Peculiar circumstances have caused this. For a
long time, one section of the country largely dominated the
other. That section of the country was constantly apprehensive
of danger which might happen at any time by reason of an
institution it was maintaining. Very naturally, all the rules of
the House were bent for the obstruction of action on the part of
Congress." It may be added that these observations apply even
more forcibly, to the rules of the Senate. The privilege of
unrestricted debate was not originally granted by those rules but
was introduced as a means of strengthening the power of sectional
resistance to obnoxious legislation.
The revision of the rules in 1885, then, was not designed really
to facilitate action by the House, but rather to effect a
transfer of the power to rule the House. It was at least clear
that under the proposed changes the chairman of the committee on
appropriations would no longer retain such complete mastery as
Randall had wielded, and this was enough to insure the adoption
of the majority report. The minority report opposed this
weakening of control on the ground that it would be destructive
of orderly and responsible management of the public funds.
Everything which Randall said on that point has since been amply
confirmed by much sad experience. Although some leading
Republicans, among whom was Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, argued
strongly in support of Randall's views, the temper of the House
was such that the majority in favor of the change was
overwhelming, and on December 18, 1885, the Morrison plan was
finally adopted without a roll call.
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