bills. So it came about, as Bryce remarks, that the choice of the
Speaker was "a political event of the highest significance."

It was under the regency of Speaker Cannon that the power of the
Speaker's office attained its climax. The Republicans had a large
majority in the House and the old war-horses felt like colts.
They assumed their leadership, however, with that obliviousness
to youth which usually characterizes old age. The gifted and
attractive Reed had ruled often by aphorism and wit, but the
unimaginative Cannon ruled by the gavel alone; and in the course
of time he and his clique of veterans forgot entirely the
difference between power and leadership.

Even party regularity could not long endure such tyranny. It was
not against party organization that the insurgents finally raised
their lances, but against the arbitrary use of the machinery of
the organization by a small group of intrenched "standpatters."
The revolt began during the debate on the Payne-Aldrich tariff,
and in the campaign of 1908 "Cannonism" was denounced from the
stump in every part of the country. By March, 1910, the
insurgents were able, with the aid of the Democrats, to amend the
rules, increasing the Committee on Rules to ten to be elected by
the House and making the Speaker ineligible for membership. When
the Democrats secured control of the House in the following year,
the rules were revised, and the selection of all committees is
now determined by a Committee on Committees chosen in party
caucus. This change shifts arbitrary power from the shoulders of
the Speaker to the shoulders of the party chieftains. The power
of the Speaker has been lessened but by no means destroyed. He is
still the party chanticleer.