Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-08-01
SENATE CUSTOMS.
Ez,secretary George C. GoriIam Narrated
Some of His Observations.

Hcz,secretary George C. Goriiam Narretet
some of His Observations.
Debate in the Senate is entirely free.
The only way debate can be cut off by
the majority and vote On a measure
/ be compelled is by refusing to adjourn.
: If the minority is a snail one, con.
tinuous session of two or three days
/ and nights viii usually bring it tc
/ terms. In such a case members of the
. majority can relieve each other and
! get some rest, still leaving enough con
! staptly or guard to vote down en- ad-
/ jOnnmeRt.
II the minority weary of speech,
there is still another method for OBJ.
! structing Il vote, and that is By alter.
nate motions to adjourn and 60 into
! executive session. These motions are
/ always III order and are not debatable.
and the yeas and rays can be ordered
on them every time by one-ffth of the
i Senators present. Sixteen members
/ are one-fifth OF the Senate as it is now
/ constituted. \ minority strong enough
I to keep that number always in the
Senate chamber without any being
/ continuously deprived of rest could
revolutionize the Government.
! When the debate begins the effect is
to relieve Senators from further atten-
! ton to the business in hand. Some
member, charged with the subject,
! commences a speech to which half a
! dozen may listen some of the time.
! Others commence writing letters to
! their constituents, some 60 to their
committee rooms, and q still larger
number repair to the cloak-roOm to
I smoke, tell stories and do little log
rolling for measures of their own. The
two cloak-rooms open directly out OF
/ the Senate chamber. They are spacious
& and comfortable, well supplied with
sofas and easy chairs. The Democrats
use one OF these and the Republicans
the ether. ''There are legends of an
/ olden time" when some Of the old boys
+ of the Senate INDUCED themselves in
convivial way in some of the COM
mittee rooms, but the better opinion
now prevails that they are all very
! circumspect. In the Senate restaurant,
! where the sale of liquors and wines is
strictly forbidden, the sinful caterer
appeals from the rules to the higher
law, and serves whatever is called for.
/ This is an Improvement upon the time,
I not twenty-five yedrs ago, when liquors
were dispensed from a regular bar in
! the Capitol, in an out-Of-the-way room,
. known as the hole in the wall"
TWAS my fortune for eleven years to
+ have access to the Senate in secret ses-
sion as secretary of that body. Slow
as the Senate is in changing, saw two
hundred different men sit as Senators
: during that time. When I left it to
make way for one Of the opposite
party, then dominant it contained but
= four who had been members when l
: entered its service. My observation In
) the executive sessions OF xSe Senate
lead me 20 the opinion that the aver
age man, like the average boy, be-
3 HAYES himself better before folks than
he does in private groups. Not that
! any thing goes on behind the closed
doors of an unsecmly character. The
. proceedings are as orderly as at other
times, bearing little relaxation in
way of moving about and smoking.
/ But men do not always vote as they
would under the public eye. Scenes
from the School fer Scandal are
sometimes enacted by the picking TO
. pieces Of private characte@ and, on
; the other hand, unsarory regulations
, are sometimes meGded BY the parsiali-
ty of strong, personal friendship.
/ It is fact which is nos generally
! known that the Senate sat at all times
{ with closed doors during the first six
! years after the Government went into
operation under the Constitution. Not
/ even the members OF the House of Rep
resehtatives were permitted to invade
! its hiding-place. 4 resolution pro-
viding that s'the doors Of the Senate
! chamber shall be open when the SEN
ate is sitting in their legislative ca
! pacity, to the end that such Of the citi.
zens of the United States Gs may choose
to hear the debates Of this house may
! have an opportunity of so doing" was
voted down April 50, 1890, just one
year after Washington's first iaaugu-
ration, and the same proposition was
rejected at the two following sessions.
On the 18th of April, 1892, some bold
and Yenturesome Senator made a mo-
ton to admit the members of the
House of Representatives to attend the
debates of the Senate when sitting in
its legislative capacity. 1t received
but affirmative votes against 16 in
the negative. On the 9th Of Deem
Der 1895, secresy was abolished except
in cases when specially ordered.-N
| 7. Sun.
Overcoats Made OF Paper.
eff the clothmakers don't get that