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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1910)
8 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, MARCH 20, 1910. CANNON GQNSCIQU5 QFNQWRONGDONE Resignation Refused, but Elec tion of Successor Would Be Welcomed. COHERENT MAJORITY GONE Country Mistaken in Belief llia.t Republicans Control, Speaker De clares Vew Majority Vrged o Take . Reins. WASHINGTON.' March 19. "The real truth is that there is no roherent Repub lican majority in the House of Repre sentatives." In these words, and some othej-s. Speaker Cannon told the House today of his refusal to resign. Mr. Cannon save two reasons for his refusal. One was that he declined, of his own motion., to "precipitate a contest upon the House that might greatly en danger the final passage of all legislation necessary to redeem Republican pledges." The other was. he eakl. that a resigna tion in and of itself was a confession of weakness, or an apology for past actions. He was conscious of having done no poli tical wrong. The speech came just after the an nouncement of the final adoption of Xh& amended XorrLH resolution for the ap-t pointment of a new committee on rules. There was intense silence when Mr. Can non a-sked the indulgence of the House for about three minutes "to make a state ment." He said: "Gentlemen of the House of Represent atives: Actions, not words, determine the conduct and sincerity of men in the affairs of life. This is government by the people acting through the represent atives of a majority of the people. Re sults cannot be had except by a majority, and in the House of Representatives a majority, being responsible, should have full power and should exercise that pow er: otherwise the majority Is inefficient and does not perform lta functions. Minority Has Mission. "The office of the minority is to put the majority on its good behavior, advo cating in finod faith the policies which it proposes, evci ready' to take advantage of the mistakes of the majority, and ap peal to the country for its vindication. "From time to time heretofore the ma jority has become the minority, as in the present case, and from time to time here after the majority will become the minor ity. The country believes that the Re publican party has a majority of 41 in the House of Representatives at this time, yet sm-h is not the case. "The present Speaker of the House, to the best of his ability and judgment, co-operated with the Republican party, and so far in the history of this Con gress the Republican party has been enabled, by a very small majority, when the test came, to legislate in conform ity with the policies and the platform of the Republican party. Majority Is Clmngcd. "Such action, of course, begot criti cism which the Speaker does not deprecate on the part of the minority party. "The Speaker cannot he unmindful of tiie fact as evidenced by three previous elections to the Speakership that in the past he lias enjoyed the confidence of tl Republican party of the country r.nd of the Republican members of the J louse. But the assault upon the Speaker of the House by the minority, supplemented by the efforts of the so called insurgents, shows that the Demo cratic minority, aided by a number of so ialled insurgents constituting 15 per cent of the majority party in the House, is now in the majority, and that the Speaker of the House is not in har mony with the actual majority of the House as evidenced by the- vote just taken. "There are two courses open for the Speaker to pursue one is to resign and permit the new combination of democrats and insurgents to choose a . Speaker in harmony with its acts and purposes; the other is for the combina tion to declare a vacancy in the office of Speaker and proceed to the election of a new Speaker. Resignation Is Refused. "After consideration at this stage of th.e session of the Itouse, with much important legislation pendins. involv ing the pledges of the Republican plat form and their crystallization into law, believing that his resignation might consume weeks of time in the reorgan ization of the House, the Speaker, be ing in harmony with Republican poli cies and desirous of carrying them out,, ttcclines by bis own motion, to precipi tate a contest upon the Hou? in the election of a new Speaker, a contest that might greatly endanger the final passage of all legislation necessary to redeem Republican pledges and fulfill Republican promises. "This is one reason why the Speaker does not resign at once. "Another is this: In the judgment of the present Speaker a resignation in and of itself is a confession of weak ness, or mistake, or an apology for past actions. Rules Long in Force. "The Speaker is not conscious of hav ing done any political wrong. The . same rules are in force in this House that have been in force for two decades. The Speaker has construed the rules as he found them, and as they have been construed by previous Speakers from Thomas H. Reed's incumbency down to. the present time. "Heretofore the Speaker has been a member of the committee on rules cov ering a period of 60 years, and the present Speaker neither has sought new power nor has he unjustly used that already conferred upon him. "There has been much talk on the part of the minority and of the insur gents of the 'Czarism' of the Speaker, culminating in the action taken today. "The real truth is that there is no coherent Republican majority in the House of Representati ves. Therefore, the real majority ought to have the courage of its convictions and logical ly meet the situation that confronts it. "The Speaker does now believe and always has believed that this is a Oovernment through parties, and that parties can act only through majori ties. Retirement AVould Be Welcome. "The Speaker has always believed in and bowed to the will of the majority In Congress, in caucuses and in the legislative hall and today profoundly believes that to act otherwise is to dis organize parties, is to prevent coherent action in any legislation. Is to make impossible the reflection of the wishes of the people in statutes and in laws. "The Speaker has always held that, under the Constitution, it is a question of highest privilege for an actual ma jority of the House at any time to choose a new Speaker, and again noti fies the House that the Speaker wllL. THREE CHARACTERISTIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF SPEAKER CANNON, AROUND WHOM TWO DAYS' X -, -1? 'r? , . BATTLE IN HOUSE HAS RAGED. m &SZ C I Aiimifr , .. i 07mmamm VV-; rU- f T- ' 8 t ,- ,, mff j ) - , 1 l is moment or at any other tune, fr r jOSEPil Gilt ' C f -- 1 1 V&J' at th while confo tlona ber ership and chose a new Speaker, and, under existing conditions, would wel come such action on the part of the actual majority of the House, so that power and responsibility may rest with the Democratic and insurgent mem bers, who, by the last vote, evidently constitute a majority of this House. The chair is now ready to entertain such motion." Quiet attention characterized the great assemblage until the Speaker said. In clear tones: "The Speaker Is not conscious of hav ing done any political wrong." Then there was prolonged cheering. rmitv with the highest consti'tu- j CLAN IsTOISl L v , r 1 I pnvilege, a motion by any niem- IV L ' ' "! -steS , - I L I 3 ItAXDAIX PKECEDEXT QUOTED Speaker Finds Democratic Authority for His Ruling. WASHINGTON, March 19. Speaker Cannon quoted Samuel J. Randall's rul ing in 187S as a precedent for his ruling today that the Norris resolution was out of order. He declared also that to sus tain the introduction of the resolution would be to permit a member to inter rupt the House proceedings at any time with a proposal to amend the rules. The Speaker announced his ruling im mediately after the routine work of open ing the House had been accomplished. Reading slowly, he began his presenta tion by referring to the "fact that he had been criticised for being slow to rule on the point, but he explained this was due to the circumstances under which the question had been brought so unex pectedly upon the attention of the House. Full Debate Demanded. This, he said, had been done "in a revolutionary manner, making it of such transcendent importance to the future procedure of the House that the fullest, even the most protracted, discussion seemed justifiable." In no manner could the most complete information be brought to the considera tion of the question, and in no other way could the largest participation of the membership of the House be assured. He said that the question of individual privilege in the House had not been re viewed, and the principles governing it had not been questioned for many years. Those principles, he said, were relatively simple. "It has been held always." he went on, "that the ordinary legislative duties and functions of the House, exercised by au thority of the Constitution, must pro ceed according to the order prescribed by the rules. The fact that the Consti tution says the House "shall have power to' lay taxes, regulate commerce, make naturalization laws, coin money, estab lish postoffices, create courts, support armies and a Navy, etc., has not given these subjects when embodied in bills any right to disturb the order of busi ness provided by the rules. The very object of the rules is to provide in an orderly way for considering those and other subjects entrusted to the House's Judgment. To give all those subjects constitutional privileges would be to es tablish constitutional chaos in the House. Rule of House Obeyed. There were, however, certain func tions which the Constitution enjoins Con gress to do and for the doing of which it nixes the time. Among these require ments was one that Congress should pro vide for a census of the population and an apportionment of Representatives. Whether that construction proceeded too far when the Constitution gave a year within which to perform the duty is a matter as to which there might be doubt. But for 30 years the practice has been unvarying. Hence, when confronted with the question this week, he said, the chair had followed the practice of the House, as he would obey every other rule, with out questioning the wisdom that origin ally created it. He then proceeded: "Today, however, the chair is asked to permit a proposition for a new rule to come in, although the rules prescribing the order of business require us to pro ceed to other matters and it is claimed that the chair would be Justified in doing' this because the Constitution says that 'each House may determine the rules of its own proceedings." Whether the word "may" means "shall" or not, the chair will not stop to examine. '"The Constitution fixes no time when it "shall be done and as the House may, and has in one notable instance, pro ceeded without rules, it does not seem to the chair that there is here given any Constitutional mandate which would Jus tify the overriding of the rules. "Fortunately; in this crisis, the chair ts not compelled to. rely on his own judg ment, swayed as it might be by the passions and purpose of this House. He .pan look back to another hour when, in t V 7" P II I . h - I a a a day of calm, the navigators who steered the business of this House took their latitude and longitude unembar rassed by the exigencies of the tempest. Democratic Precedent Found. "The pathway of the chair lias been blazed, not by any flushed majority in a moment of factional success, not for any ends of one political party as op posed to the wishes of another political party, not under auspices which prejudice the chair because of memories of politi cal affiliations of his own: but on a ques tion of order raised by a great Demo cratic floor-leader in this House and de cided by a great Democratic Speaker. "On December IS, 1S78, this identical question arose in the House. Roger ti. Mills, of Texas, proposed as a question of . Constitutional privilege, exactly as is proposed today, to offer from the floor for immediate consideration, a proposi tion looking to' the amendment of the rules and when objection was made, as it is today, Mr. Mills argued: 'It is the Constitutional privilege of a House of Representatives to adopt rules at any time; it is a continuing power of which the House cannot divest itself.' "The members of the House did not agree with Mr. Mills, and James A. Garfield objected that it was proposed to carry the power, in this respect fur ther than the Constitution justifies. If the position of the gentlemen were cor rect, a member could-at any time inter rupt our proceedings by bringing in a proposition for the amendment of the rules. Randall Ruling Quoted. "The great Democratic Speaker and the chair measures his words in memory of the fame of a man who was the peer of his associates, the great Speaker Samuel J. Randall heard the arguments for and against the claim of Mr. Mills and decided the proposition to amend the rules was not a case of Constitu tional privilege. There was criticism grave criticism of the rules in those days, as there is today; but no man in that -House thought of appealing from a decision so consonant with reason. "Rutting himself upon the law made for the House by Mr. Speaker Randall, appealing from the passioin of this day to the just reasons of th.it day, the chair sustains the point of order and holds that the resolution is not now in order." Polndexter Out of Caucus. OREGONIAN NEWS BUREAU, Wash ington, March 19. -Throuehout the clos ing day of the fight against Speaker Cannon, all the Northwestern Congress men, save Poindexter, stood by the Re publican organization in the House, go ing down to defeat with it on the Norris resolution amending the rules, but coming again to the top on the vote which insured Cannon his posi tion as Speaker for the remainder of the Sixty-first Congress. Poindexter ' alone insurged and was one of the nine insurgents to vote with the Democrats on the final roll call to depose Speaker Cannon. As he cast his vote. Poindexter was vociferously applauded by the Democratic members, but escaped the hisses of the Repub licans, which were directed at Cooper when he cast a similar vote. Poindexter showed that he is one who not only objects to the rules of the Jlouse, but objects personally to Cannon as Speaker. His votes today and yesterday will exclude him from the Republican caucuses for the re mainder of his term in Congress. Acolytes Rob Chureli Boxes. PITTSBURG, March 19. A systematic robbery of the .contribution boxes in the Immaculate Conception Italian Church, which has been going on for two years, has1 ended in the arrest of seven altar boys. Detectives 'hidden in the confes sionals saw the boys come in and pry the boxes open with jack knives and the coins dropped one by one into the hands of confederates. The ringleader said that a brother now dead had taught him to rifle the boxes. One of the boys said he had stolen between $250 and $300 in the past two years and had spsnt 4t for candy and nickelodlons. Marked money put in the boxes was found on the boys. Canadian Plans Extension. VICTORIA, B. C, March 19. The Ca nadian Pacific Railway Is preparing to build an extension out of Victoria to the north end of Vancouver Island. Negotia tions for the right of - way for this line are now in progress, . - , Q TOO MUCH MONEY SPENT WISCONSIN' PKIMAHY NOT VIO LATED,' BUT VKRV NEARLY. Investigating Committee Censures Stephenson, La Kollette anr Others for Conduct. MADISON, Wis., March 19. (Spe cial.) Candidates for United States Senator in the Senatorial primary of 1908 did not plan to violate the law, but they did use questionable methods in the conduct of their campaign, ac-" cording to the report of the joint Sen atorial investigating committee filed with Governor Davidson . this after noon. The report urges corrective leg islation to prevent a recurrence of such methods. "Your committee," the report says, "believes . that the Republican Sena torial candidates and their managers did not deliberately plan to violate the law, but in their desire to win their candidates, particularly Stephen son, Cook and Hatten, conducted their campaign with an idea of getting re sults, and men were hired and money was spent and state officials and em ployes and members of the Legislature were used without regard to propriety. "Expenditures of so large a sum of money in a political campaign is of itself degrading, both to the candidate and to the electorate." Senator La Follette was severely criticised for the alleged use of state employes for political purposes during his administration as governor. Opera House Now Store. HOOD RIVER. Or., March 19. (Spe cial.) Lack of room today forced O. P. Dabney, an extensive dealer in furni- Humphreys' Seventy-Seven Famous Remedy for Grip & March, April and May, the change able months of Spring, are more fraught with danger of illness than the steady cold of Winter. If you will carry and take a dose of ' ' Sleventy-seven " at the first feel ing of lassitude and weakness, you will be proof against weather changes. ' ' Seventy-seven ' ' . breaks up hard, stubborn Colds that hang on Grip. Handy to carry, fits the vest pocket. All drugstores, 25c. Humphrey' Iiomeo. Medicine Co., Cor. William and Ann Streets. New York. . Free Sample I have discovered a positive cure for asthma. Send for free sample to prove my statement. To say more is useless. Lt the medicine talk. Three months' treatment $5. prepaid. - - - .. P. M1CH1ELI, llniKKlni, 3230 MlBslon St Son Kraaciaco, CaJ. Correct Clothes for Gentlemen are ready at the BEST Clothiers everywhere. EASTER comes on March 27th 'tis the part of wisdom to make your selection early but . above all to make it wisely. Clothes Value depends entirely on the establishment that . . makes the garments. T5fxa "Clothes Beautiful" embody all the advanced ideas of the Fashions for the coming Spring as they will be worn by the best dressed men in the business and social world and will be copied by the best clothes makers and individual tailors. We have individnal models for every man from the "sporty" College Chap to the conserv ative Business Man. ... ture here, to rent the Hood River Opera-house. This -will prohibit any further theatrical entertainments here for a year unless a new theater is State Fruit Inspector M. O. Lownsdale on the Ground READ THIS: Scappoose Fruit-Growers' Anticipations About to Be ' Realized Scappoose, only 20 miles from Portland on Astoria, & Calumbia R. R 35 minutes' ride by rail, along the banks of the Willamette River. A broad, level highway, running parallel with the railroad; ideal for driving or auto niobiling. Experienced fruit men, and others desirous of securing, an orchard tract of ten or more acres, located on the uplands, five miles northwest of Scappoose. on Portland Southwestern Railroad, with abundance of water; the best of red shot soil depth 5 to 30 feet no rock or gravel elevation 500 to 800 feet insurance against early budding and frost should visit our subdivided tract of 1800 acres, and make their selection at once A few desirable tracts remain unsold at from $20 to $50 per acre. A town lot in Spitzenberg goes with each tract. Daily trips to tract. Call and arrange to visit our SCAPPOOSE ORCHARD TRACTS M'FARLAND INVESTMENT CO. 311 CORBETT BUILDING . MERRITT & PALMER, Sale. Agent Look for thU Label None Warranted Without the Label. built. The property in which Mr. Dabney has been doing business has Just been sold and will be torn down to make way for a brick block which AddremM Scappooae FTultmen. SCARPOOSE. Or.. March 11. State Fruit Inspector M. O. Lownsdale spent Wednesday visiting: the orchards at this place, and during the afternoon grave a strong: talk on the care of orchards and how to combat the prevailing tree diseases, to a representative assembly of local fruit men. The ground work was laid "for the formation of a horti cultural society for this county. Mr. Lownsdale will come again In the near future to perfect the organization. gr.niinBimmniiimiiminiMaiiuiiiimniniiirigiEnTai'.ff 20 th Century e a s i n V .CLOTHES Progress is the spirit of i the s age t IN owhere more notice able than in the Schloss Baltimore Clothes will be started May 1. As no other place was available, he leased th Opera-house for a year and will turn it Into a furniture store. Son, Elevation, Cultivation and Organization Made Hood River and Rogue River Land Values. id DO mi