National Republican., 1876-12-09
FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS.
SECOND sIssION.


SECOND sEssION.
FRIDAY, December s, 1879.
Senate.
The Senate was called to order ct Il m. by
President pro tsapore FERRY, and prayer was
offered by the Chaplain. who besought God TO
look down upon this nation 10 this itslhour Of
struggle, and
NOT BE ANGRY wrTH Us l
on account Of our sins, which we come to ac-
knowledge. He asked God to direct all the best
energies Of his rrovidence, as he had in days
past, for the protection and preservation Of this
inatior. "A gAkt4 * n Z Ea.f.ssty lts
After reading of the Journal the PRESIDENT
laid before the Senate - =
= rrat N 5HorsE BJLbs,5 rT-JTTn.-
which nere reerred as Ifoiiows: No. s,lssr tsthe
Committee on Commences No. 3,l2l, to the Com
mittee on appropriations; No. ALL ~ the Com
mittee on Military Affairs; No. s, osa to the Com
mittee on Finance. sfss n ggsgz zsragrsr
-.gf -IHrRoDucED AND RErERRzD. .nsas
The following bills. petitions, &C., were intro.
ducsd and referred rs followa9SssE yfts agr
BY Mr.GAMRR0N, Of Wis: Petition Of Ger.
tain persons fsr the redemption OF grsenback cur
BY BY Mr.. WEST: A bill for the relief of Judge
w n; Handlin; ; Of Ia 5udiSiary. di. E u,.. a..
engraving and printing OF .tr,r @--r.
A PORTRAIT OF THE LATE Il. II. sTARKwEArHER.
He said 1t had been customary to paint such por-
traits 10 accompany the eulogies Of deceased msm-
asa hsa np for ths
pose, and the Congressional Printer mad mons,
and II was necessary to pass this bill TO provide
to discontinue the practice, but Il could not very
weilbe done now. AEulogies were to be moved
some time in February upon the life Of e eistin. 4
presiding officer, and It was desirable to a,com+
pany the eulogies with portrait. After this,
when there should be no case pending, IL would
be proper to pass law to prohibit IL IN the
Mr. DAVIS asked the cost in this case, and was
informed that 1t would be $3.50. which was the
existence. There was nothing unusual In this
case, only the necessity of appropriating the
The bill was passed. ~ 81. r.fSs FgE ,fsl
| BY Mr. COOPER: A bill for the rsilef Of Z.
T. 81. .Whiteand others. Claims. i'x7s aH-tgl
the Secretary Of the Interior for information -
to ,the efforts made to remove the Sioux from
their reservation TO the Indian Territory. He
asked its present consideration, and 2 IL was
Ir.'MITCHELL moved to take up the resoiu.
tion torestrain persons from acting Is electors
and reter 1t to the COMMITTEES on Privileges and
Elections So ordered. .lEi-- q y.I-
MI. EDMUNDS moved to take up Senate
,-4--,-r, >. RESOLUTIONS NO. 10, ..,;,., b
MT. MEERfMoN raised, the point Of order
that the twenty joint rule prohibited taking
up unfinIshed, business. within six days Of the
opening OF another session. s3gr r. bGrffl .gsJ l
The sPRhsIDENT. Pre- 7isa, I ,S SSysrfg!sd II. e:
were not In force and this resolution came, up
under the sad rule, which was read. sd . 1sc ,,
ths chsr and that the % vote @ on tie
The yeas and nays were ordered. and MI.
but yielded to MI Ioa An, WHO rnoted that tho
Senate bill 1026, ihtredueed hast session, provid
ing for ths issue sf silver coin and making silver
thaiit asv Ssrsissrsd to the COMMITTEES on Fl
eRSs ss 5 & yass asked thu. .n,.s
mittss on Priyiissss ssd Elssioas. 10 aid Ehsm Il
Performing the work referred to them. So or
Also, 10 Mr. HARVEY, who asked that ths
committee to inquire into the civil service be
authorised 70 empleyfa o clerk, which authority
Nj. MERRIMoN, resuming the fioor, said si,i shs
had no objection to the consideration Of resolu
No; 10 lift could be done properly He believed
TEE JOINT RULES WERE srfIL IN FORCE
Unanimous consent of the Senate does not ever
the HOUSE, DE proceeded to read decision o
the President or the Senate on this point In 1871
when Mr.. EpHrnDs said he would concsde that
nj. MERRfMoN b tn then Sad said tha. at the las
session resolution was reported from the Com
mittee on Rules, the purpose Of which was to re
action fhrough It's various stages, and said thai
he assented TO the resolution Of read0ption in the
committee, but he had since given the subject
there was no need Of passing that resolutlon. fol
the joint rules were then In force, and had beer
since the foundation Of the Government. The
joint rules, in his opinion, were perpetual. The
two Houses were not independent Of each other
The Senate was perpetual,l and, In his opinion
ne ne. aSess vas me ssme; an DIG any " one doubt
pstuaf? So the. existence Of the House is per
petuaL The House was not always organized
s about the
Of the House. Its always in existence, and sl
ways Liable to be called to convene. 80 9ft2Hg 81
Mr.. JOHNSTON said that the Joint rules wort
absolutely nscessary. Business could not be car
ried on single day without JOINT rules. Why,
the Senate transacted business every day Of las,
could not notify the House Of any action except
Mr. EDMUNDS. Don't the Senator know
thata general parliamentary law governs these
Mr.. JOHNSTON. No, sir; do not know 1t.
Mr.. EDMuNDS. Well, he ought to know II.
MT. EDMUNDS. Were not the Senators
sworn m and sorgsni5Ssd IN the beginning Of the
Mr.. JOHNSTON. Yes, sir. 10 = =
Mr.. EDMUNDS.5 Well, how did they commu.
nicate their existence as a body to tho House OF
MI. JOHNSTON. 1 suppose there was some
way Of doing 1t. Governments always have to
: Mr.. EDMUNDS. Well, can't Government
keep going as well as start without JOINT rules?
Mr.. JOHNSTON proceeded to discuss the ques.
tion and said the Senate could not appoint Joint
committee Without joint rules.
Mr.. EDMUNDS. The Senate never had a
joint cemmittee and never VIII have, probably.
Mr.. SARGENT called the attention of Mr..
JOHNSTON to the resolution passed on Wednes-
day last providing that the Committees on Ii.
brary and Public Buildings, &C., act concurrently
Mr.. DAVIS called the attention ofMr. WRIGHT,
who reported the changes IN the committees, to
the question which he INT. DAvIsl asked when
was anything unusual In those resolutions and
he understood MI. WRIGHT to say there was
Mr. WRIGHT said he understood the question
TO refer to whether there was anything unusual
In the formation OF the committees. -. :
Mr.. DAVIS. Then We did not understand each
to these rules at another time.
Mr.. MORTON said that no proposition was
clearer to his mind than that ,z1a-g--.. r
TIE JOINT RULES WERE NOT NOW II FORCE.
Neither House can suspend action on q particular
the other, but suspension Of a rule was different
from abrogating 1t entirely, and either House
rules were not laws, and have no binding force
VIII anybody assert that the present House Is
bound by the rules Of any previous House without
readopting them? Or will any one assert that
the House Is bound by any joint rules unless the
Senate consents to their readeptionf
Mr.. MERRIMON, Yes, sir; do. -'i
Mr.. MORTON. All! that Is an afterthought.
You did not think so last session. tft
Mr.. MERRIMON. The Senator does me injus.
tice. / said ! had thought over the matter and
had come to the conclusion that the joint rules
Mr. MORTON. did the Senator no injustice
He says he has thought the matter over and
changed his mind, and said it was an after.
thought. Mr.. MORTON read from the Record Of
last session to show what the opinions Of Demo-
tinuousness of the House, and charged that the
Senators were anxious to have the joint rules
enforced in order to save the twenty second joint
rule. -, l tEs1r - El'- l.3lg ~.
Mr. MERRIMON said he would be more chari.
table than TO charge that Senators on the other
side were anxious TO get rid Of this same rule.
Mr. MORTON, I have always wanted to get
rid Of It. have fought against the twenty second
Joint rule since 1871. 9t gT5f z11 = q
! Mr. BAYARD alluded to the opinions uttered
by him during the discussions last session, and
said that he hoped he should always be strong
enough and honest enough to change his opinion
when he was convinced that he was wrong, al
though he saw nothing yet to induce him To
change the opinion Of last session He argued
that neither House had q right to aerogate the
Joint rules withous the consent Of the other.
| Mr.. EDMUNDS read from the Record the Ian.
guage used by Mr. MERRrMoNwhen the joint rules
were reported TO the Senate last session, showing
his views TO BE rRrcIsEI orrosIrE i
10 n hoa. Vi IA IA hv ha San