The Portland daily press., 1893-09-02

gard to me personally; for L Will nob
permit this debate to degenerate into q
personal question. 1t is question q
public duty and OF pubic policy; and
as such / shall treat it,
The action of the Fifty.frst Congress
has received the approval of the Supreme
Court of the United States, and of every
supreme court of every State that has
passed upon the question, and backed
by that support, can do without that
of any individual who sees fit to head
the opposition. He says that we ought
not to commit to the Speaker the right
to decide what is a dilatory motion: and
vet in these very rules which he has
helped to make, and which this House
is about to adopt, it is declared in two
separate cases that no dilatory motion
shall be entertained. Applause on the
Repu blican side)
The last paragraph of section 81, Rule
7, is in this language:
ut shall always be in order to call up
for consideration report from the Com
mittee on Rules, and pending the con-
sideration thereof the Speaker may enter
tain one motion that the House adjourn;
but after the result is announced, he
shall not entertain any other dilatory
motion until the said report shall have
been fully disposed Of"
The eighth section of Rule vi. reads
as follows:
pending a motion to suspend the
rules the Speaker may entertain one
motion that the House adjourn; but
after the result thereon is announced he
shall not entertain any other dllatory
motion until the vote is taken on sus-
pension"
The Speaker himself, sitting there in
the chair, under these rules, largely of his
own making, must pass upon the ques-
ton of whether a motion is a dllatory
one or not; and yet. he says that the
Speaker is not to be intrusted with that
self with. Why, the touchstone must al
ways be the Chair; and when the Chair
receives, as I did, the support of the
House Of Representatives upon appeal
taken Immediately after, what stronger
sanction could have; and when that
is followed by the Supreme Court OF the
United States, it seems to me that is
above question. cloud applause on the
MIR. Cummings-If the gentleman will
Mr.. Reed-Must you get in? Naugh-
ter
Mr.. Cummings-If you could have had
the sanction of the people that would
have been higher.
Mr.. Reed-If / could have had the sane
tion of the people! | did. / went back
to my district and was returned by the
largest majority that any man ever did
receive. Cheers on the Repu blican side
Why! did you make ME the issue in
the campaign? I thought it was the
tariff (Laughter.O | thought it was
the Democratic party and its platform,
and thatit was something sufficlentlylarge
for the people of the United States to
vote on. daughter And after ALL in
your eyes and that of the Speakers, |
was the central figure of that election.
(Renewed laughter on the Repu bl1can
side.) Why, that should have been
brought forward as an issue not even
my colossal vanity would permit the
entertainment of such thought. (Laugh-
ter.)
I say it is great pity that this CUES
ton has been thus made question of
politics. 1t is a great misfortune that
instead of treating this question as we
ought to, we are treating it as we ought
not to, and that at the very moment
when gentlemen on the other side are
obliged to admit that they have adopted
one-half of the obnoxious rules Which
they say were repudiated by the people.
and when they are expecting in due time,
as their educating progresses, to adopt
them all Why, nobody need have spent
any time arguing about the right OF the
House to establish one hundred as
quorum of the Committee of the Whole.
why. We eSUttUllSACo IL. NA<ous5hoSl
There was no use arguing about the
propriety of it, We did it, and it worked
well; and these gentlemen are walking
humbly in our footsteps. That is right.
Let us give them the credit they de-
serve !; and perhaps | am unreasonable
in expecting them to go the whole dis
tance-prehaps am unreasonable In ask
ing the Democratic party to catch up with
us entirely within four years. (Laugh-
ter.) But tell you the time will come;
it is as sure as anything on earth that
the House of Representative which meets
to do business will follow upon the lines
of the Fifty-first Congress. Applause
on the Republican side.)
The Speaker is kind enough to say that
this is my hobby. Perhaps he means
something in the nature Of slur at me
for presenting it, 1t is true, it is my
hobby; and / had it long before the
Fifty-frst Congress. Many time and
oft have I addressed this House upon
that subject And is the hobby I'M
worthy? The method of doing business
on the part of the greatest legislative
BODY on the face of the earth-is that an
unworthy thing for any man to be in
terested in? Is that beneath the dignity
of a member from any part of this
Uniou?
Nay, not SO. It is worthy the atten-
ton of the whole House, and despite the
fact that l knew certain defeat was in
front of me, I ventured to address the
House this afternoon. Every attempt
that has been made in the Fifty.first
Congress and in this Congress has been
to arrive at the same results that we az
rived at in the Fifty-first Congress, and
at the same time to conceal the Imitation.
daughter. This plan, of having the
Committee on Rules meet at any. time
and report at any time is confession
that the methods Of the Fifty-first second
Congress were not satisfactory.
Now, Isincerely hope that this House
will lay aside partisanship and meet .sa 5nls
nifty of the House of Representatives., and
give us rules by which any majority,
whether political or otherwise, may. do
the business which the country desires
done: If you do this you will have the
thanks of the American people, and on
this side we will not be backward in
giving you the credit you deserve. ZAP
plause on the Republican side.)
13aaa Injured