Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1898 — AMOUNTS TO LITTLE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMOUNTS TO LITTLE.

THE IMITATION OF PARTICIPATION IN AFFAIRS The Real Work in the Legislature Halle Is Done by Leaders, bnt That Does Not Put a Stop to Endless Cancueing. About the Cloak Rooms. Washington correspondence:

MOST members of Congress think that they know pretty well what would be the best X - policy to be fol- % lowed by their E t arty. In the Senate recognized leadershipdoes not go so far as it does in the House, and there each man feels that he is en’’’’Tr- titled to be, and FF-r he is, consulted R concerning the 11 , course to be followed by his party.

In the House leadership counts for everything, and. while every member may feel that he should be consulted, very few of them are. Most of the business of the House is done by a few men, and little or nothing is accomplished without the Speaker's consent. To a greater or less extent this has been the case under all administrations during many years, much depending on the character of the man in the chair, but the power of leadership has developed very remarkably during the past few years. Perhaps none before have had the power that is exerted by Speaker Reed. It may be that his power is to have a test before the close of this Congress such as it has never had before, but there is very little in past experience to encourage the hope of successful antagonism of him by members of his own party,

and the antagonism of the minority, of course, counts for but little. In spite of the fact of all members of the House feeling that they know a thing or two, astonishingly few ever go to the Speaker to advise with him about party policy or any question of more importance than the fate of some little local bill in which the member himself is alone interested. There are scarcely more than half a dozen with whom the Speaker consults, nnd very few beyond that number who would venture to advise him about a matter of policy. There is very little consultation with the great mass of the members who form the Congress. Among the Members. To make up for this there is much consultation and discussion among members themselves. The House is in a constant caucus or group of caucuses. All phases of politics and policy are constantly being discussed. Legislation is suggested and the suggestions are analyzed and criticised with earnestness and wisdom. Members busy about with the energy of insects whose nature it is to toil and keep in motion. Heads are put together aud fists are brought down upon palms in earnestness to give emphasis to weighty arguments and matters are mooted and concurred in that might change the whole course of government. Yet of all this nothing is ever heard beyond the little cir-

cle within which the discussion occurs and where the plans are laid. The policy adopted by the leaders is not changed or sought to be changed, if, indeed, it is known or inquired into; nor does any legislation or motion towards legislation follow. Sometimes a group of memDers of the majority side of the House, having agreed among themselves that they have struck a pretty good idea, will scatter themselves among the members on the minority side to see how the idea will be received there. If it meets with favor there will be mutual congratulations and felicitation, and the caucusing will become more active and comprehensive. It will spread over both sides of the House and into the cloak rooms. Perhaps the same subject will occupy them for a day or two. Majority members will go over to the minority cloak room, and minority members will visit the cloak room of the majority. There will be much mysterious whispering. An air of importance will come over the assembly. Groups will become larger and more commingling. Leaders and subleaders will spring to the front and emissaries will worm in and out from aisle to aisle and from one side to the other. After "all has been said and done that could be without actually doing something the matter will quietly subside. The majority and minority negotiations will come to a close. The conferences will scatter and the caucuses divide up into smaller groups discussing other subjects or trying to originate other plans for some other project. Meanwhile no one has suggested the lately agitated project to the Speaker. The sound of the discussion has not reached his ear. The agitation has not made a motion on the surface of the legislative mill pond. They have been simply blowing thistledown across the water and calling it commerce. The cloak room caucus has ended in cloak room legislation. Decided by the Leaders. Day after day goes on this “endless imitation’’ of participation in affairs, while what is to be done is decided on- by the leaders and by them executed. • About the only time when these cloakroom caucuses have serious import is when they do not relate to things of the

immediate present, or directly to legislation. For instance, it is not known whether Speaker Reed will, in the succeeding Congress, be a candidate for Speaker, or that he will be in the Honse at all. It has been intimated that he might retire from the House at the end of this term. Out of this possibility grows another sort of cloak-room caucus. Men not now exactly leaders are engaged in making friends. The possible candidates for the speakership of the Fifty-sixth Congress are “mixing” and making display of their talents. Who’s to come back, and “how I can be of service” are subjects of discussion. The embryo speakership candidate passes from group to group, and is interested in all that interests his colleagues. This sort of speculative and anticipatory consultation is particularly active on the Democratic side. There, they being in the minority and having little to do with present legislation, mapping out a program for the future and a present policy relating entirely to the future is the only profitable thing to be done. They have to deal with an abstract proposition. They have nothing to manage but themselves. It is a struggle to retain or to gain a leadership for the prospect it may hold out in the future. Consultations are constant and active, confidential, mysterious. Each aspiring statesman is constantly moving among his followers, to hold them in line, to inspire them with confidence and to keep them alert against the devices of the followers of a rival. Half a dozen little caucuses are being held every hour in the cloak room, around the fireplaces in the hall and in the body of the House.

THE COLISEUM AS ORIGINALLY PLANNED.

A CLOAK ROOM CAUCUS.