Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-03-04

From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post
The Democratic members of the Sen.
ate held conference last week imme.
diately upon adjournment for the pur.
pose of reaching some understanding
as to whether any action should be TAX
en- this session relative TO the proposed
changes in the laws relating to the elec.
tion of President and Vice President.
1t will be remembered that during the
last session of Congress n special COM
mlttee was appointed, of which Mr..
Morgan was chairman, to take this mat
ter into consideration. The committee
has accomplished nothing, in fact there
has never been n meeting. A large
number of petitions have been present
ed to Congress on this subject, and a
number OF bills have been introduced,
prominent among whichSn Mr.. Ed.
munds'. But perhaps no question pre-.
sents so many complex features and
about which there is such diversity oil
opinion. The seeming imposslbility OF
framing bill satisfactory even to the
members OF the committee, and then
the lengthy debate any conclusion OF
the committee would he sure TO pro
woke, together with the vast import.
ance of some legislation on the subject
has resulted in leaving the matter in
stdtu quo before the committee. This
was the state of the case that lead to
the call for a conference. The confer.
ence was we'll attended Mr.. Morgan
briefly stated the situation. A. rather
informal talk followed as to the proper
course to be pursued. The discussion
turned more upon the effect of the in.
PRODUCTION at this time of such "A ques.
ton upon the length OF the session
than upon the merits of the question,
although the importance of amending
the present law in regard to the open.
ing and counting of the returns was
pointed out. As the law now stands,
in the case of two returns from one
State the discretionary power Of accept
ing one or rejecting one or both is in
the hands of the Vice President. This
is perhaps the chief defect in the law
which demands a remedy. In regard
to the proper remedy there is Of course
wide divergence Of opinion. The
conference Ierulteu IN tue TeleIeHCt OF
the matter TO Joint committee, consist.
ing Of the Democratic members of the
special committee on Rules with special
instructions TO consider the feasibility
of consideration during the present
session. The members OF the special
committee are "a follows; Messrs. Nor.
gan, Bayard, Thurman, Johnston, Gar.
land. Davis of Illinois. OF the Com.
mittee on Rules, Messrs. Morgan and
Cockrell. The general opinion Of the
majority in the Senate in regard TO this
/ question is that while il is of great i'm.
portRnce, its consideration ought not
TO conflict with the policy Of short
session and an early adjournment. The
caucus also considered the question OF
pairs. On Wednesday, when the Five
/ Per Cent. bill was under consideration
I there were fifty Senators actually pres.
I ent. But at no time on n vote were
/ there enough to make quorum. The
reason was that many OF the Senators
were paired. In considering this ques-
| ton tho oau~us suggested that in max.
| ing pairs hereafter the right should be
/ reserved TO vote when it was necessary
to make a quorum. and this suggestion
will probably be carried out in practice.