The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-27

1 The Democratic caucuses are held il | the hall of the House of Representa-. | tives Congressman A. Mitchell Pal
 mer of Pennsylvania, the man whc politics in the Keystone State, is the presiding officer Bills are debated with all the fornaIity which marks
 their consideration in the House it.
 self. Speeches are limited to five min utes, but an extension of time may be secured by unanimous consent, and this is seldom or never refused.
 Every. member is given ample 71orp- portunity to present as many amend ments as he sees fit and to discuss them practically as long he wishes They caucused two weeks on the tariff and even longer on the currency bill. There was an utter absence of the usual machine methods. If the lead CTS were to resort to the Steam Roll err there would have been an imme- diate rev olt.
 Before many of the new members of Congress left home for Washington, men who pretended to have a knowI- edge of how things were done in the Capitol warned the new members that they must be prepared to make their peace with the party organization or declare war on it. They were told that if they displayed any independence they would be punished by some mys- terious power. They were also aS- sured that a new member was not supposed to participate in the business of the caucus or the House and that the older members expected them to take a rear seat and stay there.
 Undoubtedly in the old days there was a stmachine'' or f'organization'' in the House. and 1t did undertake to punish rebels That was when t.Czar'' Reed and Uncle Joe Cannon wielded the gaveI, and Presidents rI,1 fn +a1< offices away from insurgent Congressman. Those methods went to the junk heap with the election of Clark as Speaker and Underwood as majority floor lead CT.
 Now every member knows he is at liberty to speak his piece" as he jolly well pleases. Representative Donovan has probably been heard more than any other new member on the floor. He started right in at the time of tar if debates, and no one has called him to account because he was a new member. He clashed with some of the leaders on some points, and instead of gaining their ennity won their favor and respect. So far as the post offices and other Federal patronage is con- cerned that is taken care Of according to schedule without regard to their at titude toward the party leaders.
 The new members are not sitting In the rear seats by any means. In fact they are away down front doing most Of the talking, and acting like they had been in the House all their lives. The most delightful feature of the whole thing is that the more expert enced legislators applaud and encour- age them. The new currency bill was drafted by a. committee made up all most entirely-sof new men, and they directed the debate in the caucus and have charge of it in the House. They
 +71 IL though most of them are young fel- lows, just little past the thirtieth milestone.
 President Garfield declared that "a man found his. natural level in the House of Representatives faster than anywhere else on earth and Speaker Clark has described the Democratic caucus as the freest and most Demo cratic gathering he ever saw. Both of these great men told the truth