Washington, its sights and insights [1909]

Chapter IX: Concerning Representatives

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IT is not all "skittles and beer" to be a Senator or a Representative at Washington. The continued pressure from a man's constituents that he shall accomplish certain legislation for his district, and the iron-clad rules which prohibit his every movement, if in the House of Representatives, are enough to break an ordinary man's health.

A new member goes to the House full of enthusiasm, hoping to accomplish great things for those who have trusted him; he finds that he is scarcely permitted to open his mouth the first term. But he does his best in committee, which is little enough; he runs his feet off to get places for some hundreds of people from his district who must be taken care of. Then he keeps trying to be a good party man, and to do some favor for the leaders, who, he hopes, will reward him by giving him an opportunity to accomplish much-needed legislation for his district, till in his second or third term he becomes desperate, breaks out in meeting, and knocks things about generally. If he proves to be really an orator and succeeds in catching the ear of the House, he may then begin to be more than a mere party voter. On the other hand, he may be so squelched that he subsides into "innocuous desuetude."

In the meantime he has borne all forms of unjust and unkind criticism at home. His opponents of his own party and of the opposite party point, in scorn and malice, to how little has been done for the district, and tell in startling sentences how they would do it and how they _will_ do it when they are elected. Then a "nagger" comes to Washington, who is still worse. He _demands_ a position, tells the Representative how the latter owes his place to said nagger, and insists on being immediately made chief clerk of some department accessible only through the Civil Service, and needing four times the influence a new member can bring to bear. A man must learn to be serene under nagging, misrepresentation, and even positive lies, and rely upon time and his own best efforts to vindicate him.

There have been more caucuses held during the last term than usual. A caucus is a good thing, as it gives a man a chance to influence in a very slight degree the decisions of his party. (See Henry Loomis Nelson's excellent article in the _Century_ for June, 1902.)

The House (in 1909) is ruled by Speaker Cannon, Payne, of New York, Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, and Tawney, of Minnesota. How long will such a hierarchy, dominating nearly three hundred intelligent men, be permitted to exist? The House is run like a bank, of which the President and a few clerks do all the deciding. Any correspondent who has the ear of any of these few can tell you the fate of a measure before it comes to vote.

The chairmen of committees, and a few others who have been long in the House, are called into a committee room to decide on how much debate will be permitted, who will be heard, and whether or not the bill shall pass; and the rank and file, desiring to be good party men, obey orders, and the bill fails or goes through in exactly the form decided upon by the clique. This is most un-American. It is true, more business is thus accomplished; but the business does not represent the average public opinion of the House.

The Committee on Rules, or its majority, constitutes a stone wall against which men break their hearts and ruin their reputations. Let us have less done, but let what is done be an average result of public opinion.

The President can do but little to influence legislation. His clubs are personality and patronage. If as persistent as Mr. Roosevelt, he may eventually get an "Administration" measure (like Cuban reciprocity) through, despite opposition. Present Congressional methods make politicans out of men capable, under broader training, of becoming statesmen. But Mr. Roosevelt did not "arrive" by the good will of the machine, but in spite of it. If he attains a second term, it will be against the plans of the machine; but as in Lincoln's second term, politicians may be forced to nominate him, or themselves go down before the storm of public indignation.

In the meantime legislators in the House will go on presenting little bills which they know they can never get passed, but printed copies of which can be sent to constituents to make them believe that their representatives are really doing something.

The present method has this benefit: it shuts off much of the lobbying which formerly disgraced the anterooms of Congress.

Photo by Clinedinst

STATUARY HALL
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Photo by Clinedinst

From the painting by Emanuel Leutze

"WESTWARD HO!"
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Photo by Clinedinst

From the painting by Brumidi

WASHINGTON DECLINING OVERTURES FROM CORNWALLIS
]

Photo by Clinedinst

THE SENATE CHAMBER
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1. Benjamin F. Shively (D.), Ind.

Photo, Clinedinst, Wash.

2. Robert M. LaFollette (R), Wis.

3. Elihu Root (R.), N. Y.

Photo, Pach Bros., New York

4. Henry Cabot Lodge (R.), Mass.

5. Nelson W. Aldrich (R.), R. I.

6. Eugene Hale (R.), Me.

7. Joseph W. Bailey (D.), Texas

8. Francis G. Newlands (D.), Nev.

Photo, Prince, Wash.

9. Charles A. Culberson (D.), Texas

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN SESSION
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1. John Dalzell (R.), Pa.

2. William Sulzer (D.), N. Y.

Photo, Clinedinst, Wash.

3. Sereno E. Payne (R.), N. Y.

Photo, Pach Bros., New York

4. David A. De Armond (D.), Mo.

5. Joseph G. Cannon (R.), Ill.

6. James A. Tawney (R.), Minnesota

7. Oscar W. Underwood (D.), Ala.

8. Ollie M. James (D.), Ky.

9. Champ Clark (D.), Mo.

Photo by Clinedinst

NEW HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING

This building is connected with the Capitol by a tunnel. Electric
automobile service is also maintained between the two buildings.
]

There came a small cloud in the horizon. Mr. Littlefield, of Maine, whom rumor claimed, at the opening of a former Congress, to represent Presidential opinion, saw his trust bill turned down. However, Mr. Littlefield always delighted his hearers, who realized that his fight against commercial monopolies was no make-believe.

The following extracts from a speech of Hon. F. W. Cushman, of the State of Washington, on the question of reciprocity with Cuba, will throw much light on present legislative methods in the House of Representatives:

THE RULES OF THE HOUSE

We meet in this Chamber to-day a condition that challenges the
consideration of every patriotic man, and that is, the set of rules
under which this body operates, or perhaps it would be more nearly
correct to say, under which this body is operated. [Laughter.]

Mr. Chairman, I deem it my duty, knowing as I do that this measure
could not have been brought here in the shape in which it now is,
save and excepting for the remarkable conditions created in this
House by these rules—I say, sir, I deem it to be my duty to pause
for a moment or two on the threshold of this debate and place a few
cold facts about these rules into this Record and before the
70,000,000 of people to whom we are responsible.

I approach this subject with a decided degree of deference. In the
three years which I have been a member of this body I have
endeavored to conduct myself with a modesty that I conceive to be
becoming alike to the new member and to his constituency. I
represent a Congressional district comprising the entire State of
Washington, a Congressional district with half a million people in
it, and with vast and varied interests demanding legislation for
their benefit and protection in many of the channels of trade and
branches of industry.

It is with humiliation unspeakable that I rise in my place on this
floor and admit to my constituents at home that in this House I am
utterly powerless to bring any bill or measure, no matter how worthy
or meritorious it may be, to a vote unless I can first make terms
with the Speaker.

It may be a matter of news to some of the good people within the
confines of the American Republic to know that there is no way of
getting an ordinary unprivileged measure considered and voted upon
in this House unless it suits the Speaker. I am aware that there are
several _theoretical_ ways of getting a measure up; but they have no
actual reality—no fruitage in fact. I make the statement on this
floor now, that no member of this body who introduces a bill—not a
private bill, but a public bill—can get it considered or brought
forward for final determination unless it suits the Speaker. And if
any one wants to deny that statement I am in a personal position and
in a peculiarly happy frame of mind right now to give a little
valuable testimony on that point! [Applause and laughter.]

Imagine, if you please, a measure—not a private measure, but a
public measure—which has been considered at length by a great
committee of this House and favorably reported with the
recommendation that it do pass. That bill is then placed on the
"Calendar." The Calendar! That is a misnomer. It ought to be called
a cemetery [laughter], for therein lie the whitening bones of
legislative hopes. [Laughter.] When the bill is reported and placed
on the Calendar, what does the member who introduced it and who is
charged by his constituency to secure its passage do?

Does he consult himself about his desire to call it up? No. Does he
consult the committee who considered the bill and recommended it for
passage? No. Does he consult the will of the majority of this House?
No. What does he do? I will tell you what he does. He either
consents that that bill may die upon the Calendar, or he puts his
manhood and his individuality in his pocket and goes trotting down
that little pathway of personal humiliation that leads—where? To the
Speaker's room. Ay, the Speaker's room. All the glories that
clustered around the holy of holies in King Solomon's temple looked
like 30 cents [prolonged laughter and applause]—yes, looked like 29
cents—compared with that jobbing department of this government!
[Applause and laughter.]

Then you are in the presence of real greatness. What then? Why, the
Speaker looks over _your_ bill, and then _he_ tells _you_ whether
_he_ thinks it ought to come up or not!

There is a condition which I commend to the patriotic consideration
of the American people. Contemplate that for a method of procedure
in the legislative body of a great and free republic.

WHO IS THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE?

Who is the Speaker of this House who sets up his immaculate and
infallible judgment against the judgment of all comers? Is there
anything different or superior in the credentials that he carries
from the credentials that were issued to you and to me from
70,000,000 of American people? When he entered this House at the
beginning of the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses he was
simply a Congressman-elect, bearing credentials like every other man
on this floor. He has no greater power now than any other member,
save the additional power we ourselves bestowed upon him by electing
him Speaker and then adopting this set of rules. The question that
now arises to confront us is: Have we put a club in the hands of
some one else to beat us to death? Have we elevated one man on a
pinnacle so high that he can not now see those who elevated him? Is
the Speaker of this House a mere mortal man of common flesh and
clay, or is he supernatural and immortal? What miracle was wrought
at his birth? Did a star shoot from its orbit when he was born, or
did he come into existence in the good old-fashioned way that
ushered the rest of us into this vale of tears?

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

I make no onslaught on the individual. I have a high regard for the
Speaker of this House personally and for him politically; but we
face the fact that we have adopted a set of rules in this body that
are an absolute disgrace to the legislative body of any republic.

Throughout the entire three years of my service in this body I have
been up against the little machine that dominates the proceedings
and the deliberations of this House. During the entire three years
prior to this time I have always treated that machine with the
deference due to its age and its reputation. I trust you will excuse
my frankness when I tell you that from this time on I shall devote a
little of my time and a tithe of my energy to putting a few spokes
in the wheel of that machine that the designers of the vehicle never
ordered. [Laughter.]

I for one expect to live to see the day in this House not when the
Speaker shall tell the individual members of this House what he is
going to permit them to bring up, but when those individual members,
constituting a majority, will inform the Speaker what they are going
to bring up for themselves.

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Washington, its sights and insights [1909]Chapter IX: Concerning Representatives

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