The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-06-02

I.
have thought and said as much as
- one on occasion-ne has stood
far the rights and dignity of the leg
;lIative branch of the government
against executive encroachments
1Teiness in the house of representa-
-jras often has been conducted with
high hand, but the constitution
hos not been trampled under foot
TO- eiv vearS-Mr. CannOn's term of
-orvice as Speaker to March 4th last
relations between the mace and
tho big stick were an armed truce
Of hest. Suppose legislation had
%oan enacted on orders from the
mite house. If you will reflect upon
Y tho large number of recommends
lions and messages received you will
y he willing to give some credit at
least to Uncle Joe"
have many things in common
with those who would reduce the
sneakers power to that of a mere
nresidfng officer, but / cannot endorse
+boir entire programme. Make the
sneaker a figurehead, subject to the
dictates of a steering committee, and
doubt if there would be months
enough in any year in which to trans
OCT the business of the session. With
4 QQ1 members of the house, every
man striving TO be in the limelight
in order that his glory may be re-
Aected in his district, procedure
IN the lines followed in the senate,
having only 80 members, would be
\ mDossible During the two sessions
Of the siXtieth congress alone more
than $4,000 bills were introduced in
the house, merely dropped in the bas
ket on the clerks desk and referred
4 tn the various committees without
being read Suppose each of these
\ hills had been read aloud. To read
them would require at least an aver
age of ten minutes time for each,
or 100000 minutes for the total
4 reading, to say nothing of discus
sion. Calculate for yourself how
many hours and days would be thus
used Suppose the house should
finally adopt a rule placing all these
bills on the calendar and requiring
them to be called up and acted upon.
do not believe anything of the kind
will ever bedone, but if it were the
vacant seats in the house during
their reading would be many more
than now.
Speakers AutOcratic Power Menace
Patronage, and rules which vir-
tually give to the Speaker power to |
determine which bill shall be re-
ported to the house and which shall
not, combine to form menace. The
question is, how is the evil to be
corrected? | confess that it will be
difficult to accomplish. | feel GER
tain, however, that the plan to place
the appointing power in the hands
of a committee would prove most
unsatisfactory. To begin with, in the
siXty-frrst congress it might mean
Chairmen not in sympathy with the
party in power and, so far as l am
concerned, l believe that the party
in power ought to be held strictly ac-
countable for legislation passed
during their regime. | am assuming
now, in regard to the present situa
ton in the house, that the allies !
stand by their agreement. Personal
ly, l have not believed that possible.
There are too many differences be !
tween the democratic and republican
parties for an alliance to last very
long. In saying this I am not ques- 4
tiOning the good faith of any MEM |
Der.
The Position of the Allies.
The committee on revision Of rules |
proposed in the house on March |
18th, if carried, was to be composed
of six democrats, four insurgent re-
pUblicans and five regular republic |
cans. Mr.. champ Clark, whose abil-
ity and ,integrity is conceded by
everybody, and Mr. Gardner of Mas
sachusetts, speaking for the majority
of the democrats and insurgents, de-
Clared tllBt their compact went no
further than the formulation and
adoption e. the proposed new rules.
Those who know these gentlemen as
l do, believe they gave their under
taking in good faith, but once Gre
ate a condition whereby a minority
of the majority party is able to die
tate terms 10 the minority party, re
tain that state of affairs for nine
months, and you accomplish a mira
Gle. The rules of procedure in the
house of representatives, while
amended occasionally during the
last one hundred years, did not Origl-
nate in the brain of any one man.
They are the product of fully three
centuries of parliamentary expert
ence in the United States and Great
Britain. NeitRer Mr.. Cannon, Mr..
Reed nor Mr.. Crisp were respOn-
Sble for these rules, though certain
magazine Legislators and other pro-
fessional agitators have at various
times credited them to all three.
The Function of Minorities.
Under the present rules of the
house partisan legislation is made
easy Yet can you show me the
rules of any parliamentary body in
the world where this is not the case?
The right of the minority is to ex-
press its opinion of proposed legisla-
ton SO that the country may under