But it is a remarkable circumstance that at no time was any reference made to the only way in which the House can regain freedom of action--namely, by having the Administration submit its budget demands and its legislative proposals directly to the committee of the whole House.

The preparatory stages could then be completed before the opening of the legislative session.

Congress would thus save the months of time that are now consumed in committee incubation and would almost certainly be assured of opportunity of considering the public business.
Discrimination in legislative privilege among members of the House would then be abolished, for every member would belong to the committee on appropriations.

It is universally true in constitutional governments that power over appropriations involves power over legislation, and the only possibility of a square deal is to open that power to the entire membership of the assembly, which is the regular practice in Switzerland and in all English commonwealths.

The House could not have been ignorant of the existence of this alternative, for the whole subject had been luminously discussed in the Senate Report of February 4,1881.