Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1911-05-05
Makes His Maiden Speech.
From the Baltimore Sun of Friday.

| rEVh Tie DditlHOTe gun OF rrlOay.
Representative David ]. Lewis, of the
Sixth Maryland District, made his maiden
speech in the House of Representatives
yesterday afternoon and created such
distinct impression that a number of the
older Congressman congratulated him.
Only ten minutes were at the disposal of
the Marylander under the apportionment
OF time for discussion, but in that time he
handled himself so well and displayed such
complete mastery of his subject, that his
colleagues, including the veterans present,
discovered that the new member from the
Sixth Maryland thinks for himself, has
ideas and is deep student Remarks to
that effect were afterward heard in the
cloakroom.
Mr.. Lewis rhetorical effort was all the
more notable because the topic of parlia-
mentary government with which he dealt
is a large one to be handled in so short a
space of time. He has been for some time
making careful study of the parliament
tary systems of Europe and has come to
quired in the rules of the House of Repre-
aentatives to make it deliberative body.
He went at the kernel of his theme with
out circumlocution and Immediately at
tracted the attention of members on both
sides of the aisle, who listened closely and
applauded him. From various parts of the
House there were cries of go on T. but as
it was impossible to extend the time al
lowance Mr.. Lewis could not complete his
speech on the floor. However. he was
given unanimous consent to extend his
remarks in the Record.
While Mr.. Lewis was speaking. Speaker
Clark strolled into the chamber He paused
long enough to hear the remarks of Mr..
Lewis and congratulated him.
Mr.. Lewis said he hoped he would be
understood as entirely sincere in confess
ing the embarrassment he fell" on account
of the attitude am compelled to appar-
emily take this afternoon. not an attitude
of opposition to this eapportionment bill,
which heartily meets my favor, but an at
titude which might seem to older members
rather wrong, and to members as new as
myself, didatic or schoolmaster attitude"
There are," said Mr. Lewis, two views
manifest here to-day. They must become
manifest whenever the subject of the dis
tribution of the membership Of the House
comes up. The membership here have
two functions. There is the first function
of representing the people. There is the
second, the function of celebrating. 1t
may seem rash statement to make, but
think that the latter function has been
nearly completely lost in the House, lost
almost since the time of the war, and
want to suggest that in other countries.
with parliamentary experience as extern
sive as ours, a method seems to have been
found which reconciles the circumstance
of numbers, sufficiently large to be repre-
sentative. with the need for deliberate
character in a membership so numerous
what does deliberation mean2 II does
not mean oratory. No one, am sure, will
be so indulgent as to suggest that what is
taking place now is deliberation. II means
consultation, not contentious, and. perhaps,
vaingloriOus speech. 1t means an OppOrtu-
nifty for each member at time when
legislation is in its plastic state, and. while
in its formative stages. to contribute to its
formation such knowledge or suggestion as
| he may have. That manifestly cannot be
done in body even as large as 100. Il
cannot be done at all in body as large as
400"
| Mr.. Lewis then proceeded to show that
European Parlaments, with the single ex-
ceptiOn of the House of Commons, not only
possessed the representative function by
having membership sufficiently large to
be actually democratic, but were also de-
Lucrative. He went on TO outline the
methods of procedure in the lower house
of the German Reichstag to show its DELHI
erative character as giving every member
an opportunity to contribute amendment
! or SUGGESTION.
The real deliberation.' he said, takes
place in the sections as they sit cOincident-
ally upon a particular measure. That is
one of the virtues. Another virtue is that
the law Of the survival of the fittest OBJ
tains in its application to the members
without regard to whether they are new
members or old and seasoned. historical
ones. If it so happens that new member
| belonging to q particular section shows let
us fancy. particular knowledge about par
GELS post. or, let us say. a compensation
bill, and II develops in his section that he
knows more of the subject than the others
and will be able to handle ii in the most
competent manner, he is selected as the
reporter for that section in its report to
the central section. II again 1t transpires
that in the central section he displays the
same superiority he is selected as the COM
mon reporter for the central section or for
the whole deliberative body.
"And in that way. in utter disregard
of the mere incidents Of the distribution
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