The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-01-18

Organization of the new congress
has resulted IN a new cry, in reality
very old cry, but il is
Sourh IN new, since we have
the Saddle" not heard II in fifteen
years. The cry we
are hearing now from Republicans and
from northern Democrats is the wall
that ~the South is in the saddle"
While there certainly can be nothing
criminal about the South being in the
saddle, il provides a grand political is
sue both within the Democratic ranks
and between the Democratic party and
what is left Of the Republicans in
congress. II also touches a question
that has been discussed many times,
namely, the wisdom Of the seniority
rule In congress. The seniority rule pro-
vides that the oldest members in the
point OF service shall inherit commit
tee chairmanships and shall have 9TH
er positions Of honor in the house and
senate.
Out Of the 50 Democratic senators
only "a come from what is known as
the solid South. OF the 81 Democrat
ic members Of the house, only about
100 are thoroughly acquainted with the
yell Of the Confederacy. Yet IN the face
Of this tremendous growth of Demo
cratic membership coming out Of the
North and the West, the South is
in the saddle more solidly than ever.
The speakership Of the house went
70 Representative Byrns Of Tennes-
see, who succeeded 70 the place made
vacant BY the late Henry T. Rainey Of
Illinois Mr.. Byrns had been Demo
cratic leader and his promotion left a
vacancy TO which Representative VIII
Bankhead of Alabama was elected,
thus moving leadership further TO the
South. The only plum, If il be q
plum. that went north of the Mason
and Dixon line was the selection Of
Representative 0'Connor Of New York,
as chairman Of the rules committee.
And his selection generally has been
gossiped about as being the result Of
a trade. There are g few northern
Democrats who succeeded 10 commit
tee chairmanships under the seniority
rule but the bulk Of the northern and
western Democrats are new TO house
membership and their names viii be
found near the tail end of committee
lists.
In the senate we see Vice President
Garner, the presiding officer, a Texan
The majority leader is Senator Rob
insOn of Arkansas. The powerful COM
mittee on finance is presided over by
Harrison Of Mississippi; the senate
committee on banking and currency is
controlled by Fletcher Of Florida; and
the committee on agriculture is head
ed BY Smith Of South Carolina One
could 20 on and name many others al
though I believe the consensus is that
the seniority rule has not worked 10
produce as many buds for senate com
mittee chairnanships as has occurred
in the house.
Democratic leaders in the house have
made certain that they viii not be en-
barrassed this year
ChecRI7g as they were in the
Radicals first New Deal con-
gress. In that ses-
sion they were constantly harassed by
the radicals who sought TO force votes
on legislation which the President and
his advisers did not want and which
for the same reason the Democratic
leaders did not want. The radicals &C.
complished their purposes by use Of
what is called the rule Of discharge Of
committees. But that rule has been
amended 50 that 10 invoke il now, &C
tuaIly a majority Of the house viii
have TO sign a petition
Under the previous rule, the sigma
ture Of I45 members Of the house was
committee from consideration Of any
piece Of legislation referred TO il for
action. The necessary number Of sig
natures was obtained in three embar-
RAISING cases last year. The soldiers
bonus bill was brought out by that
method; the Frazier-Lemke farm mort
gage imitation bin was released for
house vote in the same manner.
The new house organization. how
ever. is determined not 10 be embar-
raised In that manner. II succeeded
in Democratic caucus-binding on all
Democrats-il having the original
rule amended 80 that now there must
be q majority Of all house members
afixing their signatures TO the dis
charge petition before Il becomes op-
erative-
Since the house membership num-
bers AS. hereafter It wiz be neces-
sary for 21S-One-half 8 vote above
the halfway mark-tO sign q petition
10 discharge a committee from con-
sideraion OF any bill in its charge.
II becomes readily obvious that when
q ma joriry Of the house has signed
such 8 petition any bill upon which
the application for discharge is fled
automatically viii pass the house
when it is brought In for q vote.
Some parliamentarians say that such
a rule constitutes q thorough gag upon
minorities and gives the dominant
party q control that exceeds even the
czarism Of Uncle Joe Cannon, Tom
Reed and the others who while they
were In the speakers chair were famed
for the iron hand with which they con-
troIled the lower house Of congress.