St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-04-01

will administer to him the oath Of
Office, and then announce: The senate
is adjourned sine die" Vice President
Morton will then descend from his dais
and Vice President Stevenson will inn
mediately take the Gavel, rap once, and
say: 1.-The senate will be in order" Thus
quietly will the senate Of the Fifty
second congress expire, and the senate OF
the Fifty-third congress begin its exist
encc. Vice President Stevenson Will then
administer the oath Of Office to the one
third of the senators whose terms COM
mence on that day, and they viii take
the seats which have already been
chosen for them Immediately after
the ceremony Of organizing the senate,
some senator will move that the senate
stake recess Of two hourA" This
motion will he declared carried, and the
entire body will march ont upon the
east portico Of the capitol, where the
chief justice Of the supreme court will
administer the oath of Office to the new
president, who will then deliver his
inaugural address This will occupy
about two hours, when the members of
the senate will return to their places,
Vice President Stevenson will call the
senate to order. and then the senate
will adjourn until noon on the follow
ing day, when they will receive .
message from President Cleveland,
announcing the names of the members
of his cabinet. From that day on, for
about month, the senate will daily re
ceive messages from the president nom-
mating certain gentlemen for appoint
mcnts to our most important foreign
and domestic positions
You will understand that at noon on
Inauguration day. although the terms
of the new senators begin and they
are sworn in, they are no more abso
lutely members of the Fifty-third con-
gress than are the members of the
house of representatives, who are not
likely to be sworn in until December,
1898. The senate will be in extra
session." as it is called, but the house Of
representatives will not be in session,
unless sooner called here by proclama-
tion of the president, until the consti-
tutional time, in December. There are
very few people who understand these
facts concerning the dates when the
terms Of senators and representatives
begin and end
After the president has sent to the
senate all of the names of men whose
appointments he desires to make thus
carly in his administration he will send
q message to the senate announcing
that he has no further communications
to make. Then, in accordance with
custom, the senate will fix q date for
adjournment, after which, an adjourn
ment having been declared, they can
mot come together in session again
until the following December un-
less called by proclamation of the pres
ident However, when the senate is in
session. as il will be next March, the
body can remain in session. il it 50 de-
sircs. until the following December.
No power is given to the president TO
adjourn congress. or either house of
congress.
After these simple explanations con-
cerning one branch Of the machinery of
our government it Is not likely that
any of my readers will ever come to
Washington and ask the question:
"Where is congress?' after they have
seen but one of the two houses
They will understand that they have
seen congress in its entirety only when
they have seen both the senate and
house of representatives
SMITH d. FRT.