, the Democratic candidate, fell
only six snort of the full strength
of his side of the house. There were
a dozen scattering votes on the Re-
publican side.
Mr.. Cannon may contemplate the
results of the fight against him with
equanimity. The so-called insur-
gents refused to accept the vote in
caucus as conclusive or binding and
there was much talk of their support
ing the Democratic candidate. AS
the Republican majority is Al, 25
Republicans would have accomplish
ed this, but there is no evidence that
any of them committed what in
politics Is regarded as objectionable
treachery. A dozen of them threw
away their votes, and that is all that
came out of the valiant attack of
the insurgents upon the "czar."
situation was different because Re-
publicans could vote against the
rules of the last house without COM
promising their party standing. A
union of the Democrats and the re-
calcitrant Republicans would have
made very large majority. On the
contrary the vote for ordering the
previous question on adopting the
rules and the vote by which the old
rules were not adopted were extreme
ly close. The adoption of certain
notifications of the rules proposed
by Mr.. Fitzgerald, of New York, a
Democrat, was effected by a vote of
211 to 172, party lines being very
much broken. The changes agreed
to slightly reduce the prerogative OF
the speaker and the committee on
rules, and give members who have NO
"pull' with the speaker a little bet
ter chance than they have now; but
the changes are not radical and dc
not concern the appointment Of COM
mitteeS. The power Of the speaker
lies chiefly in the appointment OF
committees and the recognition OF
members who seek the floor. The
former function is not changed, and
the latter can not be subjected tc
rules. If only one man sought the
floor at a time, Of course the prob.
lem would be simple. If two or a
dozen do, there is no way of re.
gulating the speakers power Of IRE.
cognizing" one of them.
Eighteen years ago Thomas Brack.
EFT Reed found himself speaker OF q
house with d NopuDii.an majority oi
only seven or eight. He promptly
swallowed everything he had said in
an article in The North American
Review little more than a year be-
fore, and demanded set of rules
increasing the power of the speaker
so that majority of half a dozen
should be as effective as majority
OF a hundred. For two months the
Republican members refused to grant
him this power, and the house got
along under general parliamentary
law" and the rules Of the old house
adopted for particular occasions. Ant
the leader Of the Republicans in op
position to the demand for power
made by Speaker Reed was JOSEPH
u. Caunou, now speaker and thu
stalwalt champion Of the most die
tatorial power for the chair.
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