Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-04-02
Speaker Cannon and the House Rules.

with the mOcrdcy, ana are eNlnclHS
a disposition TO get back to cover.
No man in the history Of this country
was ever more persistently or vindic-
lively pursued by a pack of disrep-
| utable muck rakers than Speaker Can
| non has been. AS generally used the
term 'Cannonism" is very mislead-
ing. Any intelligent observer OF
Speaker Of the National House Of
Representatives was not the author
OF the rules under which the deliber-
atoms of that body are conducted.
Indeed all the changes in these rules
since he became the presiding officer
Of the House have been in the direc-
ton Of liberaliZing them. This IS not
aoly the case in the establishment
| with Mr.. Cannon's hearty consent and
CO. operation, of a calendar Wednes-
day when any member of the House is
| privileged TO call up matters of leg
| islation without the consent of the
speaker. AS is we'll known the pres
ent rules of the House were first put
in force under Speaker Thomas =.
Reed. and they are still known as the
Reed rules. No man in the history
of the American Congress was ever
more bitterly assailed and denounced
than was Speaker Reed at that time,
although he was destined to be sin
gularly vindicatod by the progress or
events. The circumstances under
which the Reed rules were first
adopted are still fairly fresh in the
pubic mind.
A Republican majority In the House
found itself utterly unable TO legis-
late because Democratic minority
persisted in holding up the peoples
business bv flibusterng tactics. Now
the theory of our government rests
upon majority rule. To the majority
belongs the power and upon it also
rests all the responsibilities of legis-
lation.
Under the circumstances Mr.. Reed
and his followers believed that they
were acting in accord with Republic
can principles. when they adopted a
set of rules which made it possible
fer a majority of the peoples repre-
sentatives to transact the peoples
business. The Democrats of Con-
gress, under the leadership of Charles
II. Crisp OF Georgia, opposed the adop-
ton of these rules with intense bitter
ness They exhausted the vocabulary
of objurgation in their denunciations
of Mr.. Reed, but he stood firm and the
new rules establishing the rule of the
the Democrats came into power in
the House and Mr.. Crisp was elected
speaker. Al the start he operated
under the old rules that had been in
force prior 10 the adoption of the Reed
rules: but the Republican minority
under the leadership of Mr.. Reed
promptly held up legislation by re-
sort to the same filihustering tactics
that had formerly been practiced by
Mr.. crisp and his followers. Mr..
Crisp was in dilemma. He hated to
be Inconsistent, and adopt the Reed
Rules which he had SO bitterly de-
nounced but he was up against the
necessity of doing so, or giving up
all hope of controlling or directing the
legislation of the House. At last he
and his followers yielded to the pres
Reed rules amid, as Senator David B.
Hill afterwards declared, the derisive
laughter OF the whole country From
that day to the present time the Reed
rules have remained In force. Mr..
Cannon succeeded to them, as has
every other speaker since they were
first adopted. although under his adj
ministration they have peen material
ly liberalized
There are many surprises awaiting
the visitor at the National Capita!
chief among them being the fact that
Mr.. Cannon is today one of tie most
popular men in the National House.
Democratic members admit frankly in
private conversation that they like
Uncle joe as they call him. bet
ter than any other Republican MEM
Der of the House, although they say
frankly that they do not purpose to
lose and opportunity to make poiti-
cal capital at the expense of the ma
jority. Republican regulars assert
that nearly all the insurgents are men
who nave failed to secure the COM
mittee appointments they desired
and are therefore nursing personal
grievances against the speaker. Even
| the insurgents themselves concede
| that Mr.. Cannon has at all times been
square ana honest with them, al
4 NIh.A.,