Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-01-08
NEW ENGLAND LEADS
In the Fight Over Federal
Elections Bill.
COUNTING OF A QUORUM.
What May Be Resorted to in the House
in Order to Get to Work.

ITEM OF the senate program Ior Ino WoeA
IL to be the consideration Of the federal
elections bills, which is to be taken up
after the conclusion of the morning busi-
ness tomorrow. This program, It II be-
neved, will be practically observed, ex-
cept in one contingency. 1t II barely pos
sible that the affairs OF Hawaii may again
demand the attention of the senate to the
exclusion of all other subjects for at least
. portion of the week.
II the government should fail to give
explicit denial to the report THAT Mr..
Willis has asked the Dole government to
retire in the interest of the queen, there
are sure to be q number OF resolutions OF
inquiry introduced and several very
pointed speeches may be expected. There
will in any event be some discussion OF
Hawaiian affairs over Senator Hoar's
resolution inQuiring into the expenses
and salary of Mr.. Blount while on his
special mission, and there Is possibility
that the Frye resolution, declaring that
until the congressional inquiry is COM
pleted this government should suspend
all efforts at interference In the affairs OF
that country, may be called from the
table. The whole matter depends very
largely upon the color of the news from
the Pacific and the attitude assumed by
the administration.
Partisan Speeches Expected.
II the federal elections bill is allowed
to hole it's place ON the calendar and to be
taken up 1t will doubtless give rise to
some partisan speeches on both sides OF
the chamber. While it would seem
probable that there will be almost, II not
quite, solid party vote against the
repeal OF the existing laws, there are q
great many Republicans too Indifferent
to the question to exert themselves to the
extent of making speeches against 1t.
The opposition will be led by the New
England senator's, and In this Senators
Hoar, Frye and Chandler are expected to
take leading part. 1t seems probable
that there will be an effort to keep down
speech making on the bill on the Demo
cratic side. Senator Gray will lead the
fight for the bill and Senator Hill will be
among its most Jealous supporters.
Tariff Has the Floor.
The tariff will OCCUPY the entire atten-
tion of the house during the present week,
or II not the bill"itself. then the row
over the attempt to get 1t before
the house After four days of fruitless
effort to secure the presence of voting
Democratic quorum, the house adopted,
Just before adjournment Saturday night,
the extreme expedient Of ordering the ar
rest of all members absent without leave.
Warrants were issued for the arrest of 10
members.
Deputies were sent out In all directions
to serve the warrants on these 10 men,
bers. OF these 40 members 81 are Demo
Gratis and 10 Republicans. As some of
them live at long distances they could
not all get here today. From the Repub-
lican absentees of course no aid is ex-
pected. They can be brought here under
duress, but they cannot be made to vote.
This applies to some of the Democrats as
well as Republicans, and IL the opposition
within the ranks OF the Democratic
majority can be organized, as some of
them, like Mr.. Sperry, desire, enough
Democrats might refrain from voting to
prevent the consideration Of the bill In its
present shape.
Privately, some of the Democrats do not
hesitate to admit the gravity Of the situa-
ton. The possibility of defeating the
consideration of the bill strikes terror into
their hearts, and some Of them, like
Colonel Oates, openly advocate resort to
the parliamentary expedient utilized by
the Fifty-first congress of count ting .
quorum.
Sure OF . Voting Quorum.
Speaker Crisp asserts most positively
that they will not be forced to this resort.
He thinks voting quorum will be here
certainly tomorrow at the farthest. II IL
cannot be obtained then, another Demo
cratic caucus will be called. This In what
those who are dissatisfied with the bill
are aiming at. They declare that az soon
a. they can demonstrate that not a suf-
ficient number Of Democrats will vote to
consider the bill the leaders will be
obliged to make material notifications
which disgruntled members will propose.
Some Of the eastern Democrats who are
fighting the income tax proposition are
willing to go to almost any length to
eliminate this feature Of the Wilson bill.
Altogether the prospects are good for q
very interesting contest In the house dur
ing the coming week.
OF course, II the quorum Is secured to-
morrow, the special order will be passed,
modified probably to recompense the
house for the two days lost since the order
was reported, by lengthening the time of
the debate to that extent. Once the de-
bate Is under way. under the operation of
this order, 1t will proceed to the exclusion
of everything else, with the night sessions
devoted to general debate.
Mr.. Tarsney, member Of the ways and
means committee, said that il q voting
quorum was not secured by tomorrow he
would favor the adoption Of rule en-
powerfng the speaker to count members
TO make quorum. "We must meet revo-
luton with revolution" said he. II the
Democratic mem bers are driven 70 this
resort IL Is believed that the Republicans,
for self vindication. would be compelled
70 support IL.
A Serious Allegation
DxYty A nvv q