nths of time
that are now consumed in committee incubation and would almost
certainly be assured of opportunity of considering the public business.
Discrimination in legislative privilege among members of the House would
then be abolished, for every member would belong to the committee on
appropriations. It is universally true in constitutional governments
that power over appropriations involves power over legislation, and the
only possibility of a square deal is to open that power to the entire
membership of the assembly, which is the regular practice in Switzerland
and in all English commonwealths. The House could not have been ignorant
of the existence of this alternative, for the whole subject had been
luminously discussed in the Senate Report of February 4,1881. It was,
therein, clearly pointed out that such an arrangement would prevent
paralysis or inaction in Congress. With the Administration proposing
its measures directly to Congress, discussion of them and decisions upon
them could not be avoided.

But such a public forum could not be established without sweeping away
many intrenchments of factional interest and private opportunity, and
this was not at all the purpose of the committee on rules. It took its
character and direction from an old feud between Morrison and Randall.
Morrison, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in 1876, had
reported a tariff reform measure which was defeated by Randall's
influence. Then Randall, who had succeeded to the Speakership,
transferred Morrison from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means
Committee to the chairmanship of the committee on public lands. But
Morrison was a man who would not submit to defeat. He was a veteran of
the Civil War, and had been severely wounded in leading his regiment at
Fort Donelson. After the war, he figured in Illinois politics and served
as Speaker of the State Legislature. He entered Congress in 1873 and
devoted himself to the study of the tariff with such intelligence and
thoroughness that his speeches are still an indispensable part of the
history of tariff legislation. His habitual manner was so mild
and unassuming that it gave little indication of the force of his
personality, which was full of energy and perseverance.

Randall was more imperious in his mien. He was a party leader of
established renown which he had gained in the struggles over force bills
at the close of the reconstruction period. His position on the tariff
was tha