The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-03-07
What VIII Constitute a Quorum.

strong feeling Is already beginning to mani
fest itself over sharp antagonisms which
are inevitably TO exist between the Demo
Gratis In the Senate, and many between
those Of the House. 1t is accepted az al
most certain thatthe Senate Finance Com
miltee will be under the lead OF Bayyarl
as Chairman, and they will he a decidedly
hard money committee. The House OF
the other hand, will contain large soft
money element independment Of the
extreme Greenback men. It Is admitted
by many Democrats that the two House
will differ quite Us sharply on the money
issne aA the Republicans and Democrais
have differed on general issues between
the parties.
Tie hard money element in the Senate
and among outside Democrats, will sup
port Randall for Speaker. y
.- THE GRRRSBAcH MEN
are making great displayof confidence
They talk as Il both the other parties were
in Tie minority, land assumeifiat they will
organize the House as q matter Of course.
They do not as yetreceive creditfor hay.
ing any Ot that courage and endurance
which cause men Of deep conviction Ia
stand together for principles sake against
all opposition. III fact, quite number Of
them are already regarded as quite open
to available trades. Gen. Butler, W. d.
Kelley, and Gen. Ewing are among their
volunteer guardians. Butler Is bent on
holding them together. Kelley thinks he,
as Republican, can secure their votes,
and Ewing is credited with believing he
can prevail upon them 10 act with the
Democrats.
Meantime the out and out Democratic
majority is growing small. Acklen Is sup.
posed to be dying. Two others are too
sick 10 come here, and with one vacancy
there is now danger that this body cannot
secure q, a,quorum for its caucus. Speaker
Randalls friends, however, feel perfectly
confident Of his election, and there Ia no
doubt whatever but the most thoughtful
men among the Democrats see that It Is
very important to retain him, since his
reputation as an excellent Speaker is al.
ready national. ,7I
The feeling Of the Republicans is, that
so far as the prompt performance Of the
public business OF the House is concerned,
It Is important to the country that Randall
should be reelected; but in party sense
they will rejoice to see the Democrats
make n blunder OF trying a new man at
this critical time in the lie Of their party,
IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SENATE,
both the Democratic National and Con.
gressional committees are to take part, and
q majority OF them are in favor OF asSum.
ing to dictate who shall fll the principal
Senate offices. This movement Is denounc.
ed by some as covering an intrigue to
Offset BayaSd's influence, as we'll as that OF
Thurman. The matter Is already raising a
lively alteration.
The Republicans will be thoroughly
united in both branches, and there Is a
strong hope that both the President and
the Republican minority in each house
will work energetically together, and pre-.
sent asolid front tothe opposition.
Si'' : SUSTAINING THE PRESIDENT. "
In view Of the fact that the Democrats
have. forced an extra session upon the
issue Of repeating allilews providing for
honest elections, and that their leading
issue of the coming session must be same,
there will be very strong, If not unani.
nous, sentiment brought to bear on the
President by the Republicans to induce
him to veto every appropriation bill that
comes to him loaded down with the politi.
cal amendments which those which failed
contained. In fact, one consideration
which led to fixing the date OF the session
only two weeks off instead OF four, as was
at first contemplated, was that time might
be given to pass more than one net OF an.
preparation bills, in case 1t should become
necessary before the beginning OF the next
fiscal year.
The strongest Republicans will favor re.
peated Yetoes Of appropriation bills il II ia
found necessary to defeat the dishonest
legislation which the Democrats arc bent
upon forcing through, aud will also sup.
port the President, Il the worst comes 10
the worst, In closing those departments Of
the public service for which the Demo.
Gratis may refuse to make appropriations
uncoupled with revolutionary legislation,
There are some Republicans who desire
the President, in his message to Congress
TO 20 so far aS TO make. known his views,
upon the very threshold OF the new ses.
sion, concerning the adding OF such legis,
latiun rs appeared In those bills which
have Just failed. %,Tl-
THE ACTUAL DEMOCRATIC STRENGTH,
soclaimed by the Democrats themselves
emitting the Schleicher vacancy, isl47
which Is exactly q quorum Of the entire
membership OF The House. But The inn
hility Of Bland, Of Missouri, Singleton, O
Illinois, and Pennsylvania member, Il
attend tue reorganization, will reduce
the Democratic strength 10 l4l-three les,
thania quorum. 2 d'kJ .s
,i WHAT CONSTITUTES A QUORUM.
The question will then be howlto,le
eide what Is quorum, and an intinatiol
made by Randall, during this last week
would seem to indicate that the subIeC
has already heon 0onsIlered-the question
whether a quorum Is one more than llal
OF tho Representatives from all the dis
tricts, or one more than half OF those VIII
at the time Of the meeting of Congre.,
shall have been elected.
Two hundred and eighty.nine member
only will have been chosen, as Californi
does not elect until September. OF thi
number, l45 would be quorum. A ru
ing OF Speaker Cow, In the Thirty.seyent
Congress, when tue Representatives frot
the sepe.led States were not present,to III
effect that a majority oi the member
elected was held 10 he q quorum, Is unLe
stood 70 DO the position that may be take
by the Democrats now, II necessity sha
requlrolt, p :
faJG RlRERECoRD. li q