contest is apparently taking place between the young bird and its parent, and it seems inevitable that one must emerge from the conflict mangled and disabled. After a moment of quiet the nestling pelican again appears in the light of day, not only unhurt, but replete with a bountiful repast of fish, which stills the croaks until a few hours have passed, when hunger again arouses him to vocal utterance. He steps out of his mother's beak, balances for a moment on very wobbly legs, looks about wholly unconscious of the varying emotions he has aroused in the onlooker, and turning, burrows deeply beneath the living coverlet of feathers which for so many weeks has patiently sheltered him day and night from cold, from rain, and the threatened attacks of other birds in the great cage which is his world. THE FORMATION OF VOWELS 1 EDWARD B. TYLOR WHAT Vowels are, is a matter which has been for some years well understood. They are compound musical tones such as, in the vox humana stop of the organ, are sounded by reeds (vibrating tongues) fitted to organ pipes of particular construction. The manner of formation of vowels by the voice is shortly this. There are situated in the larynx a pair of vibrating membranes called the vocal chords, which may be rudely imitated by stretching a piece of sheet india-rubber over the open end of a tube, so as to form two half covers to it, "like the parchment of a drum split across the middle;" when the tube is blown through, the india-rubber flaps will vibrate as the vocal chords do in the larynx, and give out a sound. In the human voice, the musical effect of the vibrating chords is increased by the cavity of the mouth, which acts as a resonator or soundingbox, and which also, by its shape at any moment, modifies the musical "quality" of the sound produced. Quality, which is independent of pitch, depends on the harmonic overtones ac 1 From Primitive Culture, Chap. V. companying the fundamental tone which alone musical notation takes account of: this quality makes the difference between the same note on two instruments, flute and piano for instance, while some instruments, as the violin, can give to one note a wide variation of quality. To such quality the formation of vowels is due. This is perfectly shown by the common Jews'harp, which when struck can be made to utter the vowels a, e, i, o, u, etc., by simply putting the mouth in the proper position for speaking these vowels. In this experiment the player's voice emits no sound, but the vibrating tongue of the Jews'-harp placed in front of the mouth acts as a substitute for the vocal chords, and the vowel sounds are produced by the various positions of the cavity of the mouth modifying the quality of the note, by bringing out with different degrees of strength the series of harmonic tones of which it is composed. OUTLINE: THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WOODROW WILSON I. The House of Representatives is the chamber in which the people are directly represented. A. It differs in purpose and constitution from the Senate. II. The House is a business body rather than a deliberative assembly. III. It is organized, for the transaction of business, into a number of standing committees. A. There are fifty-seven of these committees, each charged with some special branch of legislative business. IV. The committees decide what matters shall be presented before the House. A. Every bill introduced by a member is sent to the appropriate committee, which throws it aside altogether or alters it to suit its own views. B. A private bill can be taken up directly in the House only by a suspension of the rules. V. The transaction of business is regulated by the Speaker and the Committee on Rules. 32 VI. The Speaker of the House has greater powers than the presiding A. He appoints all the committees, and in such a way as to re- 1. Even though he is limited by well-established precedents, ments. B. He decides the committee to which a question shall be re- C. He assigns the reports of the committees to the several 1. In this way he can make it likely that a bill shall not be D. He controls debate by his prerogative of "recognition." 2. In the intervals of calendar business, no one but the E. He directly controls the Committee on Rules, which is a very important part of the party machinery. 1. Originally the Committee on Rules merely reported to each new House the body of standing rules under which it was to act. 2. At present it can sweep aside the ordinary routine and bring in a schedule of action which will enable the House to get at the most important questions. VII. The Speaker and the committees are not unrestricted in their action. A. The Speaker is an instrument of the House as well as a leader, and his decisions can be overriden by the House. B. The Committee on Rules is expected to arrange for considerable discussion on certain important public measures. VIII. The private member has a court of last resort in the party caucus. A. The caucus is an outside conference of the members of the majority at which questions are decided which it is impossible to take up on the floor of the House. 1. Attendance is not compulsory, but absence is considered a sign of disloyalty. 2. There is free discussion, but it is a point of honor to keep secret the substance of the discussions. 3. To the conclusions of the caucus the Speaker himself is subject. IX. The committees carry on their business in private. A. Public hearings are granted on certain bills, but such hearings are exceptional. B. The reports of the chairmen do not contain the elements of contested opinion which may have shown themselves in private conference. X. Each committee is constituted as a miniature House. A. The minority party is represented in proportion to its numerical strength in the House. B. The minority members are often influential in shaping reports on matters on which no sharp party lines have been drawn. C. On technical matters like manufactures, banking, naval construction, or foreign affairs, members of the minority who have had long experience may even dominate the committees. D. Business is transacted with more efficiency because with less formality and party feeling than on the floor of the House. XI. The minority is organized in the same manner as the ma jority. A. It has a formally chosen floor leader, who can become caucus. XII. The House of Representatives is one of the most powerful pieces of our whole governmental machinery and its power is centred and summed up in the Speaker. A. The leader of the Senate must deal with the Speaker alone when there is business to be taken up in conference by the two chambers. B. Without the Speaker's consent and approval the President cannot hope to have legislation adopted. C. Members of the cabinet must study the Speaker's views and purposes if they would obtain appropriations or success for their cherished measures. D THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 WOODROW WILSON 1 I. THE House and Senate are naturally unlike. They are different both in constitution and character. They do not represent the same things. The House of Representatives is by intention the popular chamber, meant to represent the people by direct election through an extensive suffrage, while the Senate was designed to represent the states as political units, as the constituent members of the Union. The terms of membership in the two houses, moreover, are different. The two chambers were unquestionably intended to derive their authority from different sources and to speak with different voices in affairs; and however much they may have departed from their original characters in the changeful processes of our politics, they still represent many sharp contrasts to one another, and must be described as playing, not the same but very distinct and dissimilar rôles in affairs. II. Perhaps the contrast between them is in certain respects even sharper and clearer now than in the earlier days of our history, when the House was smaller and its functions simpler. The House once debated; now it does not debate. It has not the time. There would be too many debaters, and there are too many subjects of debate. It is a business body, and it must get its business done. When the late Mr. Reed once, upon a well-known occasion, thanked God that the House was not a deliberate assembly, there was no doubt a dash of half-cynical humor in the remark, such as so often gave spice and biting force to what he said, but there was the sober earnest of a serious man of affairs, too. He knew the vast mass of business the House undertook to transact: that it had made itself a great organ of direction, and that it would be impossible for it to get through its calendars if it were to attempt to discuss in open house, instead of in its committee rooms, the measures it acted 1 From Constitutional Government in the United States. The Columbia University Press, 1908. Reprinted by permission. |