CANNONISM: WHAT IT IS

...It is conceded by all, that the Speaker has a power second only to that of the President, and there arc instances where his influence in preventing the passage of legislation is even greater than that of the President...

...Is Cannon justified In puntsh-, ing, by use of his official power, any member who disagrees with him...

...Neither was there any fear that the House of Representatives elected likewise, on that platform, had any other idea than to do their duty in revising the tariff in accordance with their pledge...

...It is customary at such times to pray for the officials of our Government, beginning with the President, as the one highest in authority...

...If the law was to be of any effect in the national campaign then coming on, it must be enacted before the adjournment of the session...

...This conception is not only correct, but it is not exaggerated...

...He must either yield and permit the bill to become a law, or he must resort to some trick of parliamentary procedure by whic he could prevent it...

...All classes of our people, both native and foreign born, from the judge to the layman, from the minister in the pulpit to the citizen, from the teacher to the child—realize and understand that, in some undefined and mysterious way, the Speaker of the House is a power in our National Government, around which everything else seems to revolve...

...They become effective upon the action of the House alone...

...In this particular case, however, the Speaker finally lost control of the Committee, and notwithstanding his opposition the pressure on the Committee, from the press, from Congress and from the leaders of both political parties, was so great that the bill was reported to the House...

...The ;eal remedy lay in the taking away either from the present Speaker^ or any other Speaker who might be elected in his place, the great and unnatural power that gave to him the right to thwart the will not only of Congress, but of the entire country...

...In that great instrument, the functions of the national government were divided into three distinct departments, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, and they were named therein in the order herein mentioned...

...They are elected directly by the people from districts, in order that every portion of the country may be therein represented...

...Speaker's Trickery Thwarts People's Will THE wonderful power of the Speaker to prevent legislation demanded not only by the country but by Congress as well, was well illustrated during the first session of the 60th Congress, when he, almost alone and single handed, prevented the enactment of the national law providing for the publicity of campaign contributions...

...It is important, therefore, that the functions and powers of the House of Representatives should be retained and not delegated to any individual or set of individuals...

...The action of the Committee would undoubtedly have been taken at an earlier date had it not been for this opposition...

...When Congress convened on the first day of the present session, the proceedings in the House were opened with prayer by the Chaplain...

...It was known, however, that the Speaker of the House, in the language of the day, was a "standpatter...

...At heart ke was opposed to the revision of the tariff...

...This authority has been gradually increased and has been exercised in an increasing degree for a great many years...

...The authority and great power of the Speaker is derived entirely from the rules of the House of Representatives...

...Just as soon as the House of Representatives delegates its powers, its jurisdiction and its functions, does it cease to be a really representative body and the people of the country lose the representation that the founders of the Constitution intended they should have...

...On this occasion the rules of the past were made to conform to the realities of the present, and the old, blind Chaplain, although he cannot read is nevertheless posted on present political conditions, after indulging in some generalities, prayed first for the Speaker, and then for the President, and so on down the list...

...It is interesting to trace the source of this power...

...From the rules, he learned that the Speaker had the power at the beginning of each Congress when these committees were appointed, to cut off the political heads of those who had shown any independence or any disposition to refuse to follow his leadership...

...There are instances wherein by a law of Congress, he has been empowered to appoint members of commissions, etc., but nowhere is he given any authority whatever, looking to the control or management of the work or the deliberations of the House...

...Practically every newspaper in the United States printed the substance of that speech in its next issue and the country heaved a sigh of relief in gratification of the Speaker's announced permission to permit Congress and the President to carry out the pledge...

...Without hesitation he answered, "The office of Speaker of the House of Representatives...

...Next week Mr...

...The members of the House of Representatives are the only ones who are elected by the people...

...The real remedy lay In the taking nway either from the preaent Speaker, or any other Speaker who might be elected in hi* place, the great and unnatural power thnt gftve to him (he right 1o thwart the will nol only of CongrevM, but of the entire country.— t'oogroNNOinn .Vorrli...

...Taft, who, it was known at that time, would be nominee for President, on behalf of the Republican party wrote a letter for publication earnestly requesting Congress to take action...

...IF WE search the statutes of our national legislature and examine all the laws passed by Congress, we will look in vain for any authority given to the Speaker by general law...

...A Case in Point THE power of the Speaker as it really exists and as understood by the country at large, is illustrated by what happened in the country immediately after our last national election...

...Nowhere in that document is there any power delegated to the Speaker, or any authority whatever given to him...

...Four-fifths—yes, nine-tenths of the members of Congress were in favor of taking the proper action on the subject...

...In principle it would have been just the same, had he used his power in the opposite direction...

...In carrying out his scheme he recognized the member who had introduced the bill, to make the motion to suspend the rules and pass it in its entirety...

...The pressure upon the Speaker became so great that he could not well defy its demands longer...

...No one questioned his ability to do so and no one seemed to inquire the source of his authority or why such an abnormal condition could possibly exist in our country...

...This comes as a natural necessity from the size of the body, and it will be conceded by everybody that in order to make any headway in legislation, the House must necessarily appoint committees upon various subjects, to whom must be referred all proposed legislation pertaining to those particular subjects...

...If he has made a study of the questions of navigation and the rivers and harbors of our country, and comes from a section of the country where its commerce perhaps depends upon the improvement of a river or a harbor, he is extremely anxious to be put upon the committee on rivers and harbors...

...To him it means a continuance of his political life...

...HE WOULD learn before long, that a refusal to follow the leadership of this recognized and Speaker-selected combination, would bring down upon his head the censure and displeasure of the Speaker and his chosen lieutenants...

...Bryan, the acknowledged leader of the Democratic Party, also took a position before the country in favor of such a law...

...The bill was pending before the committee on judiciary...

...There was nothing whatever in the way except the opposition of the Speaker...

...It is the only part of our national government connected directly with the people...

...While I believe the Speaker was wrong in his position in these illustrations, yet, the illustrations are not given for the purpose of showing that on these particular questions he was not in accord with the sentiment of the country or of Congress, but rather, that by virtue of his great authority, he was able to prevent, if he so desired, the carrying out of the will of the people...

...The committee made no effort to have a hearing before this committee or to make any argument there in favor of its passage...

...No one member is able to master all of the details of the legislation that comes before Congress...

...Read what Mr...

...However desirable it might have been to prevent the re-election of the Speaker of the House, or to prevent his re-election , as Speaker after he had been elected as a member, it is quite apparent that the real danger, the real evil and the real difficulty was way beyond and beneath the personality of any man...

...All it required for its passage was that the Speaker should recognize the member having charge of the bill, to move to suspend the rules and pass it...

...On those things upon which he had made a personal investigation, or upon which he had settled and undisputed convictions, he would follow his own ideas, but upon questions where he had not made an investigation and upon which he had had no opportunity fully to post himself, he would be inclined to vote as he found the Speaker wanted him to vote, even though his conscience might be inclined to lead him in the opposite direction...

...If his portion of the country is particularly interested in agriculture, for instance, and he has made a study of the subject until he is well versed and posted upon it> he naturally desires to be put upon the committee on agriculture...

...In this dilemma he had another member of the House,wo was not a member of the Committee that reported the bill, in- troduce, as a new bill, the identical bill reported by the Commit- tee, with the amendment added thereto providing for the f enactment of some of the old election laws of reconstruction days...

...He would soon find too, titat the Speaker was the head of quite a machine in tlie House, consisting of men, usually chairmen of important committees, who had received all their favors at tlie Speaker's hands, and that this machine or combination made itself very active in the handling of the various bills that came before Congress...

...The Speaker in his personality is only the head—the instrument—by which the power given by the rules of the House is carried out and exercised...

...They had not been able to secure committee appointments, or they had been refused permission to name any of the appointees of the House, and had been in various ways made to feel the iron hand of this machine in the severest kind of punishment...

...Practically all the people and the entire press of the country were advocating the enactment of this kind of law...

...The member knows that if he is able to obtain appointment on his much desired committee, he will be thus enabled to assist in framing the legislation of the government along those lines...

...Norris will conclude his analysis of Cannonism...

...He learns when he goes to Congress, that every road asking for favor leads to the private office of the Speaker...

...Whence Comes the Speaker's Power...

...It proceeded at once to interview the Speaker...

...He permitted the Speaker and his machine to map out and mark out his course, and little by little, gave up his own individuality and his own identity and became himself a part of the great machine, dealing out to his constituents the political pic as it was given him by those in higher authority over the political pie counter...

...It ought to be 'The Speaker rules the country.' " In one of our large cities a would-be citizen was being examined as to his qualifications for citizenship...

...It was known that the Speaker was opposed to this legislation...

...There was no suspicion on the part of the people that the President elected was not in favor of such revision, or that he would not do all he could to bring it about...

...These ministers in session at Baltimore, appointed a committee of their members to proceed to Washington and interview the Speaker with a view of urging the passage of this legislation...

...The only place in the Constitution where the Speaker of the House of Representatives is mentioned is where it states that the House of Representatives shall elect its Speaker...

...It is evident, therefore, that whatever power the Speaker possesses he obtains somewhere outside of the Constitution and outside of the laws passed by Congress...

...The Keystone of the Cannonism Arch THE particular rule of the House of Representatives by virtue of which the Speaker is given this immense control of national legislation is that rule which gives him authority to appoint all the standing committees of the House of Representatives...

...When this new bill was introduced, the Speaker referred it to the Committee on the Census...

...Republicans and Democrats likewise were anxious to secure the passage of the bill...

...The legislative powers that are described in the Constitution are vested in a Senate and a House of Representatives...

...Norris says and answer this question for yourself...

...In that election, the Republican party had pledged in its platform, that if its candidate for President was elected and a majority of the House of Representatives were also elected (it having already control of the Senate) it would revise the tariff...

...The Committee having in charge bills upon this subject gavo extended hearings and finally unanimously agreed upon the bill, and reported the same to the House with the recommendation that it pass...

...It i& important to note that all the power of the Speaker making him the second official in our National Government in influence and authority, are not derived either from the Constitution or any general law of the country, but come entirely and exclusively fro:n tho authority given him by the rules of the House of Representatives...

...In effect, he stated to the country that he would permit the President and Congress to revise the tariff in accordance with the platform...

...It was known that the addition of the amendment providing for the re-enactment of the reconstruction election laws would meet with strenuous opposition from the Democrats, and that in the Senate it would absolutely prevent the passage of the bill within the few days left of the pending session...

...EDITOR'S NOTE...

...In a body as large as the House, it is quite apparent to all that most of the real work is, and must be, done by the great committees...

...Cannonism: What It Is BY GEORGE W. NORRIS Member of Congress from Nebraska ATEACHER in the public schools cf the City of Washington, in teaching analysis to her grammar class, wrote on the black-board the following sentence: "The Speaker rules the House...

...It is natural that he should improve HOWEVER deiilrable It might have been to prevent the re-election of the Speaker of the Hou*o, or to prevent bin re-election as Speaker after he had been elected an a member, It in quite apparent that the real ilaoffer, the real evil nnd the real difficulty wn* way beyond and beneath Hie personality of any man...

...Practically the entire country was behind the bill, and the Speaker alone stood opposed to it...

...He wants to do as much good for his section of the country as he possibly can...

...Their term of office is short, in order that they may respond to the sentiment of the country...

...Follow the Leader...

...He will tell about the bi-partisan nature of Cannonism—Democrats as well as Ilepublicans being entrenched behind the House rules...

...For the same reason other members desire to be put on other committees having control of the particular line of legislation in which the member and his people are directly interested...

...It is to be regretted that this great body of men did not look deeper into the cause of the difficulty...

...The rules of the House do not have to be passed by the Senate or approved by the President...

...These rules for the government of the House are adopted at the beginning of every Congress (not session) and are effective and in force only during the life of the House that adopted them...

...He would find too, that men who had preceded him in Congress and had exercised their constitutional right of refusing to follow this leadership had been punished in various ways...

...He would weigh every doubt in favor of the Speaker...

...The result of it all usually was that like those who had preceded him, he folloived the lines of least resistance...

...He found when matters of legislation came up before his committee that the first inquiry usually made there when it was taken up for consideration, was as to what attitude, if any, the Speaker had taken cn the subject, and he soon realized that those above him on the committee were extremely anxious in all cases to know what the Speaker thought about any proposed legislation before it was given any active consideration by the committee...

...The bill passed the House and died in the Senate, as everybody knew it would, but the Speaker and his machine were able to turn to the country and say, "We have passed a bill providing for publicity of campaign contributions in national elections, but on account of opposition in the Senate, it did not become a law...

...Nowhere In that document la there any power delegated to the Speaker, or any anthorlty whatever given to him.—Congreasman Norris, pressed by people in all walks of life, and by practically all the newspapers of the country, as to whether the tariff would really be revised...

...Prae tically a unanimous membership was ready to vote for it...

...He finds that there is no way to get the coveted place unless he can gain the favor of the Speaker...

...lie will show how Cannon and his henchmen have been seeking to pettifog the real issue...

...President Roosevelt in most strenuous language urged Congress to pass a law upon this subject...

...If he looked up the records, he would find that men who had refused to follow this leadership were unable to obtain results satisfactory to their constituents, and that in the end the political life had been crushed out of them and their white bones were shining in the sun in the political bone-yard...

...It is now in the recollection of all that immediately after the electien, when it was known the Republicans had been successful in retaining the control of both branches of Congress and had elected their candidate for President, that there was from one end of the country to the other, a great deal of doubt exTHE only place In the Constitution where the Speaker of the Houae of Repreaentatlvea la mentioned la where states that the Houae of Repreaentatlvea ahall elect ita Npeaker...

...America'f Greatest Question THE question involved in the power of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is by far the greatest question before the American people today...

...He is imbued with an honest and patriotic desire to accomplish something along some particular line...

...It is important to note that it was conceded by all and taken for granted by everybody, that the Speaker held the key to the situation...

...A certain bill was pending before the judiciary committee of the House, in which the temperance people of the United States were vitally interested...

...After their rebuke by the Speaker, the ministers began a campaign against what they termed "Cannonism," and what they believed to be the person of the Speaker himself...

...While Congress was in session in Washington, there was held in the City of Baltimore, a short distance away, the national convention of the ministers of the Methodist church...

...He will be able to obtain the necessary and desired legislation in which his portion of the country has a direct interest...

...Cannonism," in Us reality, goes beyond any personality...

...the machine and not the individual...

...And yet, there was very little question in the minds of the people but what this one man could prevent such revision if he so desired...

...Under this rule there was no provision for amendment, and no possibility of making any change in the bill...

...The duties, the rights and the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives are the first defined in that great instrument...

...every opportunity to favor any reasonable proposition or plan of the Speaker, in order to partially repay and return the favor lie lias received at his hands...

...He is likewise desirous of re-election and of remaining at least for a few terms in Congress...

...It is in reality, the power and not the man...

...It was known that the Senate was ready to pass it, and the Presi dent anxious to sign it...

...A few days after the election, at a banquet held in the city of Chicago, the Speaker made a speech in which he stated in substance, that since the country had expressed itself so emphatically in favor of revision, he was in favor of carrying out the pledge...

...The change to greater influence and power, however, has been so gradual that the people of the United States and even the members of the House of Representatives, have scarcely noticed it, and while every man, woman and child in the country understands in a general way, just what power the Speaker has, they have not given sufficient consideration to the subject to realize that none of this power comes cither from the Constitution or any law of the country...

...He was asked the question, "What office in the United States is the most influential and powerful...

...They seemed to be of the opinion, and in this the entire country shared, that the defeat of the individual who happened to be the Speaker would bring about the desired change...

...It is worthy of note too, that when they called on the Speaker he did not intimate to his committee of ministers that they ought to go before the committee on judiciary, or that they ought to take it up with the different members of the House, but he practically told them in a very curt, if not disrespectful, way that the bill could not pass...

...A small boy in the rear seat raised his hand, and when permitted by the teacher to speak said, "The sentence is not true...

...The referring of such a bill to the Committee on the Census, on its face appears to be rather a suspicious circumstance, but it was only one step, and an unimportant one too, in the proceeding by which the Speaker determined to perform this parliamentary trick...

...Our forefathers, when they adopted the Constitution, undoubtedly intended that the House of Representatives should be nearer the people than any other branch of our national government...

...If he be successful in securing his desired position, he very naturally feels very friendly and under great obligation to the man who gave him the place and by whose favor he is thus enabled to satisfy his budding and not unpatriotic ambition...

...The denial of his request would be the greatest blow that could be struck at his honorable and patriotic ambition...

...He was importuned by members of the Committee and also members of the House to give this recognition...

...In looking at it in a sober, unbiased light, it seems almost incredible that after the country had expressly approved the revision plank, that there should be any doubt as to the pledge being carried out, when that doubt was caused entirely by the election of one congressman out of three hundred and ninety-one, from a district in Illinois, who was opposed to the redemption of the pledge...

...The judge, who was a student of present day conditions, at once ruled that the answer showed that the applicant possessed the necessary qualifications to become a citizen of our great country...

...Speaker Holds the Key THIS power was further illustrated by another incident that happened during the first session of the 60th Congress...

...Every man who is elected to Congress makes a strenuous effort at the very beginning of his official career, to get on some particular committee of his individual likng...

...It made no attempt to influence the different members of the House...

...The newspapers for several days after election, were full of queries and arguments pro and con, as to whether the Speaker would permit a revision to take place...

...Under the rules of the House this motion could not have consumed more than forty minutes of time...

...We shall see how, even in this condition( the Speaker, by vir- ; tue of the wonderful power he possessed, was successful in thwarting the will of the entire country and preventing the passage of the bill...

...The session was drawing to a close...