The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-10
SENATE AND HOUSE.
a VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
TWO BRANCHES.
Interesting Features of Two Great Debates.
Senatorial Dignity Easily Shockcd-Mr.
Mills Must Now Keep His Goat On-Much
Parliamentary Politeness.

senatorial Dignity Easily Shocked-MF
! Mills Must Now Keep His Coat On-oI1cl
| Parliamentary Politeness.
WASHINGTON, D.. c., Oct Especial. /
| By this time The Congressional Reco-t
| must be getting tired For two weeks tb,
| house has debated the eleet;.n bill, and w.
| have reached the end of tie ninth wees
| since the senate took up the silver bill. /
has been long and tedious contest in til,
| latter body. People who live at a distanc,
from Washington are unable to see why ss
much time has been consumed or how mer
can be found to do such great amount o.
talking. Ii you will carefully examine an
average days session of thesenate. you viii
quickly see how time is murdered in that
body. The senate has been meeting at II
O'Clock in the morning As rule. routine
business, such as the presentation of peti
tlons, takes good part of an hour. Then
some senator introduces or calls up reso
luton which he wants TO discuss-Mr. Du
bo1s' resolution to postpone action till three
vacant seats are filled. Mr. Stewart's S reso
luton to investigate the president. Mr.
Chandler's resolution to inquire into tbs
doings OF the Fairchild commission OF
something of the sort, no matter what.
Talking Against Time.
Thus the time is consumed till l O'Clock,
when the morning hour is supposed to end,
though often by courtesy the morning hour
runs on till near 2. Then the silver bill is
called up, and the senator who is entitled
to the floor addresses the chamber. For a
man to talk three or four hours in the SEN
ateis nothing at all. That is short speech
In that body, where nine speeches out OF ten
are prepared largely by private secretaries
and stenographers. If a senator writes a
short speech, the chances are he viii be in
terrupted half dozen times during its de-
livery. Often some one will interrupt the
mterrupter, and another him, so that the
senator who is entitled to the floor is able
to sit down and rest for half an hour or
more. 1t doesn't matter to him, for his
time is unlimited. If other senators take
half day with their Interruptions and
crossfirings, it is all the same He is entitled
to the floor till he has finished, whether it
takes day or a week
In this way the time is filled in from or
2till, say, half past O'Clock. and by this
time the senators begin to yawn and think
OF their dinners Some one moves an exec
utive session, the doors are closed, and when
they open again the senate has adjourned
another day gone, and perhaps only one
speech or half speech has been worked
OFT. The senate could go on in this way
discussing question like the silver Gues-
ton all winter. 1t has been at it now about
nine weeks, and so far as any one can see is
able to keep it up for nine weeks more. As
yet the amendments have not formed
topic of discussion. When they are taken
up, they will precipitate the whole question
over again.
= Where Time Counts.
One great difference between debate in
the senate and debate in the house is that
in the former body there is not limit of time,
while there is a limit in the latter. In the
house the time is apportioned between the
two sides of the hall-the Republican and
Democratic-or, in the case of a nonpar-
tisan measure, between the advocates and
opponents of the measure. Each side has
manager, and he yields" SO much time to
members who wish to speak. While the
senate babbles on in a sort of perpetual mo-
tion fashion, time is often a precious thing
In the house, where the manager of a bill
counts his minutes as if they were nuggets
of gold. Not infrequently member has
one minute yielded to him. In the senate
a minute is scarcely sufficient for an orator
to address the presiding officer, clear his
throat and utter the first sentence
Another great difference between the
house and senate is in the matter of dignity.
Sheer at the senate as much as we please, it
Is the most dignified legislative body on
the face of the earth. The rules of debate,
which require certain considerateness and
n daoO
were shocked when Mr. Mills I'M
rolled up his shirt sleeves
through overmuch earnestness, but If a
were to remove his coat, as mem
Der of the house did not long ago while
making speech, probably the senate
would go into conniption fit. The very
least it would do would be to go at once
into executive session, in order TO turn out
the public and screen the offending senator
from the gaze Of the outside world.
Senatorial Personalities.
Occasionally there are personalities in the |
senate, like the little row between Senators |
Wolcott and German a few weeks ago, but |
when scrap like that does occur it creates |
> tremendous sensation. The Wo!cott- !
German affair attracted much more atten- /
ion than it deserved simply because tilt |
Df this sort is of such rare occurrence in the |.
senate.
During this debate on the silver bill |
,he feeling has often run high Men have |
been exceedingly earnest and a. times |
much wrought up. All the passions and |
oreJudices known to public men have been /
played upon. Senators have lost patience
with other senator's and have even suspect
ii the good faith and the motives of their
elbows. But only on two or three occa-
'ions have there been ebullitions of temper
,r indulgence in personalities. Wolcott
lid accuse German of being ''steerer,"
ind German retorted that Wolcott must
lave gained his information from caves
troopers. But each was prompt to explain
hat he did not mean anything offensive
senator Palmer did remark that Senator
speeches were rather windy, but
hat was about as bitter a personal ailu-
ion as has been heard in the whole debate.
Over in the house the lie is frequently |
'assed. Members glare at each other and
ometimes rush At eacn other with intent
o do bodily harm. The dignity of the
enate has not in many years been violated
y anything like a personal encounter,
While the house has had a number OF dis
,raceful scrimmages II senators wish 20
az cutting or disagreeabie things about
ach other in their public speeches. they
ell their thrusts under covering Of par
lam mentsry politeness.
Named by Chance.
A chance led to the choice Of the family
anne Of the great Swedish botani&t. Lin
aeus- In his country. some generation or
wo before his birth, the customs were 50
riuitive that surnames were rot In vogue.