Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
I make no onslaught on the individual. I have a high regard for the Speaker of this House personally and for him politically; but we face the fact that we have adopted a set of rules in this body that are an absolute disgrace to the legislative body of any republic.
Throughout the entire three years of my service in this body I have been up against the little machine that dominates the proceedings and the deliberations of this House. During the entire three years prior to this time I have always treated that machine with the deference due to its age and its reputation. I trust you will excuse my frankness when I tell you that from this time on I shall devote a little of my time and a tithe of my energy to putting a few spokes in the wheel of that machine that the designers of the vehicle never ordered. [Laughter.]
I for one expect to live to see the day in this House not when the Speaker shall tell the individual members of this House what he is going to permit them to bring up, but when those individual members, constituting a majority, will inform the Speaker what they are going to bring up for themselves.
X
THE SUPREME COURT ROOM
