Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-02

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mittees in long session and within 40 days
In short session.
Democratic News Raises the Roof
Just at this juncture Nh. Bryan, of Ne.
braska, provoked the hilarity of the Demo.
cratic side by deity conveying the intelli
| gence to the House that the Supreme Court
had decided that Hon. james E. Boyd wa.
the legally elected Governor of Nebraska
81 move, )" he said, ''to strike out the last
word of the pending amendment. 1t is not
because 1 have any special dislike for that
last word, but desire that, at this time,
and under this motion, to. convey to the
House an item of news which ]
am sure it will be glad to re-
ceive. In 1890 the people of Ne
braska, by plurality of more than one
thousand votes, elected Hon. James E. Boyd
as Governor of that State. Applause.
Tne Ex-Governor contested the election on
the ground that Mr.. Boyd, although for 40
years a resident of Nebraska, twice Mayor
of Omaha and member of two Constitu-
tional Conventions, was not citizen of the
State within the provisions of the Constitu-
tion. The State Court, by vote of 2 to 1,
declared Mr.. Boyd not a citizen. l wish
to announce to the House that the United
States Supreme Court has Just declared
~
Office. Great applause on the Democratic
side. The news is thus conveyed to you
that this House NAV join with the people
of Nebraska in rejoicing over the restora-
tion of popular government in that State. y
[Renewed applause.
Reeds Rules Attacked and Defended.
After this little episode, the considera-
ton of the rules was again resumed, and
H., TN,1o - off
ment providing that committees, in report
ing private bills, shall file them with the
clerk, and that they shall by him be placed
upon the appropriate calendar Agreed to
yeas, 1863; nays, "a.
Mr.. Burrows, of Michigan, offered an
amendment re-establishing the rule of the
last Congress empowering the Speaker to
count quorum when such quorum is pres
ent and not voting.
Mr.. Anderson, of West Virginia, moved
to amend the amendment by adding a clause
providing that in no case shall the hat or
cloak or umbrella of a member in the cloak
room be counted. Democratic applause.
Mr.. Reed, of Maine, replied that his i'm
preston was that the officers of this House
(elected by whatever party) were quite
capable of honestly carrying out the rules
of the House as they unde rstood them; and
mistake for a presiding officer to omit to
take notice of what he (Mr. Reed) believed
to be a quorum under the constitution. In
other words, he desired to call attention to
what seemed to him to be fact-that II
this House had a majority of members
actually present it was then and there con-
stituted a body to do business; and it had
not itself any right to obscure that fact, 10
refuse to admit it, or to refuse to take any
reasonable method of ascertaining it..
The Way to Ascertain the Truth.
Of course, if any gentleman believed sim
cerely that it was necessary that majority
of members should participate in business
it would be his duty to stand by ancient
methods, but if he believed Gas he-Mr.
Reed-did) that the presence of the ma
ioritv of members constituted quorum, he
should take the proper means OF ascertain
ing it. The amendment of the gentleman
from Michigan (Mr. Burrows) proposed to
ascertain that fact.
Gas that idea,'' concluded Mr. Reed,
"has had the sanction of every court to
which it has been referred, I think it should
have the sanction of this House." Great
applause
Mr.. Burrows thought that if the gentle
man from West Virginia Mr.. Alderson)
was entirely sincere in his proposition he
should renew it when the House reached
clause 2, rule IL, where it provided that
call of the House shall not be in order after
the previous question, unless it shall appear
from an actual count by the Speaker that
quorum is not present. The Constitution
of the United States provided that ma
iority of the members should constitute
quorum. How a quorum was to be ascer-
tanned was not declared; but no one could
deny that the moment the presence OF
quorum was discovered that moment the
body had legislative capacity-he cared not
how that quorum was disclosed. Two or
three times during the present session the
point of ''no quorum" had been raised,
when a quorum was actually present. This
trouble and delay might be avoided by his
amendment.
Tables Turned on the Ex-Speaker.
Mr.. Dockery, of Missouri, quoted from
utterances made by the gentleman from
of what constituted quorum. The gentle
man from Maine had then said that the
constitutional idea of quorum was not the
presence of all the members of the House,
but majority of the members present and
participating in the business of the House.
1t was not the actual presence of members,
but their judgments and votes that the Cof-
stitution called for. He (Mr. Dockery)
simply wished to let the House know that
the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Reed) had
changed his opinion.
Mr.. Anderson, of West Virginia, made no
issue with the gentleman from Maine (Mr.
Reed) that the officers of. the House were
faithful and would do their work honestly
But it would not be disputed that during
the sessions of the Fifty-tirst Congress the
lor cd q hx
tlemen who were down stairs in the bath
tubs, in order that the Republican majority
might carry out what it intended to do, as
against the expressed will of the people.
Take, for instance, the case of Mr. Forman,
OF Illinois, who had been counted to make
quorum when he was not in the
District of Columbia. He (Mr. AL
derson) was not here to say
that hats and umbrellas had been counted to
make up quorum, but to say that empty
space had been counted time and again. His
amendment was not intended as reflection
upon the present Speaker, or upon the Com
mittee on Rules, but it was intended as
reflection on the doings and actions and
tyranny and arbitrary will of the last
Speaker, and the. Republican brethren who
had stood at his back. The people had
passed upon these doings, and had said by
an overwhelming vote that they would
have no more counting of quorum such as
had been INDUCED in by the Fifty-frst.
Congress.
Payson Did Make a Mistake.
Mr.. Reed replied to the specific state
ment made by the gentleman from West
Virginia to the effect that Mr.. Forman, of
had been counted to make quo
rum during the last Congress, when, in fact,
he was absent from the city. This state
ment, he admitted, was correct. The gen.