Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-19
The Speakership.

1.-THE House of Representatives shall
ciluse their Speaker and other officers"
With this language the Constitution
provides for the selection Of presiding
officer of the House. It has been said
frequently in the past and recently by
Representative Royal johnson of South
Dakota, Republican, that the Constitu-
ton permits the election by the House
of a presiding officer who is not a mem
Der of the House. And Mr.. johnson has
suggested that the next Congress, evenly
divided between Republicans and Demo-
Gratis, with group of Progressives hold
ing the balance Of power, might do well
to pick former President Calvin Coolidge
a. Speaker.
without referring to the fact that Mr..
johnson put forward his name for the
speakership, Mr.. Coolidge has in effect
penned another 1T do not choose to
run" statement. He points out that
the House has never yet gone outside
Of its own membership for a Speaker;
that there are plenty of men well quail
ned to hold the office in the next Con-
gress, and that, indeed, it would be I'M
wtse for the House to depart from its
custom and elect q Speaker who was
not also legislator. Probably no one
took very seriously the suggestion of
Mr.. johnson. believing that the former
President would not care to undertake
the job of presiding over the House in
the next Congress. Mr.. Coolidge's own
comments on the subject, however, have
dignified the suggestion that the House
might. after all, pick Speaker who is
not one Of its own members.
Under the language Of the Constitu-
ton the House has always picked
Speaker from its membership, but its
other officers, clerk, sergeant-at-arms,
doorkeeper, postmaster and chaplain,
have never been selected from the men,
bership Of the House. Those who argue
that the House has a constitutional
right to elect q Speaker who is not a
member of the House point to this
procedure with regard to "other
ondcers."
Constitutional or otherwise, the House
b not likely to select q Speaker who Is
not also member Of the House. The
speakership has long been considered
an ONCE Of very great Importance, an
ONCE that ranks next to that of Vice
President Of the United States, and
some have held that it is Of equal i'm
portance and certainly has greater in
1uence. Under such circumstances, it
IL rather ridiculous to imagine that
members Of the House will 60 beyond
their own membership to I'LL the Of
nee. Mr.. Coolidge has added that If
the House In the next Congress de-
termine to elect q Speaker who Is not
one Of its members, it could go far
and do worse than to pick former Sem
ator Gillett Of Massachusetts,, who be-
fore he was Senator served three terms
as Speaker Of the House, or Judge F4nis
J. Garrett Of Tennessee, a Democrat,
and minority leader Of the House until
he went on the bench.
In the past the House, because OF
political Affiliations and because of
animosities, has had serious difhculty
In electing q Speaker. 1t has, indeed,
gone for weeks at q time without
Speaker, placing in the chair the Clerk
Of the House. or some other temporary
presiding ofncer. In the next Congress,
where the Republicans probably will
have 7ls members Of the House, the
Democrats 216, and the Farmer-Labor
party /. there may be considerable de-
lay In the election Of Speaker, due to
the various degrees of republicanism
that exist among the members of the
majority party. In the end, however.
the House will ind a way to elect a
Speaker, and it may be predicted with
certainty that it will not be an outsider.
This is mechanical era. That fact,
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