The Washington times., 1911-05-17

The first open breach among Demo-
cratic members of the House came to-
day when Representative Henry, OF
Texas. chairman of the Committee on
Rules, attempted to force through his
resolution appointing a select commit
tee of the House to investigate the
Sugar trust
When the matter came up in the
House yesterday objection was made by
several members to the methold of pro-
cedure by which the investigating COM
mittee was selected. At that time
members of the House got the impress
sion from a speech made by Mr.. Henry
that the personnel of the committee had
been agreed upon by the Rules Commit
tee after consultati ton with members on
the majority side and with Minority
Leader Mann.
Today Mr. Henry declared that he, IN
his individual capacity and as menl-
Der from the Eleventh district OF 'Iexas'
selected the members and placed thern
in nomination in the form OF resoiu-
ton. This statement brought 1orth
copies of yesterdays proceedings IN the
Congressional Record. Representative
Martin of Colorado and Representative
Alexander of Missouri read fom the Re
cord for the purpose of showing that Mr.
! Henry told the House that the Rules
, Committee had made the selections.
The Editorial ave"
This was denied by Mr.. Henry, who
declared that in using the word I'VE" he
had used II in the "editorial' sense.
An uprising such as marked the old
Republican regime was brought about
because the Rules Committee apparent
ly had taken to itself the authority to
name the special committees that are to
investigate the Steel and Sugar trusts.
| The resolutions authorizing the in
vestigations stipulated that these
committees shall be elected by the
House
| While the Democrats were quarrel
| ing among themselves and accusing
| Representative Henry, chairman of
the Rules Committee, with "usurping
the powers of the House." floor lead
er Underwood abruptly adjourned the
House late yesterday afternoon in or
der to save further embarrassment to
Mr.. Henry and the Democratic side.
| The Rules Committees selections Of
the personnel Of the Steel trust inves-
| tigating committee were approved be-
| fore the House became curious as to
the manner of selection. When Rep
resentative Henry sent to the desk
| the names of those to probe the
| Sugar trust, his colleagues began to
ask embarrassing questions and he
| was forced to admit that he had
named the committee after consul
| ia aticn with various members"
Il have not been consulted" yelled
| this member and that over the cham
\ Der. Il wanted to have something to
say about naming these important
committees. Why wasn't 1t left to
| a caucus
Row Becomes Heated.
The row became so heated that Mr..
Underwood moved to adjourn in the
! midst Of it, and the Sugar Trust In
vestigating Committee was never ap-
proved by the House. Democrats left
the chamber muttering to themselves
and the cooler heads began confer
ences to reconcile the differences.
The Democrats did not object to the
men named by the Rules Committee.
but emphatic protest was made be-
cause the chairman of. that committee
had assumed unwarranted author
ity."
How were these investigating com.
! ,nittecs named?'' asked Representative
| Murdock. II want to know. just fol-
/ the sake of the record
Mr.. Henry intimated that they had
been named by members of the Rules
| Committee, after consultation with 9TH
/ oaI tftT "a,
/ Mann.
This is a very peculiar proceeding,
| observed Representative Harrison. New
| York Democrat You have brought tC
this House a cat in a bag. Is not thi:
method transfer of tyranny from The
Speaker into the hands Of the chairman
of the Committee on Rules?"
Mr.. Henry attempted to reply, bu
i was interrupted by Representative
Martin. another Democrat.
| Il did not get a look at this cat in q