Evening star., 1953-01-04
Speaker Martin Calls
On House 10 Restore
Prestige 10 Congress
By Robert K. Welsh

By Robert K. Welsh
A call by Speaker Martin to
"restore" Congress to It's full pres
tige, and an unsuccessful drive by
some Democrats against Rules
Committee power, marked the
opening Of the new House yester-
day.
Mr.. Martin. Massachusetts, Re-
publican who served as Speaker
in the 80th Congress, received
strong official encouragement as
well as personal praise from his
predecessor, former Speaker Ray
burn.
The Texas Democrat, defeated
by Mr.. Martin on 220 to 201 vote
for the speakership in the new
83d Congress, described that Office
as the second Office in power in
the Government" Escorting Mr..
Martin to the rostrum, he decalerd
he was confident that the G. o. p
presiding officer would protect and
perpetuate the rights. privileges
and prerogatives of the House"
This exchange of offices-Mr
Rayburn became minority leader
as Mr.. Martin had been since 1949
showed the same degree OF
cordiality and order as did the
general transition from Demo-
cratic to Republican control.
Fireworks Fail to Develop.
Fireworks had been expected be-
cause of an announced plan by
Democratic Representatives Eber-
harter Of Pennsylvania and Celler
of New York to restore the So
called "21-day rule" But their at
tempt turned out to be compare
lively mild and apparently lacked
support of many Democrats. The
House, on a voice vote, adopted
without change the rules in effect
during the last two years.
The two Democrats had hoped
to bring back a rule under which
the powerful Rules Committee
could be compelled to report out
certain bills. Under a procedure
in the 81st Congress, a chairman
of a regular committee which
reported out a bill could move in
the House that the measure be
taken from the Rules Committee
and brought to the floor if the
Rules group failed to clear it with
in three weeks. A mere majority
vote of the House could force
such action under those circum-
stances.
No Direct Vote Sought.
Backers of the proposed liberal
ization failed even to bring their
proposal to direct vote. Repre-
sentative Allen, Republican. OF
Illinois, who will head the Rules
Committee, moved adoption of
the rules of the previous session
and by a parliamentary device
gained precedence over any mo-
ton to change.
Mr.. Eberharter and Mr.. Cellar
demanded roll call. Speaker
Martin announced that only So
members, an insufficient number.
supported that demand. Mr.. Eber-
harter, protesting that Mr.. Allen
was out of order in moving for an
immediate vote, contended that
the House had not yet adopted
rules for the new session. The
Speaker informed him that the
House was following general
parliamentary procedure as old
as Congress itself.
Mr.. Eberharter wanted to know
eff the rules ever would be
changed" at the new session. Mr..
Martin explained that he was not
a fortune teller" He noted, how
ever, that the House always has
authority to change its rules when
ever majority of members wish.
At one stage in the discussion Mr..
Martin suggested that Mr.. Eber-
harter's tactics seemed "dilatory."
But there was no heated exchange
or any dispute about the voice vote
when actually taken.
Martin Speaks to Colleagues.
The high point of the opening
session of the House came early
when Mr.. Martin, after being
elected Speaker, told his col
leagues, including 81 newcomers,
that:
I'm the new atmosphere of
changing administrations I think
we will find not only willingness
but a will by the Chief Executive
to re-establish the proper working
relationship between executive
and legislative branches. I base
my conclusion on personal talks ]
have had with the President-elect
in the weeks since the November
election.
I'm this age of malignant politi-
cal doctrines, police states and as
saults on liberty everywhere
America can thank God that the
next President of the United
States is going to be Dwight D
Eisenhower"
Mr.. Martin prefaced that decla-
ration by urging his colleagues tc
comprehend fully that "Marxism
is the greatest enemy of repre-
sentative government that the
world has ever known" He citec
what he called steady trend to.
ward socialism even in many
otherwise free and democratic ma.
tions.
Totalitarian Tactics Cited.
A tragic feature Of such a trend
he said, is that the Legislative
branch becomes subordinated. Ir