Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1931, Page 85

e S THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 29, 1391. NINETIETH BIRTHDAY OF HISTORIC MACE Mace of the House of Commons. The shaft dates from 1649, the crown and ornaments from 1660, BY MYRTA ETHEL CAWOOD. HEN Joseph G. Rodgers, the ser- geant at arms of the United States House of Representa- tives, places the historical old silver and ebony mace of the House in its official position be- side the Speaker’s chair on Monday, December 7, his act will not only mark the beginning of a new Congress but also the ninetieth consec- utive year that this particular mace has served the House. Political writers have predicted that the in- coming Congress will be a stormy one. It is altogether probable that there will be tem- pestuous outbursts now and then, but little or no harm can come of them, for the House of Representatives, the largest body of the Con- gress, realized early in its existence that it must take precaution to curb any noise, act or word likely to bring about a state of disorder. With this end in view the Congress provided for a sergeant at arms to preserve order on the fioor of the House and in 1789 the mace was desig- nated as his symbol of office, to be borne by him while enforcing order on the floor of the House. That was 143 years ago. Whenever, as seldom happens, the House becomes unruly and beycnd the Speaker’s control, the Speaker requests the sergeant at arms to restore order. This officer then lifts the mace from its pedestal and walks up and down the aisles of the hall with it. So great is the respect for this silent symbol of legisla- tive authority that it brings the most incorrigi- ble member to his senses immediately and utter silence prevails throughout the House. Never ance in the history of the Republic has it failed. Usually when a member becomes contentious and excited he can be calmed simply by the sergeant at arms touching him on the shoulder or merely standing beside his chair without the mace. Although the mace is always in plain sight when the House is in session, it is seldom indeed that it has to be resorted to for disciplinary purposes. William Tyler Page, the clerk of the House, says, “During my 50 years’ service at the Capitol the mace has not been used more than a dozen times to enforce order, and in each instance order was immediately restored.” The first mace of the House of Representa- tives was adopted April 4, 1789. It was about three feet long and consisted of 13 ebony rods representing the 13 original colonies, bound to- gether with transverse bands of silver in imita- tion of the thongs that bound the fasces of ancient Rome. The shaft was surmounted by a globe of solid silver about five inches in diam- eter, upon which rested a massive eagle richly carved of solid silver; although the eagle’s wings were outspread, he grasped the globe firmy with his claws. This mace was destroyed by the British when they burned the Capitol in 1814. For 28 years thereafter a mace of painted pine wood was used, until the con- gressional session of 1841-42, 90 years ago, when the present mace was procured, which is a replica of the one destroyed by the British. Without the mace, or an authorized substi- tute, Congress cannot officially convene. When the Hcuse is called to order each day the ser- geant at arms marches up the aisle with the mace and places it in an upright position on a cylindrical pedestal of polished green marble. After this bit of pageantry, the House is con- sidered legally in session. Each day when the House adjourns the sergeant takes the mace back to his office, where it is kept behind locked doors until the House meets again. The sergeant at arms carries the great mace on the opening day of Congress, but each day thereafter the duty is assigned to a deputy. For the last 12 years the mace has been cared The House of Representatives Cannot Officially Convene Without the Silver and Ebony Symbol of Order Which Now Has Stood Beside the Speaker’s Chair at Each Session for Four-Score-and-Ten Years—The Mace in World History. Joseph G. Rodgers, sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives, standing beside the Speaker’s chair with the congressional mace. for and carried daily to its place in the House by Deputy Ralph G. Meyer, a young Adonis, whose pleasing personality has won for him the good will and friendship of all the Repre- sentatives despite the fact that he is, techni- cally speaking, their police officer. MR‘ RODGERS, the sergeant at arms for the last 13 years, has been employed in the Capitol for nearly 50 years. He has seen Pres- idents, and other mighty statesmen come and go. For half a century he has watched the two great political parties grappling for power. Should Congress change from Republican to Democratic control this session, as it now ap- pears will be the case, the Democrats will elect the new sergeant at arms. There are other important duties of the sergeant at arms besides carrying the mace and preserving order in the House.: He has charge of the 100 policemen who guard the Capitol and the House Office Building; he pays the members’ salaries and their mileage, has charge of funerals, keeps a bank for the convenience of the Representatives who wish to deposit their money in the Capitol, and he serves sum- mons on witnesses, At the opening of each Congress the Speaker appoints a committee to call on the President and notify him that Con- gress is in session and ready to do business. The sergeant at arms takes this committee to the President. Should the Seventy-second Con- gress elect a new cergeant at arms the members of the House will miss the kindly soft-spoken officer who has served them so efficiently for the last 13 years. The office of the sergeant at arms is-a very beautiful room. Four maces are painted in its murals. One points to the north, another to the south, one to the east, and one to the west. Many historical pictures hang on the walls, but Mr. Rodgers’ favorite is a fading photo- graph, made 20 years ago, of the opening of the Sixtieth Congress. The picture plainly shows a 6-year-old child on the floor of the House with his father. That boy is Col. Charles A. Lindbergh. In both England and America the position of the sergeant at arms has always been an hon- ored and respected one, and although the mace can be traced back to the ancient Romans, the United States House of Representatives borrowed the idea directly from the English House of Commons. While in the past there have been many tumultuous scenes in the House of Representa- tives when the sergeant was called upon to preserve order, there are only a few instances recorded where the mace was used. The older employes at the Capitol remember that blus- tery scene on February 17, 1885, when John D. White of Kentucky, while speaking from the floor of the House, was called to order by the Speaker and told to sit down. Mr. White dis- regarded the order and kept on talking. The Speaker then directed the sergeant to see that the order was obeyed. The pfficer first ap- proached .Mr. White without the mace. He took hold of the indignant member’s arm, but he still refused to take his seat. The sergeant then procured the mace and returned to Mr. White, who immediately took his seat. Mr. White claimed that he had been arrested with- out due cause, but the Speaker said he had disregarded the chair and brought this ex- treme penalty upon himself. In 1880 the Speaker undertook to quell an incipient fight between two Representatives, William A. J. Sparks of Illinois and J. B. Weaver of Iowa, when they used such menacing words and threatening actions toward each other that many members arose to separate them. Whereupon the sergeant at arms moved about the House with his mace of office and order was restored. Never in its existence has the House of Representatives allowed abusive and nipping words or belligerant actions to go unrebuked. HE most flagrant disregard for the mace that has happened in recent years took place, not in America, but in the British House of Commons on July 18, 1930. A dispute arose over India, when John Beckett, a frenzied Labor member, seized the golden mace from the Speaker’s table, hoisted it across his shoulders and marched toward an exit, saying, “Mr. Speaker, it's a d—— disgrace.” Prime Minister MacDonald stood white and shaking while the members sat for a moment stunned by the outrage. Soon a tornado of indignation arose. Several members tried to attack the obstreperous Mr. Beckett, but the sergeant at arms, Admiral Sir Colon Keppal, reached him first, wrested the mace from his grasp, and placed it almost reverently in its accustomed place on the table, while Beckett continued to shout insults at the members un- til he finally disappeared through a doorway, Mace of the House of Representatives of South Carolina, made in 1756, and said to be the only mace in use in the United States today that antedates the Revolution. where two policemen grabbed him and escorted him beyond the limits of the House of Com- mons. As soon as he disappeared Mr. Mac- Donald asked for Beckett's spension. Amid loud boos and hoots the mémber was sus- pended by a vote of 320 to 4. This is said to have been the worst uproar in the British Parliament for 300 years. Not since Oliver Cromwell pointed to the golden mace and shouted, “Take away that bauble,” has so audacious a thing happened in a legis- lative body. Had the irate Mr. Beckett actually made way with the mace the entire business of the House of Commons would have been at a standstill until another mace of authority was procured. This catastrophe could not so easily happen to the House of Lords, because they already have two official maces, although the United States Senate has no such symbol of authority. The beautiful solid silver-gilt mace of the House of Commons, which Mr. Beckett so un- ceremoniously snatched from its official place, is 4 feet 1014 inches long. The shaft is carved with roses, thistles, fleur-de-lis, laurel and harps. A royal crown, the globe, a cross, the royal arms and, of course, the lion and unicorn are all included in the design of the head. The shaft was made by Thomas Maundy in 1649. The original head was replaced 11 years later with the regal symbols of the Restoration. Among the historic solid silver maces of the eighteenth century are some fragments of the mace of 1753 of the Virginia House of Bure gesses, which are now preserved at Norfolk as relics, and the mace of the House of Repre- sentatives of South Carolina which was made in London in 1756 for 90 guineas. This solid silver gold-burnished antique is said to be the only mace now in use in the United States which antedates the Revolution. On it are engraved the royal arms of Great Britain, the arms of the House of Hanover and other ancient insignia, along with the arms of the Province of South Carolina. The South Carolina mace was stolen during the Revolution by British sympathizers and of- fered for sale to the House of Assembly of the Bahama Islands. The proposed transaction is shrouded in mystery, and legends have grown up about both the Nassau and the South Caroe lina maces. Some people still believe that the Nassau mace is really the old South Carolina mace, but this is not true, for it has been as< certained that the former was made in 1799— 43 years after the Carolina mace was made— and the latter was found and brought back to the South Carolina Legislature. Historians now claim that this mace has not been outside the United States since it was brought to this country from London. - The South Carolina mace has also inherited some of the “Cromwell Bauble” legends, and for a long time some people have claimed that it was the original “Cromwell Bauble,” but the oresent golden mace of the House of Commons, so recently desecrated by Mr. Beckett is really the mace to which Cromwell referred. HE most remarkable :race, or scepter, is that of the Lord Mayor of London. Nothing is known of the age or history of this relic. Its head is of the fifteenth century, and some authorities think that the shaft dates back to Saxon times, because of its peculiar workman- ship. It is 1% feet long. The shaft is of crystal mounted in gold; the head is of an- other color of gold and jeweled with rubies, Continued on Elev(:.i‘l. Page