The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-10-18

OlsCusSlOn TO tue 1881 VI euuuTHnco.
or the pressure Of noise and disorder2 At first
we reject such proposition. and may even In
ouire II IL IL lot revolutionary We find. how
over, that in all periods in the history Of the
Govern mont and with all parties. It has occa-
sionn!ly been resorted to and often justified.
When Speaker Reed was confronted by an
excited House shouting No quorum" q
majority OF those present refusing TO
answer TO their names. thus leaving tho
House without quorum and stopping
its business. and wnen he with tho ham
die of his mallet over his eye counted enough
of the men no saw sitting before him 10 make
n Quorum he was denounced nA CIR Heed"
and was accused OF infringing ON the indvd-
ual rights ot each member OF the llOnse who
consiicrrd himself the sole custodian OF every
power ho might there exercise. whether 1t was
making \ quorum or defeating one. Yet this
is one .: the fvorite nul most comm m ot OBJ
structive methols The Constitution. as
safe guard. provides that legislative business
shall not bs transacted unless Quorum Is
present. and any membe" may demand tho
presence OF quorum Indeed. this right and
the right to make n motion to adjourn. which
Is always IN order. are aboat the only rights
That are lcit t. tho average member oil the
House under the present rules.
1t must not 10 Supposed that rl'3ls.ering
IL peculiar tothe Senate. Sons vi the most
noted eases OF nlihuStorinG have &C irccd in
the House. During Grant'a second Admins
tration. tho writer wa u lart!rIiant in one
ia that body which lasted nearly three nights
and days. altogether eclipsins. us feat OF
endurance. the late Senate nibus,ern.. II
was on the Civil Rights bill. the pending
measure being obnoxious to the minority.
Unlike this recent Instance In the Senate. there
was very little slraEinr. the rules o: tho
House aud its practice not pcrmiti, that
kind OF obstruction 1t was q continuous sue
cession OF yea and nay votes. which was
certainly s,il moro irrational than what
we have recently seen In III, Senate.
While tho Constitution and the rules
make tho motion to adjourn ALWAYS in or
der the motion cannot 30 repeated until
some other business has intervrnri This
was cvadei in the House hv the leader. who
made the motion TO adjourn. AMI then
added motion that when tn. House
adjourned it should DO until certain day.
and then further moved TO lay these
motions on the table; and so the con inuous
series went on. The rules have since modified
the power to carry on Just such proceeding.
but they have not taken away tn. ruwcr to
fllibuster That contest In the House I'M
doubtedly cost six mem hers their lives and in
flicted considerable injury on many more.
The Eight sessions OF the HOUSE, !Iavp been
broken up by nIibustering hundreds uf times
in its history. When parties in the House nre
at all close in point OF numerical strength. it is
extremely difficult to keep in attendance II iull
majority Of the dominant party. In print OF
fact. without considerable effort it il rarely
accomplished. Between sickness. unavoidable
absences. the performance Of other duties
elsewhere demanded by their constituents.
not to mention the disinclination many have
to sit for five six hours every day in q
prOwde1 Nall affair yyorkiDp ar two hpnr
more In committee. the difficulty Of keertnC
quorum is easily explained. In this condition
OF affairs nothing can be done but By general
consent. which in some cases is not with
out its advantages. for 1t bars out
questionable legislation. At times tllibuster-
ing in the House assumes more rowdy char
acter. At one time In the Forty fifth Congress-.
when Mr.. Carlisle was Chairman of tho Com
mittee OF the Whole on an appropriation bill.
in the course OF long night session In which
1t was hoped to complete the bill. the House
took 1t into its head to permit no speeches
explaining any amendment or measure. and
thus practically blocked all proceedings.
Whenever member got the floor. made Q
motion and started to explain 1t. he was imme-
diatey drowned by cries OF Vote ! vote!' In
this way everything was voted down without
regard tc its merits. and the scene finally
became very turbulent. There was way OF
ending these proceedings by the demand for
quorum. for there was far more than .
quorum present and the session was broken
up without accom- plishing anything.
When the business OF session Of the House
10 checked by the demand for q quorum. that
body may quietly adjourn or It may order the
doors locked and send the Sergeant Arms.
with the Speakers order to arrest and trn9
back absentees. To understand just how this
works in practice 1t must he remem ercJs that
the absentees may be scattered anywhere in a
city Of 100000 Inhabitants. always surno-in
some OF them have not left the city. m" limo
required to get quorum can bo guessed ut.
Meanwhile the members present ara lor&oi
up. and cannot go on with LEGISLATION.
They are really prisoners. They may at
tempt to palliate their misery by ratechisiE.
and passing Jokes on the few the Sor.eaIt-at-
Arms and his assistants may happen to bring
In: but the probability OF getting useIu bus.-
ness session out Of these proceedings il very
small. 1t will thus be seen that between
the House nllbusterinR AMI the Senate FL
clustering. the latter. IL moro sonorouS and
verbose. is at least more digniled. At times
the House disturbances assume even II more
turbulent character. Instances have hcen
known when members Approached each other
in IA violent manner but this was more COM
mon several years ago than it has been o, !ata
In such cases. the Speakers mailet having
failed to maintain order. tho Sergeant-nt-
Arms. grasping In his arms that American
equivalent OF the ancient British fiction. the
Speakers mace. bears 1t through the hall and
sometimes presses It against the DO lis5 OF
the more turb uent members
1t will be asked II there Is any justification
for minority resisting with all the nariia-
mentary devices In their power n measure
very obnoxious to them. This has been doneA
great many times. Where 4 measure has
been passed upon by the people. clearly. de-
cisively and by large majority. It may be
safely assumed that few members will be
found fighting 1t and thereby mourning tho
wrath OF their constituents. Unfortunately.
very few measures can be said to have been SO
decided. On some questions platforms arc
far from clear Tho platform on which
Abraham Lincoln was elected President