Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-01
QUAY AN ABSENTEE
From at Least Twice as Many
Roll Calls of the Senate
as He Attends.
HIS RECORD Is ATTACKED
By a Newspaper Correspondent Who
Has Been Looking It Up.
MANY VITAL MATTERS IGNORED
By the Junior Senator as the Result Of
Frequent Absence.
MANY VITAL MATTERS IGNORED
THE RESULT OF A PEEP AT THE BOOKS

Frequent allusion has been made to the
absence of the Pennsylvania Senators from
the deliberations of the Senate, and the
Injury which their constituents have suf
fered thereby. That the Pennsylvania Re
publican Association made no mistake in
the count in its strong Indictment of Sena
tor Quay, in which it charges that by reason
Of his frequent absence he has failed to dc
the work he should have done in behalf Of
legislation of vital importance to the State
of Pennsylvania, will appear from the fol-
lowing statistics taken from the official
records of the Senate. They relate only to
the four years of his service during the
Fiftieth and Fifty-frst Congresses, and dc
not embrace his record during the present
one.
Mr.. Quay commenced his Senatorial
career with the first session of the Fiftieth
Congress, in December, 1887. For the first
two months he did fairly well, managing to
attend two-thirds of the roll calls for yea
and nay votes, but he soon fell into the
habit of absenteeism, which has become a
second nature with him, and in February,
1888, he was present at only one-sixth Of
such roll calls
Worse and Worse for Awhile.
In the following month he is not recorded
as having been present and voting at all on
such calls, and the same is true for the
months of June and September of that year.
During the entire session, on the call of the
yeas and nays, he was present and voted 36
times and was absent 10S The session
lasted ten months.
The second session of the Fiftieth Con-
gress only extended through portions of
four months, and yet Mr. Quay's absentee
record fully equals that for the preceding
session. In December, 1889, he only re-
sponded once to A calls for the yeas and
nays, and for the entire session his record
was present at SO and absent at Ill such
calls
The total exhibit for both sessions of the
Fiftieth Congress present rs, absent PIG.
In other words, Senator Quay seemed to
think he was discharging his duty to his
constituents BY only being present and vot-
ing on one-fourth of the questions which was
deemed of sufficient Importance to require
yea and nay vote in the Fiftieth Congress.
A Better Showing in 1890.
He made somewhat better showing dur-
ing the first session of the Fifty-frst Con-
gress, from December, 1889, to September,
1890, although during February and May,
1890, he does not sppear to have responded
at all to the calls for the yeas and nays.
During the entire session he was present at
119 such calls and absent from 194
During the second session of the Fifty
first Congress, from December, 1890, to
March, 1891, his record Is again very poor.
Although there were q roll calls in March,
1891, he does not appear to have responded
to any of them. For the entire session his
record is-Present, SO; absent, 105.
The figures for both sessions of the Fifty
first Congress are-Present, 172; absent, 290,
and they indicate that he only deemed it
necessary to attend at a little over onethird
of the important divisions of the Senate
For both the Fiftieth and Fifty-frst Con-
crosses the figures are: present, 24S; absent,
5l6. showing an attendance at less than
one-third of the total calls for the yeas and
nays. The sessions of the two Congresses
extended through 2S months. During IA of
these months Mr.. Quay answered to only 80
calls of the yeas and nays, and did not re-
spond to 262 calls. In only five months of
the % did he respond to more such calls
than he absented himself from, the aggre-
gate for these months being, present 123;
absent sc.
AUScue al q SrAtlChi Alhes
During the remaining % months the
figures were: Present, 125; absent, 432. His
best attendance was during August and
September, 1890, when he responded to 70
calls for the yeas and nays and was absent
from Sc The Mckinley bill was under
consideration about this time in the Senate,
where it was deliberated on from July 25 to
September 10. During this period, one in
which Pennsylvania best interests were at
stake, and amendments were being offered
continually to the bill, Mr.. Quay was ab-
sent from 20 calls for the yeas and nays out
of q total of 138.
great deal of important legislation was
enacted by the votes cast on the yea and
nay divisions in the Senate, from which
Mr. Quay was absent. At present we will
only mention some of the important meas
ures raised by the Fiftieth and the first
session of the Fifty-frst Congress in the ab-
sence Of Quay. The bill to authorize the
purchase OF United States bonds was dis
cussed and amended in the Senate on March
26 and April 8, 1888, and was passed Oh
April 8, 1888. On all these latter Mr.. Quay
did not respond to any call for the yeas and
nays on this bill
Record of Soldier Candidate.
An effort is being industriously made to
rally the old soldiers to the support of
'Comrede Quay" yet the latter did not
think 1t worth while to be present when, on
February q, 1883, the dependent pension
bill was discussed, amended and passed.
He was again absent on May II, 1888, when
Lhs House bill was amended and passed in
!hs Senate making widows pensions paya-
hle from the date of the husbands death.
he was also absent when, on March 10.
LsSa the Senate passed the bill appropriat-
tnG tl0o, 900 to the erection of monument
h Washington O!t::' to the negro soldiers
Who fsl while fighting for the preservation
Of the Northern life in the War of the Re-
kslliou.
Again, although he introduced the de-
pendent pension bill into the Senate in the
bra sesslon of the Fitty-frst Congress. it
fas pAsssd by the Senate in his absence, on
o~l1uAry q, 1890, and when the final vote
- ennux7ence In committee report of both
HsusA wa taken ON June 23 1890. he was
Agstn Ahssnt
Anesher Instance of "Comrade" Quay's
1svvstm b shs saserests of the old soldiers |
- hh euGls5s - Be present on April 16.
"a vksa sk.s bZI 70 authortse additional
b.Aa sxamAnezs passed the Senste.
Ap.rssos Measures Unattended To.
q Juns IL tssA the House postotice an.
PspkAssus, &u sas amended In the Senate |
b - - sssasHss III Postmaster General TO !
ssoassat wEsk Amsalssn-built and registered |
NaennN - transportation OF tha Cn..ed /:
En6x mafh - tass1ea ports and on July IL.
- tAs Sasycs .ssssasd on the sraendment, |
'ks 0o1ss - SsAak3yes. having now