The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-02-13
THE HOUSE RULES.
views Of the Msjority and Minority Of,
the COMMITTEES on tho New Code.
VIEWS or THE MAJORITY

Views OF the mSjOf1ey ana Minority OF:
the COMMITTEES on tho New Code.
.ss VIEWS OF THE MAJORITY. ~ (.
4 WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 Though not;
formally presented to the House, the j
majority and minority reports upon the /,
new code Of rules proposed have been
fled with the journal clerk and ordered.
nrirted. The majority report, in great.
detail, explains the difference between
the proposed code and that previously
IN force, but in most instances the ex-
PLANTATION is unaccompanied by any
argument. %
In regard to the rule authorizing the
Speaker to count quorum the report
says: :..--
Tho process Of ascertaining the presence of .
quorum to do business under the constitu.
ton vould ordinarily be under the con.
troll Of the Speaker, who would de-
rive his Information from his own senses
or by the aid of q clerk, or
in any way which would satisfy
his own mind of the accuracy Of the count
Under our system Of roll-calls It has beer
deemed more convenient to ascertain and an.
nounce the votes of members and the presence
OF those who refnse to vote at the same time
and by the same means"
Concerning the new clause providing
that no dlatory measure shall be enter
tanned by the Speaker, it is stated that
the clause is merely declaratory of par
Elementary law. The report continues:
..There are no words which can be framed
which will limit members. to the proper use of
proper motions. To-day the abuse has grown
to such proportions that the parliamentary law
which governs American assemblies has found
It necessary to Keep pace with the evil and to
enable the majority, by the Intervention OF the
presiding off1cer, to meet by extraordinary
means the extraordinary abuse of power on the
part sometimes OF few members
III the suggestion should be made that great
power Is here conferred, the answer is thtst the
approval Of the House is the very breath in the
nostrils Of the Speaker, and as nobody on earth
is so jealdns a its liberties and so impatient
arbitrary interruption 80 will take place,
and, indeed, no interruption at all, until
not only such misuse Of propermotipns Is made
clearly evident to the world but also such
action has taken place on the part of the House
as will assure tho Speaker Of the support of the
body whose wishes ore his law. So that in the
end 1t Is power exercised by the House
through its properly officer"
Considering the question of providing
that hundred members shall constitute
quorum in committee of the whole, the
report states that this change is made
necessary by members refusing to vote
when the roll is called. and points out
the fact that every thing done. in COM
mfttee has to be reported to the House,
and that nothing done is in any way
final. In conclusion the majoaity report
says:
'Your committee have thus gone over briefly
the proposed new code at rules. They believe,
if followed out in good faith, it will at once
enable the House to have due coutr oil over its
business and at the same time provide those
safeguards Of deliberation and debate which
will cradle the House to act wisely"
THE MINORITY's VIEWS.
The minority report. signedi by
Messrs. Carlisle and Randall, gives
much attention to the fact that con11stt-
tees are given superior rights to ca1z up
bills in the morning hour to the eN,lu-
sion of the individual rights of mem-
bers. The proposition to reduce the:
quorum of the committee of the whole,
to 100 is opposed
The counting iE'' rule that caused SD
much bitterness during the recent strugs-
gle in the House over the Smith-Jac
son contested election case is thus dis
cussed:
''This is the most radical ana in our: opinion.
the most dangerous innovation proposed by the
majority. If agreed to it will Iot only over.
throw the construction that has been uni
formly given to the constitution for.
more than century, but it Will: enable:
less than majority of the Repre-
sentatives Of the people to pass tks' most
important laws affecting the interests Of the:
whole country. The personal and property:
rights OF the citizens protected heretofore by.
q m m he
impaired or destroyed by the votes of a mere
fraction of the members OF Congress-; for il
less than majority may constitution
ally pass measures In the House, Of
course the same thing may be done in the
Senate. In the same way enormous sums OF
money may be appropriated from the public
treasury for the most unconstitutional and i'm.
proper purposes and the interests Of the tax.
payers completely subordinated to the selfish
demands Of private individuals and corpora
tions. Without entering here into dis
cussion of the constitutional questioa
involved in this proposition, We earn
estly protest against it rs q measure Of the
most dangerous and revolutionary character.
Any rule for practice which enables the Speaker
or the Clerk to pass bills by counting members
present and not voting will inevitably result In
destroying the confidence Of the people in the
integrity Of legislation and engender contro
verstes and litigations which might be easily
avoided by an adherence to the mandate Of the
constitution as heretofore Interpreted,
Relative to the rule by which the
Speaker may refuse to entertain dila-
tory motions, the report says under this,
even. the right of appeal from the de-
cision of the Speaker as to what is a
dllatory motion might be denied and
adds:
"A rule abolishing all the parliamentary mo-
lions heretofore recognized by the House. and
simply providing that members may make such
motions only as the Speaker may see proper to
permit and take only such appeals from his de-
cisions as he may see proper to allow would at
least have merit OF directncss and simplicity
Such q rule would be more unreasonable or IN
just than the one now proposed"
A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
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