The appointing power of the President, however, still remains the principal point of his contact with the machine.He has, of course, other means of showing partizan favors.Tariff laws, laws regulating interstate commerce, reciprocity treaties, "pork barrels," pensions, financial policies, are all pregnant with political possibilities.
The second official unit in the national political hierarchy is the House of Representatives, controlling the pursestrings, which have been the deadly noose of many executive measures.The House is elected every two years, so that it may ever be "near to the people"! This produces a reflex not anticipated by the Fathers of the Constitution.It gives the representative brief respite from the necessities of politics, and hence little time for the necessities of the State.
The House attained the zenith of its power when it arraigned President Johnson at the bar of the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors in office.It had shackled his appointing power by the Tenure of Office Act; it had forced its plan of reconstruction over his veto; and now it led him, dogged and defiant, to a political trial.Within a few years the character of the House changed.A new generation interested in the issues of prosperity, rather than those of the war, entered public life.
The House grew unwieldy in size and its business increased alarmingly.The minority, meanwhile, retained the power, through filibustering, to hold up the business of the country.
It was under such conditions that Speaker Reed, in 1890, crowned himself "Czar" by compelling a quorum.This he did by counting as actually present all members whom the clerk reported as "present but not voting." The minority fought desperately for its last privilege and even took a case to the Supreme Court to test the constitutionality of a law passed by a Reed-made quorum.The court concurred with the sensible opinion of the country that "when the quorum is present, it is there for the purpose of doing business," an opinion that was completely vindicated when the Democratic minority became a majority and adopted the rule for its own advantage.
By this ruling, the Speakership was lifted to a new eminence.The party caucus, which nominated the Speaker, and to which momentous party questions were referred, gave solidarity to the party.But the influence of the Speaker, through his power of appointing committees, of referring bills, of recognizing members who wished to participate in debate, insured that discipline and centralized authority which makes mass action effective.The power of the Speaker was further enlarged by the creation of the Rules Committee, composed of the Speaker and two members from each party designated by him.This committee formed a triumvirate (the minority members were merely formal members) which set the limits of debate, proposed special rules for such occasions as the committee thought proper, and virtually determined the destiny of bills.So it came about, as Bryce remarks, that the choice of the Speaker was "a political event of the highest significance."It was under the regency of Speaker Cannon that the power of the Speaker's office attained its climax.The Republicans had a large majority in the House and the old war-horses felt like colts.
They assumed their leadership, however, with that obliviousness to youth which usually characterizes old age.The gifted and attractive Reed had ruled often by aphorism and wit, but the unimaginative Cannon ruled by the gavel alone; and in the course of time he and his clique of veterans forgot entirely the difference between power and leadership.
