Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-08

" l. AxGe w ASx1x4NO VA
THE NEW CODE OF RULES.
Views Of the Majority and Of the Minor
ity Of the Committee.
The full reports Of the majority and Of tie
minority Of the committee on rules were made
public today. The report Of the majority ex-
plains at length some of the more important
changes proposed, and says Of the new code
that "shey believe, If followed ont in good faith,
it will at once enable the House to have due
control over In business and ct the same time
provide those safeguards Of elaboration and
debate which will enable the House to act
wisely"
| In reference 10 the method Of ascertaining
| a quorum when members present refuse to
vote on . roll call the report says: The process
! Of ascertaining the presence of quorum to do
| business under the Constitution would ordi-
narily be under the control Of the Speaker who
would derive his information from his own
senses or by the aid Of clerk. or in any way
which would satisfy his mind of the accuracy
OF the count Under our system Of roll calls it
has been deemed more convenient to ascertain
presence Of those who refuse to vote at the
same time and BY the same means.
D1LAroRY NOTIONS
In reference to the clause saying mo dila-
tory motion shall be entertained by the
Speaker" the report says: This CLAUSE is merely
declaratory Of parliamentary law. There are
no words which can be framed which will limit
members to the proper use Of proper motions.
Any motion the most conducive to progress IN
the public business or the most salutary for the
comfort and convenience of members may be
used for purposes Of unjust and oppressive de-
lay. The majority may be kept IN SEES.
sion FOR long time against reason and good
sense, sometimes at the within OF single MEM
her, and sometimes for still longer period, at
the gill of one-ffth who are misusing the pro-
vision Of the Constitution for yeas and nays by
the aid Of simple motions proper in themselves
but which are improperly used.
I'm the early days such prostitution of legiti-
party zeal was not SO much as named among
legislators. Today the abuse has grown to such
proportions that the parliamentary law which
governs American assemblies has found it nee
essary to keep pace with the evil and to enable
the majority, by tue intervention of the presid-
ing officer, to meet, by extraordinary means, the
extraordinary abuse Of power on the part, some
times. of q very few members. Why should an
assembly be kept from its work by motions
made only to delay and to weary, even if the
original design Of the motion was salutary and
ssnsible9 Why should one fifth even be en-
titled to waste q half-hour of themselves and
OF four other ffths by a motion to adjourn
when the majority manifestly do not want to
ADJOURN
IF the suggestion should be made that great
power is here conferred the answer is that az
the approval Of the House is the very breath
in the nostrils of the Speaker, and as nobody
on earth Is 30 Jealous OF its liberties and i'm
patient OF control, We may be quite sure that
no arbitrary interruption will take place, and,
indeed, no interruption at all, until not only
such misuse Of proper motions is made clearly
evident to the world, but also such action has
taken place on the part of the House as will
assure the Speaker of the support of the body
whose wishes are his law. SO that in the end
1t is power exercised by the House through
its properly constituted officer"
QUORUM IN COMMITTEE.
In reference to the rule fixing one hundred
whole the majority say:
rule fixing the number Of a quorum in the
committee Of the whole, but from the First
Congress to the present the practice has been
to require the same number in the House.
The quorum OF the house of commons (cOn-
sisting Of go n,embers) is 40 The committee
of the whole, like standing or select committee,
has merely advisory powers and jurisdiction.
Its action concludes nothing, and must be re-
ported to the House, which approves
or rejects, as it pleases. The
same principle 10 true with respect
to a quorum Of standing and select committees
The House has never adopted q rule on this
subject, and it has been a common practice for
such committee, in arranging the days of meet
ing, order of business. &C., to fix the number
Of its quorum, which IL less than majority Of
its whole number. So far, therefore, as the
constitutional or legal question is concerned,
1t has never been denied or questioned that it
was entirely competent for the House to select
any number it might please rs a quorum of the
committee Of the whole. The only question
involved is one purely Of legislative expediency
and propriety.
The reason that the issue has never hereto
fore been presented is due entirely to the fact
that until recent years members have not sat in
their seats in the House and refused to vote
when their names were called.
The House, for convenience, commits tenn
porarily its jurisdiction to standing and select
committees. 1t never parts with or perma-
nently surrenders it. That jurisdiction so COM
mitted is returned to the House with the bill or
proposition, and is again referred by the House
for convenience to a committee Of the whole.
That the action Of the committee is purely pre-
liminary and advisory is demonstrated by the
fact that no proposition pending therein can be
laid upon the table; that the previous question
cannot be ordered therein; that a motion to re-
consider cannot be made; that the yeas and
nays cannot be taken, and, finally, that it can
not adjourn.
1.-The action Of the committee Of the whole be-
ing, therefore, purely advisory and concluding
nothing, 1t is clear that this provision cannot
be in cOntravention Of the Constitution, which
Is silent on the subject, and 10 in harmony with
the well-recOgnized principles and practice Of
the English parliament, the original sources of
our parliamentary rules and practice and Of
modern constitutional governmental
THE M1NoRITY's VIEWS
The minority report is signed by Representa-
tives Carlisle and Randall. They are unable
they say, to concur with the majority in many
of the changes proposed.
"It will be seen," the report says shat while
some Of them are comparatively unimportant
there are others which, if adopted, will very
materially change the methods of transacting
business in the House and in a large measure
deprive the individual Representatives Of their
proper power and influence in the most i'm
portant matters Of legislation"
After discussing various Of the proposed
changes the report says that il the proposed
rules are adopted there will be one way only in
which an individual member, not acting by di-
rection Of a committee, can secure considera-
ton Of bill, and that is by a motion to sus-
pend the rules"
They are unable to discover any sufficient
reason for this discrimination against members
who may not be fortunate enough to secure the
cooperation Of committees in making their
motions.
1t is proposed by the majority to make
quorum Of the committee Of the whole House
on the state of the Union consist Of 100 men,
bers, or considerably less than one-third Of all
the members OF the House. Every bill appro-