The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-03-19
Mr.. Reed and the Rules.
NntIonnl pemocrat.l


National Dcmocrat
Mr.. Reeds antics continue to be
curious and interesting, though
they are less Important than they
were two years ago. They are
chiefly worth comment us exhibit
tions of the Republican disregard
for law aud fOndness for arbitrary
power.
Several times this session Mr..
Reed has stopped the action Of the
House by directing the Republicans
10 refrain from voting when he no.
diced that many Democrats were
absent, and then made the point of
"no quorum" Mr.. Rced has been
thoroughly committed for the past
two years to the proposition that
every member Of the House who
is present is to be counted for the
purpose of making quorum. He
has been pretending to defend this
ON grounds Of public policy, and
not mere party eXpediency. Vet
the moment he has chance to
make partisan point, he falls
back on his old and the traditional
theory and practice of Congress
that only members who vote can
be counted in the ascertainment of
Il quorum.
The force Of a decision rendered
by the Supreme Court last week is
.en tirely miscOnceived by him, and
with his strong predilection for the
one man power, he treats an aifir-
nation of the plenary powers Of
the House as an enlargement OF
the'personal power of the Speaker.
The Supreme Court decided that
the House had the constitutional
power to authorize the Speaker to
ascertain the presence of a quorum
by other means than the roll call.
a reporter asked him if he thought
Speaker Crisp would, relying on
the decision, count Il quorum, and
he replied that he didn't know that
Mr. Crisp would do this, but he
knew he ought to.
Now, what has the opinion
of the court to do with the speak
er? 1t decided what the powers
Of the House We're not what the
powers of the Speaker are. This
Congress has not made u rule au-
thorizing the Speaker to count a
quorum, consequently the Speaker
has no power to count quorum.
The difference between Mr.. Crisp
and Mr.. Reed is that the former
proceeds according to law and the
latter does not. Mr.. Crisp will not
count IA quorum, because the rules
of the House do not authorize him
to do so. Mr.. Reed did count IL
quorum when the rules gave him
no such authority, and he would |
doubtless do it again if he had the
chance. No court has ever decided
that Mr.. Reed had right IT, count
Il quorum when the House had not
by rule empowered him to do it.
On Friday of last week "A vote
was taken with the result that no
quorum had voted. Mr. Enloe. call
ed the chairs attention to the fact
that no quorum had voted, and
Speaker Crisp announced there
was no quorum. There was no quo
rum under the rules of this House,
and of all other Houses of Repre-
sentatives since the Government,
except only Mr.. Reeds House. Mr.
Reed sought to correct the Speak
er, and insisted that no one had
made the point of "no quorum;"
Mr.. Enloe had merely announced
that no quorum had voted.
The two things are the same I'M
uSI tle luIeS VI tIllS mouse, anu
Mr.. Reed knows it, but he
tried to get Speaker Crisp to over
ride the rules, just as he would
cheerfully override them if he had
the chance and the occasion But
Mr.. Crisp stool by the orderly pro-
cedure of the House, and the Su-
preme authority of the rules. In
that little alteration of Friday
afternoon, Mr.. Reed represented
the arbitrary power and Mr.. Crisp
the obedience to law characteristic
of their respective parties.
GOLD GOES AND COMES.