_Committee of the Whole._--Revenue and appropriation bills are considered by the house of representatives in committee of the whole. When the house goes into committee of the whole, the speaker leaves the chair and calls some one else to preside in his place, and the presence of 100 members constitutes a quorum. Debate in committee of the whole is conducted rather informally, and greater freedom of discussion is allowed. It is when in committee of the whole that many of the lengthy speeches printed in the _Congressional Record_ are supposed to be delivered. In reality, however, only a small portion of these speeches are actually delivered, for members after addressing the house a few minutes often secure leave to print the remainder of their remarks. Under this leave, members frequently print long speeches which have little or no relation to the subject under consideration but are intended for campaign purposes or for effect upon their constituents. They are then franked through the mails to the voters throughout the district which the member represents. If the bill is a private bill, it is called up for consideration on Friday, which is private bill day. Most of the private bills are reported from the committees on claims and on pensions. Six or seven thousand such bills are passed by each Congress, and they constitute about nine tenths of the entire number enacted. _Suspension of the Rules._--The regular order of business may be departed from at any time on the demand of privileged committees like those on ways and means, appropriations, elections, rules, and a few others which have a sort of right of way in the house, because of the urgent character of the matters with which they deal. Furthermore, by unanimous consent, often granted, a particular member is allowed to bring up a bill for consideration outside the regular order. Finally, on two Mondays in every month and during the last six days of the session, the rules may be suspended by a two-thirds vote and measures to which there is little objection may be quickly passed and thus the business of the house expedited. =The Speaker and the Committee on Rules.=--No discussion of the procedure of the house of representatives would be adequate without a consideration of the part played by the speaker and the committee on rules in determining the course and character of legislation. _The English Speaker._--The speakership is an ancient office inherited from England, where it originated in the fourteenth century, and is an outgrowth of the practical necessities of legislative procedure. The American speakership, however, differs widely from its English prototype. The speaker of the House of Commons has no such power in shaping legislation and controlling debate as does the American speaker. He is in fact little more than a moderator with power to put motions, state questions, and preserve order and decorum in debate. He is entirely impartial, with no party prejudices.