all Churches expel the unorthodox except the hard shell Baptist church, and it simply withdraws from the erring brother. There is no kind of an organisation under this flag to-day where the right of the majority to rule is not recognised and enforced. I subscribe to it; I submit to it cheerfully; and I only reserve the right, whenever I believe it departs so essentially from its fundamental principles that I can no longer co-operate with it, of doing as the Senator from Colorado has done more than once - I want the privilege of defying its decision.

102. A Criticism on the Efficiency of the House of Representatives

Mr. Bryce, in common with other European observers of the House of Representatives, is struck with the din of the House and its air of confusion and restlessness as compared with the decorum and dignity of the Senate or the Parliament of England. The House as a whole has proved a rather unwieldy working institution, and Mr. Bourke Cockran thus accounts for this condition of affairs:

Mr. Speaker, It is to the proposal to extend the term of representatives in Congress that I desire to address myself. I sympathize most keenly with every one who wishes to make vigorous the control of the people over their representatives and over every branch of the Government. It is precisely for that reason that I believe in extending that term. This is the popular branch of our political system. Popular control of the Government can be made effective only by making this House efficient. This House is the one branch of our Government that according to all testimony, is steadily declining in power, and its decline is obviously a decrease in the direct influence of the people over legislation. To what must this decline of the House be attributed? To two causes a defect, a fatal weakness in its structure as established by the Constitution, and almost inconceivable folly in the method of organization established by itself.

Sir, it is no exaggeration to say that the House is organized for disorder and incapacity. Look at it. This vast barnlike chamber

Causes for ciency of

the ineffi

the House.

The

difficulties

of speaking House.

in the

Each member

of itself is enough to make impracticable anything like intelligible debate. The distances between members in different parts of this Hall are such that conversation is seldom regarded as an interruption. In the resulting confusion, it is impossible to follow or even understand the proceedings. I sit in a part of the House now where for all that I can hear of the debates I might as well be out of the Chamber. To learn what the House is doing I must leave my seat, and this is forbidden by rules. To participate in the proceedings of the House I must therefore violate its rules. I can be attentive to my duties only by becoming disorderly in my behavior. Under the rules I am out of order now, for I am speaking from another Member's seat. If I attempted to speak from my own, I would be inaudible in a large part of the Hall.

Surely, Sir, it is not extravagant to say that the House seems to have embraced diligently every opportunity to reduce itself to incapacity by keeping itself in disorder. Against the absurdities of its own organization a complete remedy, of course, is always in its own hands. But the gravest cause of its incapacity is in the term of its Members, and this can be remedied only by a Constitutional amendment.

The Congress does not convene till the month of December busied with preceding the choice of its successor. From the very moment he plans for takes his oath of office before this desk, each Member is plunged reelection. into the throes of a struggle for reëlection. How can he perform his duties impartially and fearlessly while three-fourths of his attention must be distracted by the exigencies of his own position? You may say that the honest and efficient Member will neglect his personal interests and devote himself exclusively to his representative duties. Well, Mr. Speaker, what duty can be higher than seeing that his district is well represented? (Laughter.) And he must think himself the very best representative his district could find or else he could not justify himself in coming here.

Elections

Occur

between sessions.

The House is reduced to this position: in the first - the longer and more important - session, every Member is striving for renomination and reëlection from the very hour he is sworn in

until the adjournment, and in the second session he has either been beaten, in which case his interest in the session is sensibly reduced, if not wholly extinguished, or else he has been reëlected, in which case his sense of security is apt to be too great for efficiency. (Applause and laughter.) His whole service, except under very exceptional conditions, is confined to two sessions. In the first every thing tends to make him incapable. In the second, he may be indifferent. (Laughter.) We declare at every stage that the House is declining in influence. Yet we lose no chance to push it farther along on the downward slope. To me the wonder is not that the House has declined in consequence, but that any of its consequence survives.

three men.

We organize ourselves with rules which are conceived appar- The power of ently in distrust of our own honesty. Every experience of this House proves that when it is left to the control of its own majority, it evolves legislation of the very highest excellence; yet we surrender ourselves to three gentlemen (wiser perhaps than any other three, but not so wise as the whole 400 who compose our membership), and to this narrow minority we entrust the entire control and direction of our proceedings, holding to ourselves at most, merely a right to approve or to veto their proposals. And this upon the ground openly stated that if left to ourselves we would perpetrate enormities or follies. All this would be impossible in a House whose Members had such a term of office that they could become acquainted with each other, and by knowledge of their different capacities and qualities learn to coöperate effectively for wholesome legislation.

Senate is

superior to

Why has the Senate grown at the expense of this House, although Why the the framers of the Constitution intended that we should be the dominant feature of our political system? Because the Senate is the House. a continuous body! Every Member holds for six years. They find themselves bound together by a hundred influences growing out of extended association and however they may differ on other matters they stand always unitedly for the dignity and power of their Chamber.

Supervision

of the business of the House.

Authenti

cation of acts of

the House.

Putting the question.

His vote.

103. The Duties of the Speaker of the House

The duties of the Speaker of the House of Representatives are thus laid down in the Manual of the Rules.

1. The Speaker shall take the chair on every legislative day precisely at the hour to which the House shall have adjourned at the last sitting, immediately call the members to order, and on the appearance of a quorum, cause the Journal of the proceedings of the last day's sitting to be read, having previously examined and approved the same.

2. He shall preserve order and decorum, and, in case of disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries, or in the lobby, may cause the same to be cleared.

3. He shall have general control, except as provided by rule or law, of the Hall of the House, and of the corridors and passages and of the unappropriated rooms in that part of the Capitol assigned to the use of the House, until further order.

4. He shall sign all acts, addresses, joint resolutions, writs, warrants, and subpoenas of, or issued by order of, the House, and decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal by any member, on which appeal no member shall speak more than once, unless by permission of the House.

5. He shall rise to put a question, but may state it sitting; and shall put questions in this form, to wit: "As many as are in favor (as the question may be), say Aye;" and after the affirmative voice is expressed, "As many as are opposed, say No;" if he doubts, or a division is called for, the House shall divide; those in the affirmative of the question shall first rise from their seats, and then those in the negative; if he still doubts, or a count is required by at least one-fifth of a quorum, he shall name one from each side of the question to tell the members in the affirmative and negative; which being reported, he shall rise and state the decision.

6. He shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except where his vote would be decisive, or where the

House is engaged in voting by ballot; and in all cases of a tie vote the question shall be lost.

7. He shall have the right to name any member to perform the duties of the Chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment: Provided, however, That in case of his illness, he may make such appointment for a period not exceeding ten days, with the approval of the House at the time the same is made; and in his absence and omission to make such appointment, the House shall proceed to elect a Speaker pro tempore, to act during his absence.

104. The Political Significance of the Speakership*

The speakership in the House of Representatives was thus contrasted with the corresponding position in the British House of Commons in a speech made in 1906.

Appoint

ment of a

substitute.

of the

for quasi

autocratic

MR. TOWNE. The Speaker is, in my judgment, almost as much Evidence sinned against as sinning. The fact that under both Republican necessity and Democratic régimes very largely the same complaint has been made in respect to the exercise of quasi-autocratic power by the Chair, is itself a recognition to a considerable degree that the necessity for exercising that kind of power inheres in the duties of the office itself as it has evolved in our system.

The Speakership of this House, Sir, in its origin was not a political office. It is interesting to contrast it with the speakership of the English House of Commons, whence we borrow very largely the model upon which this House is constructed. In the House of Commons the speaker is a mere moderator, who presides over a parliamentary body for the purpose of enforcing ordinary parliamentary rules. The office has no political significance. That fact is illustrated by the recent reëlection of Mr. Lowther, the Conservative speaker, by the new enormous Liberal majority in the House of Commons.

If a speaker is a competent parliamentarian, a fair man, and a man of ability, no majority in the English parliament cares to

S

power.

The

speakership

in the

House of

Commons.

How the English speakership evolved.