The Portland daily press., 1893-10-18
And Put a Stop to Talk Made Only
to Prevent business.
THE SENATE HEARS SOMETHING
ABOUT IT'S RULES.


Must Agree on something-The Ad-
ministration Living Beyond Its Income,
Washington, October 17.-In the Senate
today, as soon as yesterdays journal was
read, objection to it was made by Mr..
Dolph, Rep, of Oregon, because on one
of the roll calls it did not show the
presence of two Senators, Allen of
Nebraska, and Kyle of South Dakota,
although they were in the chamber and
although he had called attention to that
fact
Discussion Immediately sprang up on
this point, Mr.. Dolph pointing out the
ridiculous attitude presented by the SEN
ate drifting along in the current OF end
less debate. He declared that the COM
mittee on rules ought to present to the
Senate reasonable rule limiting debate.
that the presiding officer should after a
discussion of two or three days, put it to
vote; and if it were adopted by a
majority of the Senate, the presiding
officer should put it in force. That was
the only way the Senate should ever OBJ
tain an amendment TO the rules.
The matter was not set aside at one,
when the hour for morning business
endsand when under other circumstances,
the repeal bill would have been laid be-
fore the Senate The discussion went on
beyond that hour and Mr.. Morgan of
Alabama, dealt some hard blows at Mr..
Hill because of Mr.. Hill's advocacy of the
right to have entered on the journal the
names of Senators present and not re-
spending. Mr.. Morgan had sharp tilts
with Mr.. Washburn of Minnesota and Mr..
Erau IF Da1auara The coalition he
tween Republican and Democratic Sen
ators on the silver bill was similar, he
said, to the coalition on the Malone and
Riddleberger controversy.
Mr.. Washburn denied that there was
any coalition.
Mr.. Morgan announced his intention of
making crucial test on an amendment
to repeal the whole, not part, of the
Sherman act To assume such power as
was proposed, he continued, on the part
of the presiding officer, would be to
violate the rules of the Senate To alter
the rules of the Senate for the purpose of
coercing men who have stood here for
years and who have witnessed it's most
illustrious mem bers pursuing the same
course of silent negative, in the protec-
tion of the rights of their constituents,
would be of all things harsh and calami-
tous II defy you," he continued, to
pass cloture rule here"
Mr.. Gray argued against the position
taken by Mr.. Hill. Let me state" said
Mr.. Hill, what my proposition is Ac-
cording to the principle of parliamentary
proceedings, 1 claim, first, that it is
within the power of the presiding officer,
in the absence of express rules to the
contrary, to determine the presence of
quorum. My second proposition is that
there is no rule of the Senate which ex-
pressly, or even impliedly, forbids that
action.n
Mr.. Mcpherson asked Mr. Hill whether
he made any distinction between the
position and the duty of the Vice Presi-
dent in the chair as compared with
Senator temporarily called to the chair.
Mr.. Hill-"I do not.n
Mr.. Gray took issue. with Mr.. Hill. He
read portions of the rules to show that
the presiding officer could not act as Mr..
Hill suggested.
Mr. Hill said the, Senators from Ala
baina and Delaware were not willing to
bow to the unanimous decision of the
Supreme Court on the question. He held
it to be the duty of the Senate to give
such a construction to the rules as would
not make the Senate absurd and such as
would facilitate public bust ness: Mr..
Hill then paid his respects to Mr.. Morgan.
The Senator had eulogized former Demo-
cratic Senators, including especially
Senator Thurman of Ohio, yet the course
which he (Mr. HID was marking out was
the very course pursued by Allen G..
Thurman, when, on one occasion as pre-
siding officer of the Senate, he counted
quorum of 80 when there were only 35
votes.
Mr.. Sherman expressed the hope that a
vote might now be taken on the question
before the Senate, but Mr.. Dolph de-
manded the yeas and nays and Mr.. Wash
burn moved to lay the question on the
table Mr.. Sherman passed beyond and
addressed the Senate. The rules of the
Senate, he said, were made to expedite
public business in an orderly manner.
There was no doubt of the right and
necessity for every legislative body to
have exclusive power over its procedure.
1t was equally important to give to the
minority full and fair opportunity of
debate. But the rules here were used as
an obstruction by minority in order to
defeat the will of the majority. The
rules, therefore, should be at once
changed, corrected and altered. When
ever the minority pressed it's means of
obstruction unduly, it acted in the
nature of a revolution. 1t sought to use
the rules as means to deprive the
Senate of its power to make laws for the
people The obstruction made during
this heated contest had gone far beyond
anything he had seen in his experience as
a Senator and was of kind never re-
sorted to before. When Senators while
present refused to answer, they had, in
his judgment, violated the rules of good
order. He thought if not today or not
at this session, possibly, the time had
arrived when the Senate must adopt
rules and regulations to prevent obstruc
tion to public business. There was no
legislative body in the world that had
not some power to control debate, some
cloture rule, or some means by which the
majority could pass laws. The Senate
would have to follow the example of
other legislative bodies. In his judg-
ment the best way would be. in the next.
session, to have the committee on rules
strengthened to a larger number and let
that committee examine all these various
rules and, carefully limiting debate and
giving to the minority an opportunity to
express it's opinion, prescribe some reason
able rules by which the majority should
fix the time when the final vote should
be taken.
Mr.. Sherman then called attention to
the important legislation which had to
be disposed of. The Senate, he said, had
been in session over two months and not
a single measure of Importance had been
passed. He said: 1.-The responsibility
rests upon either side of the chamber
They say they cannot agree or else sur