The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-04-12
DEADLoCKs IN THE HOUSE.
Some OF the Notable aEes In file Past.
IR. 7. S,nl.l


DeadIocks in the Hbuse are not frequent
Br. Randall made the beginning OF his reputa-
ton many years ago r. 5liibasteTing against
what was known as the +" force bill" meas
ur9 which proposed 60 place troops at tlae polls
IN 5he South. There was another deadlock
when the Democrats tried 70 defeat the count
ing III of Hayes, and this was only broken
when at O'Clock GA the morning Of Friday,
March ?, 1877, Mr.. Randall, who was in the
chair, absolutely decliued to entertain any fur
ther dIlatOry motions, and instructed the clerk
to inform the Senate that the House was ready
to proceed with the count. 1t was a crisis in
the history OF the country. Mr. Hayes was in
Ohio, aud only 90 hours remained Of President
Grants term. When filibustering motion
was about to be made Mr.. Randall refused to
recognize the Member for that purpose. The
Member asked an appeal, but Mr.. Rauall de-
cided that recognition was matter entirely
within the jurisdiction of the Chair and not
appealable This broke the backbone Of the
deadlock, and within an hour Mr.. Hayes was
declared 10 have received a majority Of the
electoral votes cast.
A deadlock ended the 10Th Congress. In the
last 36 hours Of the session the Republicans
brought up a contested election case, with the
Intention of seating q member of their party.
The Democrats began to flHbuster, and cOutinu-
ed the fight until the gaVel fell, the only in
teTruptlOns being conference reports on appro-
pratiOn bills. The would-be Congressman who
had the $4,000 at stake was an interested and
anxious spectator
The 4Gth Congress also died in deadlock
The point at issue was an item in the military
appropriation bill for troops at the polls, and
the opposition was led by Mr. Springer, Of
Illinois. The five or six final days Of the ses-
sion were consumed in flIibustering, and the
hour Of u on the last day was reached while
the clerk was in the middle Of the rOil-call,-An
extra session was convened on the 35th Of
March, but the opposition was renewed with
such vigOr that it was the middle OF June be-
fore a compromise was reached. In this dead
lock James A. Garfield took prominent part.
There was also struggle oveTs an attempt to
| impeach Consul-Goneral Seward.
But the most interesting Of all the contests of
this kind was probably that over the tariff
bill in the first session of the 47th Congress.
"a bill had been passed in the House." said
Representative Springer to-day, in recalling
the circumstances, to reduce the tax on man
ufactured tobacco from is to eight cents a
pound. When it reached the Senate the Re-
publican majority there tackled upon it COM
plete tariff bill. Then the original measure,
with its amendments, came back to the House,
and Mr. Cox, Mr.. Townshend and myself pro-
ceeded to talk it to death We took every
item separately and debated it, five minutes
for and i've minutes against. The census OF
| 1880 had just been published, and we had no
! end Of information about lumber, salt, glue,
! isiDglaSs and everything else in the schedule,
| Then We made motiOns-aL perfectly ia
| order but they all consumed time. For in
/ stance, ] moved that lumber be placed on tho
| free list, and when this had been defeated by
/ 4 yea and nay vote, I went over the whole
lumber section and moved to increase
/ or lower the duty, according to the dictates OF
my own sweet will. We kept this up for some
weeks, and finally, when one-third Of the bill
| had been considered, and the Republicans saw
! it would take at least tWo years to 90 through
/ the whole bill, the Committee on Rules
/ brought in a rule dischaTgiHg tAc COmnittef
| 0f the Whole fr0m tee consideration Of the bill
/ disagTceiug 10 the Senate amendments and
/ ordering Committee Of Conference. a rule d
the House is supposed TO be plan OF guidance
/ IN general aud no specific cases, and ! Opposed
this unique method Of stopping cur 6iiBuster
/ ing. ! made another motion to adjourn, AND
/ when this was defeated I moved to take Il re.
cess aud then 10 adjourn TO q set day. SPEAK
/ keifer held that both these motions we're dila
/ tory, and would not entertain them. I theI
moved TO lay the rule on the table, but th'
/ Speaker would not recognize ne. When per
sisted he ordered the SeEgeaat-ab-Arul to make
| me si5 down. After lively scene the rule wa
| adopted aud the Conference Committee wa
! appointed IL | remember rightly, all thr
! Democrats declined to serve except Mr.. Car
! Isle, and he only accePted in compliance Will
| our suggestion that some Democrat should b.
| present and report 50 rs. That night the bil
vas liked Hp, and the next day was passed. /
| was about to be adopted without reading, bu
| protested, aud it was read That bill is tht
/ present. tariff law. The next day every Demo
/ cIat signed a remOnstrance against MIR. Keifer'
action. aud think you can date the beginning
| Of the general dislike 10 him from that day"
| The struggle ended in 4 tragedy, for Repre-
sentative Haskell, Republican leader, smoket
so much and talked SO much during its eonginu
! ance That he died soon after.