St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-30
MORNING. AUGUST 80, 1893
SPEAKER REED SCORED
SPEAKER CRISP 7kKES The FLOOR
AND APPLIES 7HE LASH.
DISCUSSION OVER THE RULES.

HND HFFLIES Ire LASH,
DISCUSSION OVER THE RULES.
Certain Powers Should Be Given
TO the House-Ihe People
Have Decided Against Their
Representative in Congress
Becoming Their Master-Ihe
speaker Should Not Control.
WASHINGTON, Aug. % An ami
mated discussion over the rules between
Speaker Crisp and ex-Speaker Reed en-
liyened the proceedings of The house To-
day. AT times the debate was some
what personal, and each speaker re-
ceived the plaudits of his party friends.
Mr.. Aitkin offered a resolution pro-
yiding for Especial committee of five
members to investigate the ''Ford's
theater DISASTER and to determine what
action should be taken for the relief of
the families of the victims. Referred to
| the committee OH rules.
Mr.. CatchiDgs then called up the re-
port OF the committee on rules. reporting
| the rules for the present house.
Alter some discussion MIR. CatchingS
| conceded that there should be general
DEBATE, and briefly he explained the
| changes made i'll the rules.
| When speaking in favor OF the rule
making quorum of the COMMITTEES of
the whole 100 members, he was inter-
! rupted by Mr.. Kilgore with the inquiry
whether quorum of the committee of
whole should not be the same as quorum
of the house. In reply, MIR. CatchiiIgs
said that the adoption of this rule by
the Fifty-first congress was good and
beneficial.
| Mr.. Reed twitted the Democrats upon
their partial approval of the rules OF the
| Fifty-frst congress, but in humorous
vein contended that they had not gone
far enough. He then in more serious
manner argued in favor of the
| Rights Of the Majority,
which rights chad been firmly MAIN
tanned in the Fifty-iirst congress. Now
| the house was IN the habit of lodging
measures instead of meeting them. He
criticised the provision of the rules
which, he claimed, vested the commit
| tee of rules with the authority which
| should be vested in the speaker. Why
not adopt a system of rules which
would give to the majority control, and
take away from the fiIibusterer his OPP
| portunity to stop the consideration Of
measure? 1t was better to have speak
er exercise power in the full light of
| public opinion than to exercise it in
the seclusion of the committee room.
| Then for the first time tn S session
the speaker took tile floor, having called
MIR. Richardson (FennesSeel to the
| chair. and replied to the criticisms OF
| the gentleman from Maine. He said
| there we're provisions in this code which
we're taken substantially from the rules
of the Fifty-hrss congress. Neither
| himself nor any member of the conf
| mittee on rules would refrain from re-
porting rules simply because they were
part of the rules of the Fifty first con-
| gress. Very much of those rules was to
be commended, very much of those
rules had been by the country abso-
lutely condemned.
The gentleman from Maine (Reed)
when he stood up before the country
and spoke of the rules of the Fifty-first
congress failed to speak of the practices
adopted before the rules were adopted,
which were SO odious to the country.
The First Action
in the Fifty first congress which was
odiOus to the country was not an action
under any rule; but 1t was the arbitrary
hign-handed action on the part of the
speaker without authority of rules !;
without authority of any one. APP
plause.
/ When the charges were made against
the Fifty first congress, let no one for
get that the first charge was that, with
out authority of the house, without the
authority of the committee on rules, the
speaker had exercised power that had
never been granted 10 him. Applause
He had assumed upon himself the power
to count Quoeum. The question had
gone to the supreme court of the United
Stale. and the gentleman from Maine
Reed had never been justified He
had heard the gentleman from Maine
several times say that the supreme
court bad justified his course. The SUI
| preme court had not touched the QueS-
ton. The supreme court had said that
the house had the right to uake its
rules for Its own government, aud make
It's own provisions for the ascertanment
of the presence of a quorum. but 1t had
never said that the speaker should
make the rules.
The gentleman had referred to the
power lodged IN the committee on rules.
Let him Crisp call the gentleman's at
| tention to the distinction that existed
between tine policy of the gentleman
from Maine and the policy of the pres
ent committee on rules. The gentleman
from Maine believed that power should
| be
Lodged I'm the Speaker
absolutely to decide what was dilatory
motion. Under the system proposed by
the committee on rules it was left to the
house to decide whether the motion
was dilatory or not. The system adopted
by the Fifty-second congress, and now
readopted by the committee on rules,
was to maintain, not the individual
judgmentof the chair, but the judgment
of the majority of the house.
The speaker was not granted the
authority to control legislation. the
committee on rules was not granted
such authority; the authority rested
in the majority OF the house.
Under the rules proposed, dilatory mo-
tionS would be avoided, for the house
had due power to reach that result by a
report from the committee on rules.
The power lodged in the committee was
simply to report proposition. The
committee could not adopt cloture. II
could moi fix the order OF the business
without the consent of the house. In
the Fifty-secoDd congress there had
/ been opposition to the operation of the
rules that prevailed in the Fifty-firsi
: congress. Instead of following the old
method, when filibustering could mol
, have been stayed, instead of following
the rules OF the Fifty-frst congress,
the Fifty-second congress had taken q
middle course. To him it was a source
/ | of pleasure and delight that the people
l,had Endorsed that course, and had re-
turned large Democratic majority tt
the house. The people had decided
that they did not believe that any mai