Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-04
The American Congress
XII-The Power of the Speaker
By Frederic il HaSkin

E=7-5=1 OSEPH G.. CANNON has said:
IMr.IMl "The speaker is the servant
lAM ri of the house. The speaker is
lk&& N elected by a majority or tne
lkfS H members, and he can be de-
ASs<sa posed and another man elected
any hour of any day that he rails TO
fulfill the duties of the office as the
ma jority would have. them fulfllleu.
Many persons in and out of congress
have said in substance: THE speaker
is the autocrat of the house. The con-
sideration of legislation cannot be had
except by his permission, and the whole
house is subject to the restraint of his
personal will There is no house OF
representatives, but only a czar in the
! speakers chair who has usurped the
! functions of the popular branch of the
national legislature" Manifestly both
of these statements cannot be wholly
true. and as a matter of fact neither
of them is entirely justified by the
! facts. The truth lies somewhere be-
| tween.
| There is nothing i'm the constitu-
| tional or statutory law of the land,
nothing in the rules of the house, moth
! ing in the digests of precedents which
authorizes in black and white the eN-
ercise of any arbitrary power by the
I speaker. Under the rules he may be
| deposed at any hour of any day. and
I he is always at the mercy of the ma
! jority of the house. But this is true
only in theory
In every circle of American politics,
| at one time or another, there has been
a man exercising complete control over
a party, a city or a school district, al
though without any legal authority OF
theoretical responsibility. We call him
| the bosA' Everybody knows that
! Richard Croker was for many years
the real ruler of New York city, but
mis- name does not appear in the lists
of those who have been charged under
! the laws with the administration OF
/ the affairs of that municipality.
The autocratic power of the speaker
of the house of representatives Is
/ largely that of boss. He has patron
/ age to dispense and he is. under the
rules. the arbiter of many classes OF
disputes Notwithstanding the denials
of Mr.. Cannon, it is nevertheless true
/ that legislation against the will Of the
: sneaker is well nigh impossible. The
/ speaker OF the house, by system OF
! evolution. has become the second most
powerful man i'm the republic. The
/ peopIe have not objected to this fact
I indeed they have time and again al
the polls expressed their satisfaction
with the system which gives the
I speaker this great power
In practice. whatever the theory, the
speaker Of the house is master rather
! than servant. Ike appoints the COM
mittees which prepare legislation lor
submission to the house, he recog-
nizes whom he chooses to make mo-
tions or to speak. he must be cohsulteG
! i'm advance with respect to proposed
, legislation, and he constitutes In him
Nsclf a power higher than that dele
gated i'm the theoretical constitution
d of the house. The president of the
/ United states. i'm theory has nothing
whatever to do with legislation untl II
comes to him for his approval after
passing both houses Of congress. Yet
when 1t is announced from Washington
/ that the president and the speaker
have agreed upOn a certain measure
nobody is surprised. least of all the
| members Of the house Of representa-
| tives. When IL so happens. as II did
IN the Roosevelt administrator, thaI
the sneaker trades bit or leglsla-
ton to the president in consideration
of the presidents silence on another
subject of legislation. there is no pop
ular hue and cry and those few earn
inc CRITICS who point to the consti-
tuition are merely laughed at FOR then
pains.
At the same time it is perfectly true
that the house can depose its speaker
at any time But an attempt TO do Sc
might result i'm failure, and then al
those members who opposed the
speaker would come in for punish
nent Mr. Cannon punished the Re
publican insurgents who voted last
March to deprive him Of the power OF
.anpointing committees by giving them
less desirable and less influential COM
mittee assignments. He rewarded
the tNenty-thrCe insurgent Democrats
who saved him that power. by giving
them better committee assignments
than they had before.
Certain amendments were made In
the house rules as the price of the
/ support of the twenty-three Demo
, cratic insurgents which will make
some considerable changes in the pro
cedure of the house. But there is but
one change in the rules which vii
have the effect of depriving the
speaker of his power and that is &c
take away from him the power tc
appoint committees. Whether or moi
/ if would be practicable for the house
10 select its committees by vote Is
| another question. The plan proposed
bv Champ Clark and supported by thr
| Republican insurgents in this con
! gress was to leave the selection 10 .
| committee on committees, that com
| mittee to be elected By the mouse
The senate selects it's committees DS
ballot. in theory, but in practice eacr
| Darty chooses in caucus steering
committee which assigns senators t'
various committees, the malorlIS