The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-02-03

their safety. On the other hand the ar
gument formerly made in favor of The
hall of the house was one that the accom-
u aodations for the mem mbers of the two
! houses could be found there. which could
| not be had in the Senate. This argument
had now no weight. as sinee the occupancy
OF the present Senate Chamber &C
abundance of room was at the disposa
of the two houses for Joint meeting.
| A vote being taken, MIR. Edmunds
amendment was rejected yeas %, nays
| 50. party vote
MIR. Eaton said he could not support
the resolutions, as they left one very
important question In DOUBT. and that
was whether the President of the Sen
ATE had right to count the electoral
vote. he had hoped TO have an cppor-
oohlty OF voting upon that question as
was presented by Mr.. Morgan's reso
iotioo' now on the table. declaring that
no such right existed, but this privilege
nad been denied him. La order to
pring the question squarey before the
senate, he moved to amend that part of
ths resolution requiring the teilers of
the TWO houses to make list of the votes
as they shall be declared by striking there
from the words AS they shall be declar-
eo, ana substituting IL lieu therefore the
"oh0S' AS Tue CsEiEucdtGS ElafI he
opsned By the President of the senate"
Mr.. Blaine, after commenting on the
almost equal numerical strength of the
TWO great parties as shown IN the late
election, Garfield having received the vate
of nineteen states aud Hanceek tbs vote
OF exactly the same Gumber, the onIv
difference being that the former had more
electoral votes. Mr.. Blaine remorkod that
he thought the severest strain to which
this coutry had been subjected. aside from
the war of the rebellion. was the election
trouble of 1876. and he doubted whether,
II the presidential term had been ten
years the country could have survived
that strain. The fact taat the case might
be tried over again four years thereafter
vas of great advantage to the United
States. Shorter the periods bstween our
elections the amore contented are the people
to submit to their results, and for this
reason the politics of those states which
hold elections annually are more peace
ful than those in which biennial elections
are held.
Mr.. Morgan said he would assure the
Senator from Connecticut (Eaton) that
upon the first opportunity he would en-
deaVor to call up the resolution denying
the power Of Vice President to make the
Oo01t. Al fcpiy 10 HIF. Di2lue ne salG ne
agreed in ali that the Senator bad said
abeut the duty OF Congress to make pro
per regulation on The subject. but that
Senator h sd no ops TO blame more than
himself on this subject. Not only had
that Senator failed to bring forward any
proposition ia regard to it. but he had fail
ed to make the remarks he now made
when there was perhaps greater need for
them, and that was when the joint rule
now pending 10 the House vas under dis
cussion IN the Senate st the last session.
OtheF Senators had constantly striven to
secure by that rule the settlement which
the Senator (Blainel now seems 50 earn
estly to urge,
After further debsts Mr., Eaton's
amendment was rejected-yeas 27, nays
IS, y L ne vote was not a party one nor
test OF the Senate upon the proposition.
The alternatives responses largely came
from the Republican side. while the neg
alive vote included much of the strength
OF supporters of the resolution who were
apparently indisposed to imperil their
success in the House by appending
the amendment. The resolutions re-
ported by Mr., Morgan as a substitute for
the original resolutions on the subject
were then adopted on viva voce vote, and
the Clerk was directed to Inform the
House accordingly.
Adjourned,