The Portland daily press., 1890-01-30
Mr.. REED COUNTED THE DEMOCRATS
Who Attempted to Stop Business by
Refusing to Vote.
The Speaker Declared a Quorum
Present and the Fun Began.
A Debate Which Made Yesterday
Memorable in House Annals.

| WASHINGTON, January 29-In the Hous
today, Mr.. Dalzell Of Pennsylvania called VI
the election case of Smith VS.. Jackson, from
the fourth West Virginia district. Mr.
Crisp of Georgia raised the question of con
sideration. On this vote. the Democrats
with three exceptions, Messrs. Buckalew
Covert and Cowles, refrained from voting
While the clerk was calling the roll, th'
Speaker was carefully noting the names o
those Democrats present and not voting
Before the announcement of the vote, MI
Rogers Of Arkansas, who inadvertently yot
ed in the affirmative. decided to withdraw
his vote. He met with a storm of objection,
from the Republican side. Mr.. Rogers en-
deayored ss secure a ruling from the Speaker
on the question, in order. that he might entel
| an appeal, but the Speaker declined to rule
Mr.. Covert Of New York changed his vote
from the negative to the affirmative. Mr.
Rogers was then given permission to with
draw bis vote, as was also Mr.. C0wles Oi
North Carolina. The vote was announced
as, yeas. 161 nays. 2; and Mr.. Crisp raised
| the point Of no quorum.
The Speaker-"The Chair directs the clerk
| to record the following names of members
| present and refusing to vote" This state,
| ment was the signal for burst of applause
| from the Republicans, and ieers from the
Democrats. The clerk proceeded to read the
names Of the Democrats whom the Speaker
| had jotted down as being present and not
voting. When the name OF Mr.. Breckin-
ridge OF Kentucky was called, he stepped
| into the aisle, and in a resounding voice
said: II deny the power Of the Speaker to
do this, and denounce it as revolutionary"
Cheer after cheer, characterized by the Re-
publeans as tie rebel yell" went up from
the Democratic side, and it was several min
utes before sufficient order was restored to
enable the clerk to continue reading the list
of names. Order was only comparative.
While the clerk was proceeding with the
reading, half dozen Democrats were on
their. feet, denouncing the action Of the
Speaker;
was responsible for his action only to his
constituents, and not to the Speaker. Mr..
OFarrell of Virginia protested In the name
Of his state against this action. MIR. Nc
CreaIy of Kentucky denied the right of the
Speaker to count him as present.
A STATEMENT OF FACT.
The Spesker-"The Chair is making a
statement of fact that the gentleman is pres
ent. Does the gentleman deny that
he is PRESENT." lApplause and laughter on
The name Of Mr.. Cultivate of Ohio was
called, and that gentleman, amid great up
roar, declared that he had not been present
when his name was called on the roll call
and that the Speaker was stating what was
not true.
Mr.. Breckenridge of Kentucky declared
the action of the Speaker disorderly. The
Speaker had no more right to make state
meut from the chair than he would have on
the floor.
Mr.. Crisp desired to appeal from the deci-
sion of the Chair The Speaker replied that
/ in dua fima hQ vnnld aIl0U Oanfiannan a
proper appeal to the House in an orderly
| fashion, as the Chair would demonstrate to
| the satisfaction of the House. In the mean
| time. Mr.. Cooper of Ohio was on his feet,
action of the Chair. The Speaker finally
| SAID: "The gentleman must not mistake
| the situation. He is not to compel the Chair
to do a certain thing. The Chair must pro-
| eeed in order, and the gentleman, as men,
6er Of this body, will undoubtedly allow the
Mr.. Cowles Of North Carolina demanded
| recognition, standing in the aisle in front oI
the Speaker. The Speaker declined to re.
cognize him. and, said ''Will the gentle.
he does s0.- the Speaker will be greatly
obliged" Laughter.l Mr.. Cowles finally
went quietly to his seat and the Speaker
| proceeded to make statement. The clerk,
| he said. announced that of the members vot-
| ing there were 161 yeas and two nays. The
Chair, thereupon, having heard their names
| called in their presence, had directed a rec
| ord made of this fact. Accordingly, that
| question was now before the House and the
| Chair proposed to give a statement, accom-
| panied by ruling, from which an appeal
could be taken If any gentleman was dissat-
| isfed Herewith.
Mr.. Crisp of Georgia-"In advance | en-
ter an appeal" [Laughter.]
SOME DEMOCRATIC AUTHORITY.
The Speaker, continuing, said that for
| some considerable time a question of this
| nature had been raised in very many parlla-
mentary assemblages, and there had been a
| great deal OF doubt, especiallyin this body,
| on the subject. The Chair well recalled
| that proposition of this kind was made by
Randolph Tucker of Virginia, an able con-
| stitntional lawyer, and the matter had been
| somewhat discussed. A proposition was
| made with regard to putting 1t in the rules,
| and the general opinion which prevailed at
| that time, was that 1t was expedient to dc
so. Some men had grave doubts whether II
| was proper to make such an amendment tc
| the rules as would constitute persons present
| part of a quorum. The evils which had re.
suited from the other course had not been Sc
apparent then as now; no such careful study
had been then given to the subject as was
given at the present time. That had taken
place in 1880, and since then there had beer
| various arguments, and various decisions By
| eminent gentlemen on the subject. Those
decisions rendered it much more apparent
what the true rule was: One Of the firs
places where the question was raised was in
the Senate of New York. The present gov
ernor of New York was the presiding Officer
and upon him revolved duty similar to thai
which now devolved upon the Speaker. Ht
had met that duty In precisely the samt
manner. The question in New York ha(
arisen on the constitutional necessity Of hav
ing three-fifths Of the members constitute {
quorum for the passage Of a certain bill, ant
the presiding officer held that the constitu
tional provision as to a quorum was entirel,
satisfied by the presence Of the members
even IL they did not vote. Accordingly, b.
had directed the recording officer of the as
sembly, as part Of the record Of the trans
action. to put down the names of the mem
bers Of the senate present and refusing T
vote. in precisely the manner which tn
present occupant of the chair had adopted
That decision could not be regarded as il
any sense partisan, at least as he cited 1t.
MORE OF THE SAME SORT.
see, where a provision OF law required tina
two-thirds of the members constitute quo
rum. In the legislature of 1885, registra
tion bill had been pending, and was objecte'
to by the Republican members OF the House
On the third reading, the Republican mem
a member of the other party, had directe'
| the clerk to count as present those not vot
ing, and declared the bill passed on tina
reading Those two decisions seemed to tn
| present occupant of the chair to cover tn
| ground but there was an entirely familia
| process, which every old member would rec
| Ognize, whereby in the opinion Of tn
| Chair there was incontestible evidence o
| recognition at all times of the right to recOr
| members present as constituting part of
| quorum. 1t had been an almost every da
| occurrence, at certain stages of the session
for votes to be announced by the Chair cor
tanning obviously and emphatically no quo
rum. Yet, If the point was not made, th
| bill was always declared passed. That coul
| only be on a very distinct basis, and tina
was, that everybody present silently agree,
| to the fact that there was quorum. Ther
| was no ground on which such bill could b
passed constitutionally, unless the presenc
Of quorum was inferred from the fact this
no one raised the question. A count by th
chair, count by the tellers, and count b
yeas and nays were of equal value II ha
always been the practice, in parliamentar
bodies OF this character, for the speaker |
| determine the question II there was a quo
um present by count. When the question wa
raised whether there was quorl III. withoI
special arrangement for determining IL,
would be determined by a count by the pre-
siding officer.
Again there was provision in the eonst
tuition which declares that the House migf
establish rules for compelling the attendanc
| OF members. III the members present r.
fused to exercise their function and not !
counted as a quorum, that provision woul
| seem to be entirely nugatOry Ihe Speake
read at length Governor Hill's decision
I 81 "a N