Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-08


E WSs# ten law governing the mousse
M MI of representatives in the
kgAszaI American congress is the
product of evolutionary pro
cesses set in motion when the hrst
party division occurred i'll that legls-
latiye body The rules are so compll-
Gated that very few members of the
house pretend to q complete under
standing of them in all their relations,
and even the speaker must depend
upon the clerk to the speakers table,
now Mr.. Asher c. Kinds, an expert
parliamentarian, for his interpreta-
tions of the rules. Yet there is noth-
ing haphazard in the system, and Mr..
| Speaker Cannon may rely with conn-
| dence upon the clerk to find that the
rules uphold, justify and make imper-
ative that course of action which Mr.
! cannon, holding to the political opln-
ions he does, would most desire to fol-
| low. The present speaker Is the helr
| of all the strong men who have occu-
/ pied that chair before him ana the
/ majority of the essential features OF
/ his mower have been engrafted into
! the law of the house by the great
/ speakers who have gone before.
/ Henry Clay was the first great
/ sneaker of the house He was elected
! to that office in 1911, upon the first
/ day of his service as member OF lnat
/ body. He was the head of the young
/ mems faction which clamored for war
with England and he was placed III
/ the speakers chair for the express pnr-
/ pose of making the viii of his faction
/ the will of the congress. He succeeded
! In his purpose, but his success spelleu
| disaster for him. The war was not
/ successful in its purposes, washington
was captured and the capitol burned,
! and American arms won but one great
/ hattie of NEW
/ orleans. which brought into national
political existence the man who was TO
| deny to Clay his dearest ambitions.
In 1911. under Clay and upon an ap-
neal to the house, the doctrine that
! the ordering of the previous question:
| shuts off further debate and secures an
/ Immediate vote upon the main question
vas firmly established. This practi-
] caliy reversed the English practlee
/ until then prevailing in the house The
/ ability of a majority to order the pre-.
yious question is now the Keystone OF
! the arch of legislative procedure IN the
house of representatives.
Clay was the first speaker to con-
slider himself the leader of his party
nc we'll as the moderator of the as
| sembly over which he presided. lie
used his power much as the speakers
of this day use It, directing the course
of his supporters crushing the qppo-
I sition and making his will the first
law of the house. No speaker To-Day
1 would dare to use the extremely ar
/ btrary means employed by Gay 10
deprive John Randolph of Roanoke or
the floor. Clay quoted no authority
! for his parliamentary rulings and de-
pended upon the loyalty of his follow
! ing on the floor to sustain the CHAIR IN
the event of an appeal.
The modern doctrine of the use OF
/ the "preVious question" as established
| by Clay was the result of the efforts
| of the New England representatives TO
prevent war with England. Under the
rules then obtaining the opposition
| could have delayed action for an IN
! definite time. The previous question
was ordered, the new construction of
its meaning given to it, and the ma
| jority triumphed.
| The successors to Clay in the speak
ership did not hesitate to make use
of the power which he had given TO
the position, but for many years little
prestige was added TO the chair. Only
| one speaker of the house, however was
absolutely nonpartisan, regarding his
position as that of a moderator such
as is held by the speaker of the house
| of commons in England. He was Rob-
ert NJ. T. Hunter Of Virginia, the
youngest man ever elected speaker he
being but 80 years old when he took
the gavel in 1899 During the stormy
days leading up TO the civil war the
chair was the refuge of mediocrity.
! During the war period and the early
reconstruction. era the speaker was the
servant of Thaddeus stevens The
overwhelming Republican majority
made strong rules unnecessary-there
was no opposition to crush.
AS the Democratic party began to
come back to life James G. Blaine be-
came the speaker of the house. He
added to the power of the position of
speaker by asserting the right to grant
or withhold recognition at his pleasure.
This is the speakers greatest individ-
ual power, and without it the present
method of legislative procedure in the
| house could not exist In the senate
neither the power to order the previous