regarded and but seldom heard. The best that one of them may gain is
"Leave to print"; which is a kind of consent to be fraudulent, and
permits a member to pretend through the Congressional Record that he
made a speech (which he never made) and was overwhelmed by applause
(which he did not receive) which swept down in thunderous peals (during
moments utterly silent) from crowded galleries (as empty as a church).

Senator Hanway, when he decided to pick out a House Speaker favorable to
his hopes, had plenty of time wherein to lay his plans. The personnel of
a coming House is known for over a year; the members are elected nearly
thirteen months before they take their seats. These thirteen months of
grace are granted the new member by the Constitution on a hopeful theory
that he will devote them to a study of his country's needs. In this
instance, as in many another, theory and practice wander wide apart; the
new member gives those thirteen months to a profound study of his own
needs, and concerns himself no more over the nation's than over
wine-pressing in far-away Bordeaux. It is the glaring fault of every
scheme of government, your own being no exception to the rule, that it
seems meant for man as he should be rather than for man as he is.

Every member of the coming House, among matters of personal moment to
himself, had given no little thought to what committees he would be
placed upon; and this, in the nature of House things, likewise compelled
him to a consideration of the Speakership and who should fill it. It was
by remembering those committee hopes and fears of members, and adroitly
fomenting them, that Senator Hanway expected to control the Speakership
election.

But he must go warily to work. Coming from the Senate end of the
Capitol, Senator Hanway, in his proposed interference in the