Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/373

 CONGRESSIONAL PAPERS.

��NO. I— THE HOUSE.

��365

��pondents of the metropolitan newspapers and the agents of the various press asso- ciations have seats and desks assigned them, from whence they send their let- ters and despatches to their respective papers.

The hall of the House of Representa- tives is a very large and gorgeous room, —one hundred and thirty feet in length, ninety-three feet in width, and thirty feet in height— surrounded with galleries on every side capable of comfortably seating nearly two thousand people. The floor gradually rises from the front of the Clerk's desk to the cloak rooms in the rear, and the members' seats are arranged in semi-circular rows facing the Speaker's chair. The Sergeant-at-Arms sits on the right side of the Speaker's desk, but below it, exhibiting on his left the mace or symbol of his office, when the House is in session ; and on the op- posite side of the Speaker's desk sits the Doorkeeper. The House is seldom a dignified body when measured by the strict rule of parliamentary decorum. It is generally disorderly, frequently tu- multuous. Only the best speakers ob- tain a recognition and a respectful hear- ing from their fellow members, while the lesser lights in the congressional galaxy are momentarily noticed, remanded to obscurity, or quietly extinguished by in- difference. The routine of business com- mences with the reading of the previous day's journal, after which comes the " morning hour " which begins from the moment the Speaker announces that " reports from committees are in order."' These committees from whom reports are "in order" are the Standing and Select Committees of the House, ap- pointed by the Speaker at the beginning of each' Congress. There are, in all, for- ty-three Standing and five Select commit- tees', of which thirty-four Standing com- mittees consist of eleven members each, one of nine members, and the remainder of five or six members each. Of the Se- lect Committees one consists of eleven members, two of five and two of three members each. To these two groups of committees is assigned the stupendous task of so perfecting the vast legislative machinery of our country that it may

��evolve wise, just and impartial laws for the government of forty millions of peo- ple of varying views aud conflicting in- terests. Each of the committees have large and commodious rooms assigned them, and libraries well stocked with law books, and books selected with special reference to the topics upon which said committees are expected to shape the legislation. These committees may be regarded as the mouth-pieces of the House upon the various measures brought before' it for consideration. It is the only feasible method by which so many sub- jects could even receive respectful atten- tion. The political party in control of the House is usually given the chairmanship of the committee, and one or two major- ity of its total membership. The several committee? meet in their respective rooms at such times as suit their con- venience when the House is not in ses- sion. The rules of the House debar them from setting during " session " hours, unless special permission is grant- ed. The work on all the leading com- mittees is very tedious and laborious, and oftentimes a severe test of Congres- sional patience and endurance. The work is facilitated by the employment of a clerk, and sometimes of stenographic ' reporters, when a large amount of testi- mony has to be taken. All petitions, pa- pers and bills that are brought before the House are referred to these committees and by them considered. A petition praying for the reduction of the tax on tea. or an increase of the duty on indigo, is referred to the committee on Ways and Means. Everything relating to the tariff goes to the same committee. The com- mittee on Foreign Affairs take cognizance of all international matters and our re- lations with foreign countries. The committee on Appropriations prepare all the large bills, twelve in number, necessary for the support of the different branches of the government, and the to- tal amount of money thus appropriated aggregates not far from one hundred and fifty or sixty million dollars annually. To convey some idea of the amount of labor necessray to prepare these bills it may be stated that at the second session (the present) of the Forty-fifth Congress.

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