The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-12-26

next that resulted remained substan-
tally unchanged. The strength OF
Gillett and Garrett fiuctuated some
what, but the twenty-five insurgents
maintained a solid front.
There was a deadlock which the
Independents were ina position to
continue !. indefinitely. IN only two
ways could it have been broken: ~
By their surrender, and (2) through
direct or indirect Democratic aid to
the Republicans.
What the Protest Meant
In nominating Mr.. Cooper for
speaker, Mr.. Browne of Wisconsin
stressed the fact that his candidacy
represented a demand for such con-
structive changes in the rules as
would restore elaboration and break
the power of the bosses, to control
legislation. He said:
eff the man I am about to name
be elected speaker at this time, ne
will stand for reformation of the
rules that govern this body. The
rules of the House of representatives.
are such that they give, many times
small minority in this body the
power to control legislation and pre-
vent bills from coming out of COM
mittees and being considered upon
the floor of the House. Under our
rules today IS per cent of all OF the
business that we transact is trans
acted in the committee of the whole,
and 95 per cent of the votes cast IN
this body under our present rules
are cast in the committee of the
whole, where, under the rules, no
record vote can be had and which In
effect is a secret ballot. The people
of the country are determined and
have demanded that the proceedings
of this legislative body, said to be
the greatest in the world, shall be
open and above board, that every step
in legislation from the time measures
are voted upon in committees until
final action be taken on the floor be
taken in the light of publicity, and
that the people of the United States
have the opportunity of seeing how
their members, their agents here,
have voted.
"a number of years ago the rules
of this body were amended and the
speaker of the House then was d.
vested of the great power which ne
had up to that time enjoyed. That
change in the rules of the House OF
Representatives decided a presiden-
tial election. Today many complaints
are justly made against these rules,
and many glaring defects pointed
out. One of the complaints is made
that seven men, who constitute
majority of the committee on rules,
have the power to stifie legislation
and have frequently exercised that
power. The committee on rules has
been called the morgue of Legislation
in the House of Representatives"
December 5, after the Old Guard
concession had been made and &C
cepted, Mr.. Nelson of Wisconsin,
submitted a statement to the open
House, as follows:
A committee of the progressive
group of the House Of Represent
atives, consisting of Messrs. Wood
ruff, LaGuardia and myself, met with
Majority Leader Longworth last
evening and discussed the proposed
procedure for a revision of the rules
of the House. At this meeting mu-
tual assurances were given that the
following program would be carried
out:
l. That the rules of the Sixty
seventh Congress should be adopted
as the rules of the Sixty-eighth Con-
gress for thirty days only.
2. That during these thirty days
amendments to the rules may be
offered by any member, to be re-
ferred to the committees on rules,
which committee shall consider such
amendments md make a report there
on to the House.
3. Within such thirty days the
committee shall make report of the
rules and such amendments as they
recommend. The rules and amend
ments as reported by the committee
shall be subject to reasonable dis
cussion, amendment and record votes
of the House.
4. When the committee shall have
made its report any member of the
House shall have opportunity to offer
amendments to any rule of the House
and may call for record vote there
on, whether such rule have been in
cluded in the report of the committee
or not.
S. One motion to recommit shall
be in order.
Then Nicholas Longworth, the
caucus-chosen majority leader, was
asked publicly to acknowledge his
agreements. He did so, with appar-
ent reluctance, in this language:
GAS far as I am concerned I agree
to the Interpretation of what the
House will have an opportunity to
do in regard to it."
Following that understanding, u
Mr.. Gillett was elected speaker, 215
to 1877, with the Independents casting
the deciding votes.
The Thirty-Day Promise
What the Independents got, there