Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-30

{ existine rules could aisays be coutrosls
BY count BY sel'ers- We have lived (sai
} Crisp) through great civil var when thei
, Vas excitement almost unparalleled in d
history Of parliamentary action, and durin
. ali those ears no man on this Sor, q
party ever thought il necessary to intrs
: tdncs rule which would give the power q
declaring pressnee Of members BY voice Q
t0s person- (Applsuse On democratic aide
In common With every member on thi
side he demanded that there should be
.tYgeise exhibition Of the question. . pnbil
record Of the vote. and that there shoul
be tellefs, il demanded; that there shoui
be yeas and nays. II demanded. and tha
the yeas and nays should determine ho'
each member of the House voted. Il
quoted Shakespeare lines, Like q scurv
politician pretending to see the thing b
does not" Such poli.icians (he said
might come here on either side and unde
force Of circumstances and the impetuou
passions of the members. declare that the,
cav what they saw not, either With or with
out glass eyes. (Applause.l Crisp quote'
from the remafks of Reed (the presen
Speaker in the came debate when he use
these vords; Tine constitutional idea o
a quorum is not the physical presence of
msj ority Of the members Of the House
but majority of the members present an,
participating in the business Of the Houss.
| Triumphant cheers and clappinx Of hand
on the democratic sid. and in the CALLER
ies) Il appeal (Crsp exclaimed) from
Philip drunk to Philip sober" [Ano,hel
outburst of applause.
The speaker In his blandest manner. en-
tirely free from every trace Of excitement
said: "Will the House have the kindnes,
to be in order daughter.
When order vas restored il vas askeC
from the republican side what had been the
result Of the decision in New York re-
ferred to BY the Speaker. -
The question was answered by Springer
to the effect that the action Of Hill on thai
occasion was denounced by all democrats
Of the New York legislature as revolution.
ary. Greeted with loud applause from the
gAllaries and general hand ciapping of the
democratic members..)
Carnon said the constitution provided
that leach house shall be the judge Of the
election returns and qualification of its own
members and . majority Of each house
shall consulate . quorum to do business E"
The constitution did not say . majority
should be required to vote for q measure,
motion or resolution in order to pass 1t
He believed good morals. good constitution.
good law. good souled public common
sense and decency. demanded that the
speaker when he announced the fact Of the
presence Of over fifty members more than
quorum and called their names, should
declare the result Of vote - adopted by q
majority of the House.
Carlisle Of Kentucky. said; This de
cision. strictly speaking. 10 not . question
of parliamentary law in the proper sense Of
the word. 1t is = question of constitution
al Law. Until this morning. no presiding
cficer in the House ever held that it was
competent for less than . quorum of me M.
oers elect 10 this House, to pas any mo
ton or bill. All have held from the begin
ming Of Congress. that . msj )rity mus,
not only be present 70 constitute aQuorum,
but quorum must participate in legisla
tion".
Carlisle quoted that section Of the con-
stitution which provides for the keeping of
a journal, aud the entering upon il Of the
yeas ard nays, when demanded by Z Atth
Of the members present, also the section
~hich states that less than . quorum can
adjourn from day to day and compel the
attendance of absent members. The con.
-titut,0n, continued Carlisle, did not say in
exptess terms. that, in order to transact
puslness, = ms jorliy Of the House should
be present, but that . majority of tn.
House should constitute a quorum to do
business. and then II proceeded 10 epecif,
nsuDctly what these things were which the
minority could do. II the ruling made ihi.
morning was correct, there vas no neces-
sty for any provision OF the constitution
|, d ing hat less ,han ms jori,y could do
msjority constituted 4 quorum "to de-
business. These words were not in the
constitution of New York, upon which
Lieut. g Jvernor Hli's decision vas basel.
New York constitution provided on the
psssaRe of certain bulls three ff hs of The
members should constitute . quorum, bu,
lid no, require three ffrhs to pass q bill
On the contrary, it is expressly stated BY
he presiding officer bill did not pass by q
vote which the constitution required to pass
all bills, . majority of the members pres
ent Did not agree with Governor Hill
that he had the right to count . vote. A.
the journal of the House 10 accepted by
courts Of the country as conclusive evd
eBce of the action of the House. IL 10 abso
lutely necessary it should record the pro-
ceeding accurately. 1t might be said tha,
according to the ruling Of the Speaker the
journal of today was true. He 1eued the
righ, Of the presiding officer OF House to
make the journal. The journal was the
Journal Of the House itself, not the ,urnal
of the Speaker, who was simply the orgao
of the House and was not its master.
(Applause on the democratic side J
When the HOUSE directed the yeas and
nays to be taken and entered On the journal
that was the only evidence Of Whist had
uanspred. Could it be said three or five
or twenty-five gentlemen here couii pass
the most important legislation coming be-
fore this body? Uuques,ionably it could
II the Speakers ruling was correct. No
answer to say other members might vote il
they wanted to. That was their business
and the business of their constituents and
not the business Of the Speaker. 1t had
been said by the Speaker that a provision
Of the institution which allowed less than
q qu:rum to compel the attendance Of
members could be nugatory. That might
be so: so vas the provision nugatory if q
member deliberately concealed himself 90
the officers of the House could not g I'd him.
But he was responsible, not to the House
or Speaker, but to his constituents.
The Speaker stated tnat the name Of the
gentleman from Ohio (Ouihuaite) had not
been on the list which be Kept Of the men,
bers present, but that in the confusion of
the moment his name was pronounced by
accident. Mckinley, who took the floor.
yielded to the motien to adj,urn. which
vas carried without division. The matter
will come up again tomorrow.