Evening star., 1933-04-05
A House Rule.

Democratic House leaders are restive
under the rule by which 145 men,
bers. by signing petition, can
force the House to vote up or down a
proposal to discharge a standing COM
mittee from further consideration of a
bill and bring it before the chamber for
action. And yet it was during the
last half Of the Hoover administra-
tion that the Democrats themselves
forced the adoption of this rule In the
House, aided by insurgent Republicans.
Today it IS urged that an insurgent
group among the huge Democratic ma
jority, joining with the Republicans
In the House, might on occasion make
use Of the rule Of 145 to bring
before the House legislation antag-
onistic to the plans Of the Roosevelt
administration. 1t is now proposed to
return to the old rule-that a petition
for discharge Of committee must be
signed by at least a majority of the
House members.
The criticism has been made for
years that In the House it is impossible
to obtain consideration of measures
which have merit and which might
command the support Of q majority Of
the House If they could be. brought
before that body. It was In earlier days
charged that the Speaker ruled with q
rod Of iron; that he appointed the COM
mittees, named their chairmen, and
could pigeonhole any measure that he
did not favor. AL that was true. Even
tually came the great revolt against
the Speaker, when the late Uncle
Joe" Cannon was in the chair. He was
shorn of much of his power. That
power went in large part to the Com
mittee on Rules.
Nevertheless, the Speaker has con-
tinued to hold tremendous power, par
ticularly If he himself happened to be
a real leader. Under the leadership Of
the late Speaker Nicholas Longworth
his control of the House was quite COM
plete, although Mr.. Longworth asso-
ciated with himself the majority floor
leader, Col. Tilson, and the chairman Of
the Rules Committee, Mr.. Smell, in this
matter of contSpl. The Democrats had
become more and more restive during
the years Of the Longworth domination.
They made promises that If they were
placed in control of the House vastly
different state of affairs should be
found. So, after the 1880 congressional
elections, which eventually gave the
Democrats a majority by a narrow mar
gin, they went through with the pro-
posed change in the rules, making 145
signatures all that were necessary to
bring vote in the House on motion
to discharge a committee from further
consideration Of bill. Under that rule
the House operated during the last Con-
gress, and a number Of motions to dis
charge were made on that basis, among
them motions to bring up beer bills and
the repeal Of the eighteenth amendment.
1t is always a question how liberal a
legislative body the size of the House
Of Representatives-435 all told-can
afford to be in matters of procedure and
still remain efficient. It Is conceivable
that If the House had the rules Of the
Senate, for example, nothing whatever
could be accomplished. For the pur-
poses of an administration strong con-
troll Of the House is particularly desir-
able. It was the absolute control Of
the House by the Republican leadership
during the first two years Of Mr..
Hoover's administration that made it
possible for the President to get through
his program, despite the opposition that
had set in almost Immediately in the
Senate after Mr.. Hoover took Office.