THE CHEMA W A
AMERICAN
1 9
w hich I could not m ake out. Being rath er cu rio u s to find out w hat it
said, I lifted the decanter from the table and tipped it up so th a t the
light fell on th e letterin g . It said: ‘if you touch me I ’ll te ll.’
“ C urious, w asn ’t it? B ut, su re enough, it did tell, for I had scarce
ly tim e to read th e letterin g when my ears were greeted w ith the tones
of ‘Jo h n n y G et Y our g u n .’ T h ere was a m usic-box hidden in the b o t
tom of the decanter, and when it is tipped the m achinery starts and the
m usic begins. You can ju d g e for yourself how surprised and c h a
grined I was. for I had never seen the m aster of th e house before, and
he would have a fine opinion of me for my m eddling qualities.
R ight in the m iddle of the tune he walked into the parlor, and gave
me a cinical smile* w hen he heard th a t m usic-box. It seemed as if it
would never stop. I tried to make some sort of apology, but m ade a
mess of it, I know , th o u g h now I cannot th in k for th e life of me w hat
I said. H e saw how confused I was and laughed it off, saying th at it
was and oddity he had found in New Y o rk .”
LEGISLATIVE PROCESSES
C U STO M S O P T H E U N I T E D S T A T E “ H O U S E ”
N Y O N E who know s hum an n atu re know s th at it is
practically im possible for any two persons to fully
agree on all questions and when one considers th at
the U. S. house of representatives is made up of 435
mem bers, each having his own peculiar political be
liefs and doctrines, it is apparent th at legislation
w ould be practically out of the question unless some
definite means for obtaining u n ity of action were em ployed.
Im p o rtan t factors in o b tain in g such u n ity of action in the house are
the rules w hich govern it and w hich the speaker is authorized to e n
force. Some of these rules are w ritten but m any of them exist only as
precedents established by custom and usage. A lthough they are al
ways form ulated by the m ajority side of the house they are equally
binding on both m ajority and m inority. A t the same tim e they give
the m inority certain rig h ts w hich the m ajority is bound to respect and
which th e form er can enforce even against and in spite of th e latter.
T he m ost im p o rtan t factor in legislating under the rules of the house
is th e speaker. N ext in im portance are the leaders of the respective
parties represented there, called, in E n g lan d , th e leaders of th e gov ern
m ent and the opposition, respectively, and in the A m erican house of
representatives, th e leaders of the m ajority and the m inority, respec-