Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-13
ADDRESS TO THE NATION.
Ex-Speaker Carlisle, on Behalf of
the Democracy,
Addresses the Country, Setting Forth the
Position of the Minority in the
House of Representatives in
the Recent Fight.

the Democratic members of the House |
has been prepared by ex-Speaker Car
lssle, and will be signed by all the mi
nority members to-day. The address in |
its full text is as follows:
The present situation in the House of Rep |
resentatives is so anomalous, and the I'M |
precedented decisions of the Speaker are so |
full OF danger to the integrity OF future |
legislation, that we consider it our duty to
submit Il brief statement of the facts IN order |
that the propriety of the course We have
taken may be fairly determined.
The House of Representatives met on the
second day of December, 1859, and fmmedi-
ately organized by the election of Speaker
and other officers. On the same day by a
resolution of the House, the Speaker was au-
thorzed to appoint Il committee on rules,
and the rules of the last preceding House
were referred to that committee. The com
mittee, consisting of the Speaker himsel1
and four other members, was appointed on
the fifth day of December, and on the nlnth
it made report authorizing the Speaker TO
appoint all the other committees and DEM
ing their jurisdiction. The committee on
elections, to which was referred all cases in
vOvinS the rights of members to their seats,
was appointed on the ninth day OF Decem-
Der. Although nearly two months have
elapsed since the committee on rules was
appointed, it has made no report upon the
matters referred to it except the partial one
made on the ninth of December, and conse-
quentlY the House has been competed to
conduct its business without any rules or
system, except the general parliamentary
law, as construed by the Speaker. There
have been no calendars, no order of bust
ness, no fixed time to receive reports from
committees or for the consideration of bills
or resolutions, and in fact no regular meth
ODDS whatever in the proceedings of the
House.
The American House of Representatives
has been all this time, and still is, so far as
rules for its government are concerned, IN
precisely the same condition, as popular
meeting or a political convention in which
the chairman and his partisans absolutely
control all the proceedings. No measure
can get before the House for consideration
unless the Speaker chooses to allow it to be
presented and members have means of
knowing in advance what they are to be
called upon to discuss or decide. This IS the
first time in our history that a Legislative as
sembly, or even a public meeting, has at
tempted to transact business for any con-
siderable period without a regular code or
rules prescribing the order of its proceed
ings, and the Inconvenience and Injustice re-
suIting from such attempt have been
forcibly Illustrated in the present instance.
The Speaker has repeatedly, during these
extraordinary proceedings, refused to enter
tain parliamentary motions that have been
recognized as legitimate ever since the Gov
eminent established, and when at
tempts have been made to appeal from his
decisions he has refused to submit the queS-
ton to the House. BY his arbitrary rulings,
sustained i'll some instances by less than
quorum, he has subverted nearly every
principle of constitutional and parliament
airy law heretofore recognized in the House.
This personal and partisan domination OF
the House was submitted to. though not
without repeated protest, until we became
convinced that it was the deliberate pur-
pose of the Speaker and his supporters to
proceed without rules to Dust the Demo-
ic members whose seats contested
and admit their Republican opponents,
whether elected or not
On Wednesday, January %, the committee
on elections called up Il contested election
case, and the Democratic members deter
mined that in the absence of rules it should
not be considered if they could prevent it by
any proper parliamentary proceedings. Ac-
cordingly they raised the question OF con-
sideration, demanded the yeas and nays, and
on the call of the roll refrained from voting.
The result was that less than a constitution
al quorum voted, but the Speaker, in viola
ton of the uniform practice of the House for
more than century, proceeded to count
members who were present but not voting,
and declared that the House had decided to
take the case up. From this decision an APP
peal was taken, and on motion to lay this
appeal on the table the yeas and nays were
taken and less than u quorum voted, but the
Speaker again counted members not voting,
and decided that the motion was agreed to,
and his ruling thereby sustained.
The Constitution of the United States pro-
vdes that majority of each house shall con-
stitute a quorum to do business but a small
er number may adjourn from day to day, and
may be authorized to compel the attendance
of absent members In such manner and I'M
der such penalties AS each house may pro-
vide. Another clause of the Constitution re-
quires each house to keep journal of it's
proceedings and provides that when one
fifth of the members desire it, the yeas and
nays shall be taken on any question and en-
tered on the journal Since the beginning of
the Government under the Constitution,
more than a hundred years ago, the House
of Representatives and the Senate have uni
formly construed the first clause of the
Constitution quoted above to mean
that majority of all the members
elect must be present and actually
participate in the transaction of business,
and that whenever, upon call of the yeas
and nays, it appeared from the journal,
which is the only official record, that less
than the constitutional quorum has voted on
any proposition, the vote was a nudity and
no further business could be done until the
requisite number appeared and voted.
Every presiding officer in the Senate and
every Speaker OF the House, except the
present one has held that when less than
quorum voted o a cali of the yeas and nays,
no matter how many might be actually
present, it was his duty to take notice of the
fact, and declare that the pending bill or
motion had not passed.
When the vote is not taken by yeas and
nays it is not entered upon the journal, but
if any member makes the point that no
quorum has voted, the proceeding is "A null
ity and the vote must be taken over. The
presumption of the law is that when moth
ing appears to the contrary the proceedings
of Legislative body are regular and valid,
and therefore when the official record does
not show that less than quorum voted, or
attention is not cal led to the fact in such
way to furnish legal evidence of it, the
question can not be made afterwards. Many
bills have been passed when there was no
quorum voting, and it is equally true that
many have passed when there was no quor-
urn actually present; but this does not prove
that the proceeding would have been valid
in either case if the official record had shown
the fact.
In order to secure certainty and stability
in the administration of the law, it is rule
in our juriS prudence that when particular
construction of a constitution statute
has for long time been acquiesced in, not
only By those whose duty it is to execute it
but also by those whose personal and prop
erty rights are affected by it, the courts will
recognize it as the true construction and en-
force it accordingly.
Even if this were an original question it
would not be difficult to show that the prac-
teal construction of the Constitution which
has prevailed in the House and Senate for
one hundred years is the correct one.
Speaker Reed himself when in the minority
on the floor OF the House, stated the true
meaning and the true philosophy CT the
Constitution when he said: "rhc constitu-
tionaI idea of quorum is not the presence
of a majority of all the members of the
House, but Il majority of the members pres
emit and partici pating in the business of the
House." 1t is not the visible presence but