CHAPTER XIII

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THE House of Representatives, usually called for shortness, the House, represents the nation on the basis of population, as the Senate represents the States.

But even in the composition of the House the States play an important part. The Constitution provides1 that "representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers," and under this provision Congress allots so many members of the House to each State in proportion to its population at the last preceding decennial census, leaving the State to determine the districts within its own area for and by which the members shall be chosen. These districts are now equal or nearly equal in size; but in laying them out there is ample scope for the process called "gerrymandering," which the dominating party in a State rarely fails to apply for its own advantage. Where a State legislature has failed to redistribute the State into con

1 Constitution, Art. i. § 2, par. 3; cf. Amendment xiv. § 2.

2 So called from Elbridge Gerry, a leading Democratic politician in Massachusetts (a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and in 1812 elected Vice-President of the United States), who when Massachusetts was being re-districted contrived a scheme which gave one of the districts a shape like that of a lizard. Stuart, the well-known artist, entering the room of an editor who had a map of the new districts hanging on the wall over his desk observed, "Why, this district looks like a salamander," and put in the claws and eyes of the creature with his pencil. "Say rather a Gerrymander," replied the editor; and the name stuck. The aim of gerrymandering, of course, is so to lay out the one-membered districts as to secure in the greatest possible number of them a majority for the party which conducts the operation. This is done sometimes by throwing the greatest possible number of hostile voters into a district which is anyhow certain to be hostile, sometimes by adding to a district where parties are equally divided some place in which the majority of friendly voters is sufficient to turn the scale. Thus a district was carved out in Mississippi (the so-called Shoe String district) 500 miles long by 40 broad, and another in Pennsylvania resembling a dumb-bell. South Carolina furnishes some beautiful recent examples. And in Missouri a district was contrived longer, if measured along its windings, than the State itself, into which as large a number as possible of the negro voters were thrown.

gressional districts, after the State has received an increase of representatives, the additional member or members are elected by the voters of the whole State on a general ticket, and are called "representatives at large." Recently one State (Maine) elected all its representatives on this plan, while another (Kansas) elected three by districts and four by general ticket. Each district, of course, lies wholly within the limits of one State. When a seat becomes vacant the governor of the State issues a writ for a new election, and when a member desires to resign his seat he does so by letter to the governor.

The original House which met in 1789 contained only sixtyfive members, the idea being that there should be one member for every 30,000 persons. As population grew and new States were added, the number of members was increased. Originally Congress fixed the ratio of members to population, and the House accordingly grew; but latterly, fearing a too rapid increase, it has fixed the number of members with no regard for any precise ratio of members to population. Under a statute of 1891, the number was fixed at 356, being, according to the census of 1890, one member to about 174,000 souls. In 1909, the number had reached 391. In 1911, under the census of 1910, it was increased to 435. Five States, Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, have one representative each; five have two each; while New York has forty-three, and Pennsylvania thirty-six. Besides these full members there are also Territorial delegates, one from each of the Territories, regions enjoying a species of self-government, but not yet formed into States. These delegates sit and speak, but have no right to vote, being unrecognized by the Constitution. They are, in fact, merely persons whom the House, under a statute, admits to its floor and permits to address it.

The quorum of the House, as of the Senate, is a majority of the whole number. Till the Fifty-first Congress the custom had been to treat as absent all members who did not answer to their names on a roll-call, but in 1890, one party persistently refusing to answer in order to prevent the transaction of business, Speaker Reed asserted the right of counting for the purposes of a quorum all he saw present. A rule was then passed directing him so to count. This was dropped in the next Congress, but in 1894 restored, substituting two tellers for the Speaker.

As to the Territories, see Chap. XLVII., post.

The electoral franchise on which the House is elected is for each State the same as that by which the members of the more numerous branch of the State legislature are chosen. Originally franchises varied much in different States; and this was a principal reason why the Convention of 1787 left the matter to the States to settle: now what is practically manhood (which in five States includes womanhood) suffrage prevails in the Northern and Western States. A State, however, has a right of limiting the suffrage as it pleases, and many States do exclude persons convicted of crime, paupers, illiterates, etc. By the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution (passed in 1870)" the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by any State on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude," while by the fourteenth amendment (passed in 1868) "the basis of representation in any State is reduced in respect of any male citizens excluded from the suffrage, save for participation in rebellion or other crimes." This was designed to give the former slave states a motive for keeping their suffrage wide, but the fact remains that the franchise by which the Federal legislature is chosen may differ, and does in some points actually differ in different parts of the Union.1

Members are elected for two years, and the election always takes place in the even years, 1912, 1914, and so forth. Thus the election of every second Congress coincides with that of a President; and admirers of the Constitution find in this arrangement another of their favourite "checks," because while it gives the incoming President a Congress presumably, though by no means necessarily, of the same political complexion as his own, it enables the people within two years to express their approval or disapproval of his conduct by sending up another House of Representatives which may support or oppose the policy he has followed. The House does not in the regular course of things meet until a year has elapsed from the time when it has been elected, though the President may convoke it sooner, i.e. a House elected in November 1914 does not meet till December 1915, unless the President summons it in "extraordinary session" some time after March 4, 1915, when the

1 Rhode Island retained till 1888 a small property qualification for electors, and in some States payment of a poll tax is made a condition to the exercise of electoral rights. See Chapter XL. on State Legislatures.

As to the recent restrictions of the suffrage in the States where slavery existed down till the War of Secession, see Vol. II. Chapters XCIII.-XCV.

previous House expires. This summons has been issued fifteen times since 1789. It so often brought ill luck to the summoning President that a sort of superstition against it grew.1 The question is often mooted whether a new Congress ought not by law to meet within six months after its election, for there are inconveniences in keeping an elected House unorganized and Speakerless for a twelvemonth. But the country is not so fond of Congress as to desire more of it. It is a singular result of the present arrangement that the old House continues to sit for nearly four months after the members of the new House have been elected, and that a measure may still be passed in the expiring Congress, against which the country has virtually pronounced at the general elections already held for its successor. In the Fifty-first Congress the House voted more than 500 millions of dollars in its appropriation bills after a new Congress had been elected, and when therefore it had in strictness no longer any constituents.

The expense of an election varies greatly from district to district. Sometimes, especially in great cities where illegitimate expenditure is more frequent and less detectible than in rural districts, it rises to a sum of $10,000 or more: sometimes it is trifling. No estimate of the average can be formed, because no returns of congressional election expenses are required by law; but as a rule a seat costs less than one for a county division does in England. A candidate, unless very wealthy, is not expected to pay the whole expense out of his own pocket, but is aided often by the local contributions of his friends, sometimes by a subvention from the election funds of the party in the State. All the official expenses, such as for clerks, polling booths, etc., are paid by the public.

1 This ill luck is supposed (says Mr. Blaine in his Twenty Years in Congress) to attach especially to May sessions, which reminds one of the superstition against May marriages mentioned by John Knox apropos of the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and Darnley.

2 As to bribery, see Vol. II. Chap. LXVII.

A statute of 1910 requires National Committees and national congressional campaign committees, and all organizations which in two or more States influence or attempt to influence the result of an election of representatives in Congress, to file with the Clerk of the House an account of all contributions received by or promised to it stating the persons contributing and the amounts. In England the fixing a maximum, proportioned to the number of electors, has greatly reduced the cost of elections. The average expenditure, all kinds of lawful expense included, seems, in county constituencies, to be from £1200 to £1500, and in boroughs from £500 to £600.

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Although bribery is not rare, comparatively few elections are impeached, for the difficulty of proof is increased by the circumstance that the House, which is the investigating and deciding authority, usually does not meet till a year after the election. As a member is elected for two years only, and the investigation would probably drag on during the whole of the first session, it is scarcely worth while to dispute the return for the sake of turning him out for the second session. In many States, drinking places are closed on the election day.

Among the members of the House there are few young men, and still fewer old men. The immense majority are between forty and sixty. Lawyers abound, including in that term both those who in Great Britain are called barristers or advocates, and those who are called attorneys, there being in America no distinction between these two branches of the profession. An analysis of the House in the Fiftieth Congress showed that two hundred and three members, or nearly twothirds of the whole number, had been trained or had practised as lawyers, and in subsequent Congresses the proportions have varied but little. In the Sixty-first the proportion of lawyers was slightly larger, especially among Southern members. Of course many of these had practically dropped law as a business and given themselves wholly to politics. Next in number come the men engaged in manufactures or commerce, in agriculture, or banking, or journalism, but no one of these occupations counted one-third so many members. Ministers of religion are very rare; there were, however, two in the Fifty-second Congress. No military or naval officer, and no person in the civil service of the United States, can sit. Scarcely any of the great railway men go into Congress, a fact of much significance when one considers that they are really the most powerful people in the country; and of the numerous lawyer members very few are leaders of the bar in their respective States. The reason is the same in both cases. Residence in Washington makes practice at the bar of a great city difficult or impossible, and men in lucrative practice would not generally sacrifice their

It was once proposed to transfer to a judicial tribunal the trial of election cases, which are now usually decided on party lines.

2 In the Sixty-first there would appear from the Congressional Directory to have been 201 lawyers, 63 persons engaged in manufactures, commerce, or finance, 23 agriculturists, 13 journalists, and two physicians. As some members do not state their occupations, no complete analysis can be given.