Evening star., 1934-08-20
RA|NEY WHIPPED
PARTY INTO LINE
Enforced Gag Rule to Push
Through Emergency
Measures.

Soft-voiced, kindly, his own impet-
uosity mellowed by years of expert
ence, courageous, judicious, yet firm
and stern In putting through the new
DEAL program, Henry T. Rainey per-
formed we'll his duties as Speaker in
O most vexatious period.
Rainey assembled the speakership
after serving two years as Democratic
leader under John NJ Garner. then
Speaker. When he took the leader
ship at the behest of Garner, the
Illinois veteran surrendered his potent
post as chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee, which originates
all revenue and tariff bills.
Only because President Roosevelt
called a special session did he serve
as Speaker in two sessions.
The Norris lame duck" constitu-
tional amendment had the effect Of
doing away with one term of the
Seventy-third Congress. But just
after Mr. Roosevelt was inaugurated
he called special session.
Elected Speaker.
1t convened on March 9, 1888. and
bv a vote of 302 to ll0 he became
Speaker.
The Speaker who Immediately pre-
ceded him was Garner, who had be-
come Speaker after Nicholas Long
worth of Ohio, Republican, died in
1891 and the Democrats took control
of the House for the last two years OF
the Hoover administration
Elected Speaker when Democrats
had their biggest majority in decades,
his Job to the outsider would have
seemed easy. But he had more to
do than sit back and let the majority
rule.
Many of the men in his House
were first-termers. They had not
learned the political lesson that party
regulars go further than those who
wander astray.
Rainey tried to teach them that.
But his teaching job put him in a
paradoxical position, for when he was
younger he, too, kicked at the traces
often and hard.
Seen as Paradox.
The result was that a few old
timers said he was lenient; few
newcomers thought he was too strict.
On any number of occasions his
persuasive. penetrating, but soft, voice
carried the House through difficult
spots. Once toward the close of the
last Congress Republicans objected to
his count showing quorum was
present.
Rainey. however, had the task of
pushing through another admins
tration bill He banged his gavel
and the Republicans sat down.
The Democrats themselves at the
moment were on the verge of running
amuck. Then the Republicans fill
bustered. Rainey wet into a huddle
with the leaders. They saw an op-
portunity to take advantage of the
Republican fllibuster and weld the
Democrats again into voting whole
The House inner council proposed
what even Democrats termed the
most stringent gag rule of years.
But, after Rainey talked with recall
citrants off the floor they voted for it.
When Congress adjourned Demo-
Gratis were voting almost as unit and
under the gag rule.
Blacklist" Kept.
Besides this suasion, however,
Rainey saw fit to apply little more
touching spur to his party followers.
He let it be known that he was keep
ing blacklist" of members who
voted wrong.
Then when some Democrats OBJ
jected. he started keeping a Repub-
hcan list, too. He praised the Repub
ncans who voted for administration
measures, and a Democrat who had
voted wrong had to ask two or three
times before one of his own bills would
come up.
Unlike many others who had pre-
ceded him in the chair, Rainey de-
clined to dodge votes. Under House
rules the Speaker is not compelled to
vote except to break tie. but through
two sessions of the Seventy-third
Congress, each time a controversial
measure was balloted upon, Rainey
directed the clerk to call his name
and voted with the administration.