The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-02-13


this rule.
Said he at one time, the principle
contended for upon the part OF the
majority has been the foundation
probably for the greatest legislative
frauds ever committed" and at an
other time, where quorum in the
Judgment of the chair has been de-
clared to be present against the result
of a roll call, these proceedings in the
different legislatures have brought
scandal on their names; and at an
other time, there can be no record like
the call of the yeas and nays, and
from that there is no appeal; and at
another time, the moment q speaker
is clothed with power to go behind the
roll call and assume that there is n
quorum in the hall, the members will
stand on the very brink of volcano.
In 1880 Mr.. Tucker of Virginia Of
feIed a resolution in the house which
he desired to be made a rule of the
house, authorizing and empowering
the speaker, when the roll call dis
closed the non-presence OF a quorum,
to nevertheless declare quorum con-
stituted, provided thatsthe number OF
| those voting on the rCll call, and OF
those present but not voting, should
together make majority of the house !;
or in other words, to exercise the same
authority as is now being ex-
ercised by Mr.. Reed, upon
his own volition and without
authority from the house. This reso-
luton was debated by the ablest and
most experienced members of the
house, and was treated by all as Il
non-political question, and so strong
and so general was the feeling against
it-among Democrats and Republicans
alike-that Mr.. Tucker withdrew it
before vote was taken.
Mr.. Garfield, while speaking to the
resolution, among other things said /:
This has been house of representatives
since 1888. This has been the theater of all
sorts of political storms and tempests. We
| have lived through the times of great wars,
of great civil war, when there were ex-
elements hardly paralleled in the history
! of parliamentary annals; yet during all
these years no man before, so far as | know.
no party before, has even thought it neces-
| Sary to introduce a rule that gives the
| power of declaring the presence OF men,
ber5 by the single voice of one person,
power that will enable him to bring from
his sick bed dying man and put him
down in the hall so that the speaker shall
count him and make his presence against
his will and perhaps in his delirium, count
in oruer to make quorum, so that some
partisan measure may be carried out over
the body of that dying man. Sir, the mo-
ment you get over the line, the momentyou
cross the boundary Of names, the moment
you leap err the iron fence of the roll, that
moment you are out in the vague, and all
sorts of disorders come in"
Our present speaker, Mr.. Reed, was
not silent during that debate. He
opposed the adoption of the resolution
and said that the constitutional idea
Of a quorum is not the presence OF
majority OF the members of the house,
but majority of the members present
and participating in the business Of
the house-that it is not the visible
presence OF members, but their judy
ments and their votes that the con-
stitution calls for. These are his
own words. And again, he said, it is
valuable privilege for the country
that the minority shall have
the right by this extraordinary
mode of proceeding to call
the attention of the country
to measures which party in a mo-
ment of madness and party feeling is
endeavoring to enforce upon the citi-
zens of this land. These, also are his
own words. Mr.. Carlisle and Mr.,
Crisp and Mr.. Turner have made able
speeches upon Mr.. Reeds ruling,
which l mail you today. They will
richly repay careful reading.
But, you may ask, why this radical
change in the opinion of Mr.. Reed
upon the subject, and why the exercise
of such power in the absence of any
authority conferred upon him by the
house?
do not think that he would have
made such a ruling if only con-
tested election had been involved.
Behind and beyond it are other meas
ures, which are to deeply affect the
WhOlC OOulVly hoO olllp III UliC pres
ent, but for the future, also.
1t will be remembered that in the
last presidential campaign the corpo-
rate power in the North and East
the soldiers in the late war and the
anufacturers-were overwhelmingly |
in favor OF the Republican ticket.
To them promises were made and |
pledges given, and now these promises
must be kept and the pledges must
be redeemed. TODD 80, however, the |
Democratic minority must be further |
reduced, and radical innovations
must be made upon the usual
and we'll understood practice of the
house. The parliamentary principles
and practice which have governed |
the house for one hundred years and
without interruption would stand in
the way Of an easy and rapid dis
charge of the Indebtedness of the Re
publican party to those influences
which secured its return to power.
Hence the election of Mr. Reed as
speaker-his ruling which is now
agitating the whole country-and the
speedy action of the majority in the |