Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-16
XLLT. CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON, January Is, 1886.
SENATE.


| senate.
The Senate was not in session to.
dsy.
House Of ReRresentatiyes.
Mr.. Bland, Of Missouri, introduced
bill repeating so much Of the act o.
June 9, 1879, as provides for the ex.
change and redemption Of subsidiary
coin. Referred.
MIR. Dockery, Of Missouri, from the
Committee on Accounts, reported q
joint resolution allowing the discharged
employees Of the House one months
extra pay. Some opposition was shown
to the resolution, and Mr.. Dockery said
that if the proposition were an original
one he himself wo' Id not vote for it,
but the custom had been to grant this
extra pay, and be thought that measure
should be passed.
Mr.. Reagan, Of Texas, opposed the
resolution, which, he said, was giving
away the peoples money to pay en-
ployees for services not performed.
Mr.. Pettibone, OF Tennessee, also
thought the House should pay its en-
ployees for the time employed, and
stop this extra-pay nonsense.
The resolution was defeated-yeas,
Il; nays, $50.
Mr.. Tarsney, Of Michigan, offered a
resolution calling on the Secretary Of
the Treasury for information as to the
amount Of money in the Treasury that
can be legally applied to the payment
Of bonds or any other interest-bearing
debt Of the United States; and if there
be any such moneys in the Treasury
applicable to the payment Of the obi
cations aforesaid, why the same have
not been so applied. Referred.
Private business having been dis
pensed with, the House resumed the con-
sideration Of the presidential-succession
bill, and its passage was advocated by
Mr.. Dibble, of South Carolina, who re-
garded it as far better statutory pro-
vision than the existing law. lie pro-
ceeded to argue that neither the Presi-
dent pro tenn. Of the Senate nor the
Speaker of the House was a United
States officer, and in support Of this
position quoted from the fourteenth
amendment TO the Constitution, where
the distinction is made between member
Of Congress and United States officer.
He picked out the flaws which, he con-
tended, existed in the present statute,
and the manner in which, if called into
operation, it would destroy the symme-
try OF our naturalization system.
While admitting that the pending
measure did not, and no statutory pro-
vision could, meet every exigency
which might arise in the presidential
succession. he answered many Of the
objections made to it, and showed
wherein it was an improvement over
tie law Of 1892.
Mr.. Osborne, of Pennsylvania, re-
GREETED that he could not give the bill
his sanction, but he could not fad in
the arguments made inits support sutii-
cient legal reasons to answer the con-
stitutional objections he found to it.
Mr.. Rockwell, Of Massachusetts,, an
nounced his support of the pending
measure, not that he thought it by any
means perfect, but because be regarded
il as much better than the present
statute.
Mr.. Baker. Of New York, spoke
briefly in favor Of the bill, and was fol-
lowed by Mr.. Ryan, Of Kansas, who,
while admitting that in some respects it
was far superior TO the existing law,
found in it some defects 80 fiat that he
did not feel at liberty to vote for 1t.
The latter gentleman favored settle
ment of the vexed question by consti-
tutional amendment, and an amendment
which he thought to be the best was one
providing for three Vice Presidents.
Mr.. ErmentrOut, Of Pennsylvania,
submitted some remarks, which, he
said, contained no new ideas, but were
simply offered in defence Of the bill. He
criticised, however, that section of the
measure which repeats the speciai-elec-
ton clause Of the act of 1892.
Mr.. Caldwell, OF Tennessee, de-
manded the previous question, which,
after little parliamentary fencing, was
ordered-yeas. l4G 4; nays, l25.
An amendment offered by Mr.
Adams, of Illinois, striking out the
clause which repeats those sections of
the Revised Statutes providing for spe-
cial elections, was rejected-yeas, rs;
nays, l53.
The vote was then taken on the sub
stitute offered by Mr.. Mckinley, o.
Ohio, leaving in force the present law
with the addition OF provision that
for the purpose Of having the Speaker
of the House Of Representatives in
Office continuously Congress shall con-
vene at II O'Clock NJ. on the 4th day
of March succeeding the election OF
representatives in Congress, and when
ever vacancy exists either in the Office
of President pro tenn. Of the Senate or
the Speaker of the House the President
shall convene the house in which the
vacancy exists for the purpose Of elect
ing a presiding officer. The substitute
was rejected-yeas, l0S; nays, l5I.
The House was divided on these votes
by party lines.
Mr.. Ryan, Of Kansas, moved to re-
commit the bill with instructions to
the committee to report back a JOINT
resolution proposing a constitutional
amendment providing for the election
Of two or more ce-Presidents.
Mr.. Everhart, of Pennsylvania,
moved to amend the instructions so
that the measure reported back would
devolve the presidential succession on
the Speaker of the House, the President
pro tenn. of the Senate, the Secretary oil
State, the Chief Justice Of the Supreme
Court, the Secretary Of the Treasury,
and the Attorney General in the order
named. Rejected.
Mr.. Ryan's motion was also lost.
The bill then paSsed-yeas lo3, nays
79-precisely as itcame from the Senate.
The negative vote was cast by the Re-
publicans and by Messrs. Bennett, Of
North Carolina, and Green, Of New Jer-
sey. The following-named Republicans
voted with the Democrats in the afiirms-
tive Allen Of Massachusetts,, Akin