His Voice
Was Always Ringing In My Ears Exactly As Does The Voice Of The
Croupier At A Gambling-Table,
Who goes on declaring and explaining
the results of the game, and who generally does so in sharp, loud,
ringing
Tones, from which all interest in the proceeding itself
seems to be excluded. It was just so with the Speaker in the House
of Representatives. The debate was always full of interruptions;
but on every interruption the Speaker asked the gentleman
interrupted whether he would consent to be so treated. "The
gentleman from Indiana has the floor." "The gentleman from Ohio
wishes to ask the gentleman from Indiana a question." "The
gentleman from Indiana gives permission." "The gentleman from
Ohio!" - these last words being a summons to him of Ohio to get up
and ask his question. "The gentleman from Pennsylvania rises to
order." "The gentleman from Pennsylvania is in order." And then
the House seems always to be voting, and the Speaker is always
putting the question. "The gentlemen who agree to the amendment
will say Aye." Not a sound is heard. "The gentlemen who oppose the
amendment will say No." Again not a sound. "The Ayes have it,"
says the Speaker, and then he goes on again. All this he does with
amazing rapidity, and is always at it with the same hard, quick,
ringing, uninterested voice. The gentleman whom I saw in the chair
was very clever, and quite up to the task. But as for dignity - !
Perhaps it might be found that any great accession of dignity would
impede the celerity of the work to be done, and that a closer copy
of the British model might not on the whole increase the efficiency
of the American machine.
When any matter of real interest occasioned a vote, the ayes and
noes would be given aloud; and then, if there were a doubt arising
from the volume of sound, the Speaker would declare that the "ayes"
or the "noes" would seem to have it! And upon this a poll would be
demanded. In such cases the Speaker calls on two members, who come
forth and stand fronting each other before the chair, making a
gangway. Through this the ayes walk like sheep, the tellers giving
them an accelerating poke when they fail to go on with rapidity.
Thus they are counted, and the noes are counted in the same way. It
seemed to me that it would be very possible in a dishonest
legislator to vote twice on any subject of great interest; but it
may perhaps be the case that there are no dishonest legislators in
the house of Representatives.
According to a list which I obtained, the present number of members
is 173, and there are 63 vacancies occasioned by secession. New
York returns 33 members; Pennsylvania, 25; Ohio, 21; Virginia, 13;
Massachusetts and Indiana, 11; Tennessee and Kentucky, 10; South
Carolina, 6; and so on, till Delaware, Kansas, and Florida return
only 1 each.
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