Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-09-20
NH. BRYAN REVIEWS
ACTS Of CONGRESS
Recounts Progressive Legislation
of Last Democratic
House.


Gress in sixteen years makes this an
appropriate time 10 consider the record
made by that congress using the term
congress as IL is usually employed to
describe the national house OF repres-
entatiyrs. No congress in recent
years and few congresses thar have as
semhlcd in all the nations history,
says William Jennings Bryan in the
last Commoner. has so much good leg
islation to its credit.
II began with a restoration Of the
principles Of popular government III
The organization of the house. Instead
Of electing speaker and then empow-
ering him to appoint the committees,
il took from the speaker the power of
appointment and entrusted the selec-
ton OF committees TO the house itself,
each party selecting its share of the
member of each committee. This was
revolution and a farreaching one.
The change secured by the Demo
Gratis leaves the speaker to exert a
moral influence over his party and i'll
Nites him TO aspire to a higher kind
Of leadership than is possible where
coercion is employed. The enlarge
ment of the committee on rules was
another step toward more popular gov
eminent and gave better representa-
ton to the various sections Of the
contry.
At the beginning of the special SEES
sion, Speaker Clark outlined a pro
gram that embodied the most impOr-
tant planks of the national platform
at Denver in 1908. The first was the
election of United States senators by
direct vote of the people. This reform
was declared by the platform to be the
gateway to other reforms. While
Andrew Johnson had once recon-
mendcd it. some fOrty-fve years age
in a message to congress: while the
Prohibition party had introduced it in
its platform forty years ago, and while
the populist party had Endorsed it in
its platform twenty-eight years ago,
the Democratic party enjoys the dis
tinctiOn of putting the necessary
resolution through the national house
of representatives for the first time in
1882. The next congress, also Dem
ocratic, also passed the resolution.
Sentiment has continually grown
under Democratic leadership until the
entire country has taken the mater up
and the senate has been forced to yield
to the popular demand.
If the Democratic house had done
nothing else than secure this organic
change in the method of electing SEN
ators it would deserve the gratitude of
the nation. With the senate con-
verified into a popular body, responsive
70, bn To- will thic- hv.1nnh Of
gress ought to become the highest leg
islative body in the world and seats in
it should be reserved for those who in
less conspicuous stations have demon
strated their capacity for governmental
affairs and their fidelity to the inter
est of the people.
The second reform embraced in the
Democratic program had in view the
purifying of politics. Probably in no
other line has progress been more ap-
parent than in the effort to purge poll
tics of the communicating influence of
money secretly contributed for the
purpose of controlling the instrument
talities of government.
But comprehensive as was this pub
licity law it soon Jagged behind public
sentiment on this subject and the
house has within the last nine months
taken three steps in advance. In one
bill it asked the president to make pub
lie the recommendations, written and
verbal, on which he appoints United
States judges; in second, it sought
to extend the doctrine of publicity to
the period before presidential conven-
tions so as to inform the public regard
ing contributions made to aid in the
nominations of presidential candi-
dates; and the third compels news
papers to disclose their ownership.
The last named. measure was by far
the most important of the three and
it has recently became a law in the
signing of the post Office appropria-
ton bill.
1t is impossible to cover all the good
things done by the Democratic house
within the limits of this article but
those heretofore mentioned stand out
as of special Importance. l have re-
served for the last, the subject that has
aroused the most discussion and upon
which partisan feeling has operated
most largely, namely, the tariff ques-
ton. The Democratic house was
pl0U6tu " toI Ill ACuuSSioh, Al A~SN'
the election of the Democratic house
was largely due to the split in the
Republican party over the tariff ques-
ton. The house committee adopted
the plan advocated by Speaker Clark
a plan employed twenty years before
by a Democratic congress-of attack.
ing the tariff wall with bills dealing
with separate schedules.
In the special session, and again In
the first regular session, the house
sought to redeem the pledge, and re-
duce the tariff. The wooden schedule,
the cotton scedule, the metal schedule,
and the chemical schedule were all
subjected to radical revisiOns down.
ward. While the reductions were prob
ably not as great as they would have
been if the Democrat had had ma
jority in both houses, still they were
SO substantial as to afford large
measure of relief.
In addition to these reduction bills,
the Democrats embodied in farmers
free list bill number of reductions in
tended to bring special advantage to
the agricultural class. Another bill
sought to give the public entire relief
from the tax on sugar and still third
bill imposed tax on income. 1t will
be seen that the Democratic plan for
reducing the burden of taxation was
a very comprehensive one.
Roosevelt I'm Bad Mt Portland.