. The American commonwealth . ther crowds, a legisla-ture must be led and ruled. Its merit lies not in the inde-pendence of its members, but in the reflex action of itsopinion upon the leaders, in its willingness to defer to themin minor matters, reserving disobedience for the issues inwhich some great principle overrides both the obligation ofdeference to estabhshed authority and the respect due tospecial knowledge. 96 AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH Secondly, the spirit of party may seem to be weaker inCongress than in the people at large. But this is only be-cause the questions which the people decid
. The American commonwealth . ther crowds, a legisla-ture must be led and ruled. Its merit lies not in the inde-pendence of its members, but in the reflex action of itsopinion upon the leaders, in its willingness to defer to themin minor matters, reserving disobedience for the issues inwhich some great principle overrides both the obligation ofdeference to estabhshed authority and the respect due tospecial knowledge. 96 AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH Secondly, the spirit of party may seem to be weaker inCongress than in the people at large. But this is only be-cause the questions which the people decide at the polls arealways questions of choice between candidates for the people to vote at the polls on matters not explicitlycomprised within a party platform, there would be the sameuncertainty as Congress displays. But of course it cannotbe employed every day or for every bill. Hence when noparty meeting has issued its orders, a member is free to voteas he pleases, or rather as he thinks his constituents Chapter XIIT THE Ilii:LATION OF CO^TGRESS TO THEPRESIDENT A LTHOUGH the Constitution forbids any Federal/% official to be chosen a member of either the House orjL JL, the Senate, there is nothing in it to prevent officialsfrom speaking there. Now, however, no Federal official ap-pears on the floor. In the early days Washington came downand delivered his opening speech. Occasionally he remainedin the Senate during a debate, and even expressed his opinionthere. When Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury,prepared his famous report on the national finances, he askedthe House whether they would hear him speak it, or wouldreceive it in writing. They chose the latter course, and theprecedent then set has been followed by subsequent min-isters, while that set in 1801 by President Jefferson when hetransmitted his message in writing instead of delivering aspeech, has been similarly respected by all his neither House now hears a member of the
Size: 1226px × 2038px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu3192403045, bookyear1906
