The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1922-08-05
Looking In on Congress From
the House Gallery
FIRST VIEW OF CONGRESS
By CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY

FIRST VIEW OF CONGRESS
Rv CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY

nra+tv We'll of him is Indicated by the
fact tbat one Of them who died recent
~ left 100000 to him, 100000 TO MS
Aife and an equal amount to each OF
his two daughters.
AT Mr.. Gillett's left stands a young
man who is official tlmekeepel.
Whenever a member is recognized 10
sneak he has IA definite amount OF
time. Rarely it is an hour. occasloii-
ally il is 80 minutes, but usually IL Is
ONLY five or ten minutes. The tllne-
keeper notifies the speaker ana the
sneaker calls the member down at the
end of his allotted time. BY unani-
nous consent the member is solne-
times permitted to proceed Tor hNe VI
ten minutes longer. and | have seen
members plead and beg the house 1or
five minutes. or two minutes or one
minute more, like Methodist preach
err pleading for money to pay OH the
church debt. Sometimes 1t is grant
ed but often a member says Il OBJ
ject," and that settles it.
PaFIi amentdFldn 10 ItuPO' ss'es
AT the right of the speaker stands
another young man who Is the par
liamentarian This young man is sup
posed to be thoroughly posted ana
trained in the rules and precedents
of the house. He has various books
of rules and precedents at hand, ana
advises with the speaker when any
knotty points Of order are to be de-
cided.
The house has been run mostly by
lawyers for hundred years or more,
and it is not a difficult matter for
some lawyer member to dig up prec-
edent on either side of any parila-
mentary question brought up. The
house had a speaker one time OF the
name of Crisp. His son Charles be-
came the parliamentarian for Speaker
Clark. Charles is now valued mem
Der of the house In the last congress
we had both eX-Speaker Cannon ana
ex-Speaker Clark on the floor, but they
all differ some times on points of or
der. 1t was one Of the pleasures OF
Republicans to refer occasionally to
the fact that Speaker Clark ruled
thus and so" at some time In the past,
and Speaker Clark announced several
times in his facetious way: LAS a
member ON the floor of the house, l
| do not propose to be bound by any rul-
| ings made from the speakers chair.
| SO you can see that with couple OF
| hundred lawyers in the house there is
at times much argument and 1angllng
over points of order and modes Of pro
cedure.
Mann Knows All the Rules.
However, when James r. Mann Is
| on the floor the chair soon gets some
advice that he can depend upon. l
think that Mr.. Mann knows more about
the rules and precedents of the house
than all the other members combined,
and he usually has his way, because
| the man in the chair knows that he
knows what he is talking about.
In front and below the speaker at
| another marble desk are the reading
| clerks, men have to be men Of cOnsid.
cradle ability.
Below and in front are the Congress
| siOnal Record clerk and the official re-
porters. Every word that is spoken in
the house is taken down by an official
stenOgrapher. There are five or SIX
Of them They work In shifts of about
| 20 minutes each. AS soon as ste
nographer is through with his task he
| goes to his room and reads his notes
into monograph. An amanuensis
takes the record and puts the stuff
through a typewriter and within an
hour member may read and correct
the speech he has made.
Tomorrow morning the COMPRESSION
al Record will contain a complete re
port of today's proceedings. The Rec
ord is little abused, think. 1t Is q
valuable publication and contains much
information, little humor, some wis
dom, and a minute report Of the
proceedings Of the house. It con
tains some speeches that are not de
livered in the house. Members occa
| SIOIidHy SCt pNi w SAtShu AhSiA
remarks, and speech of five minutes
may be extended over several pages
To do this unanimous consent must
be asked in each instance, which
means that if any member merely says
II object" the permission is not grant
ed There are watchdOgs Of the Rec
| ord as there are Of the treasury, and
someone frequently objects. Mr.. Clark
once said that the greatest speech ever
made on an important subject Of in
terest to the country was put in the
Record by Samuel j. Randall, and
| was not made in the house.
The Congressional Record Is issued
daily during the sessions of congress
A member has only about fifty copies
at his disposal. These he sends to IL
braries, clubs, newspapers and places
where they may be seen by the pub
lie at large He cannot fill out many
individual requests. Those who are
interested in the Congressional Record
however, can subscribe for it at $1.5(
| per month.