Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-02-24

| accordance with parliamentary procedure.
From this point he drifted into a discus
sion of the right of the speaker to count a
| quorum.
Mr.. Bland, he said, had charged that
members were ac,ing in an unsuitable
manner when they refused to respond to
their names. He insisted that whether a
member voted yea or nay or did not vote at
all was aquestion solely between the mem
/ Der and his constituency.
81 did not deny that" interpolated Mr..
Bland. Il was addressing those charged
with the responsibility of power"
Il shall address myself to that class"
retorted Mr.. Reed, "in a minute" Laugh
! ter.
! The supreme court, he continued, had
! decided "A constitutional quorum to be a
! present quorum, and the whole difficulty
/ here grew out of the fact that the house
denied the right of members constituting
a quorum by their presence.
Mr.. Turner Of Georgia, who replied to
Mr.. Reed directed his attention to the
validity of the warrant under which mem
bers had been arrested
The gentleman from Maine" continued
Mr.. Turner, has already stated that
member has d right on being called to vote
or not vote as he chooses When a MEM
Der refuses to vote altogether-that is, re-
fuses to allow himself to be counted--can
the speaker of the house Of representatives,
without the authority of the house, count
that member as present for any purpose"
Reed and Turner.
HE can not only count the member"
replied Mr.. Reed, but it is his duty to do
it and refer the matter to the house If the
member objects"
Did the gentleman refer that question
l.,
Maine assume to decide that matter with
out the direction or authority of the
house?" said>Mr Turner.
'By no means"
"The Record is otherwise"
'On the contrary, as soon as had count
ed the quorum as constituted of gentleman
present, | submitted the question to the
house upon an appeal" replied Mr.. Reed.
suppose there had been no appeal
would the gentleman have insisted that
the house OF representatives had given him
authority to do that thing?"
Il rather think l should. l think I
should have been Grattied by the silence
of the gentleman from Georgia, and his
tory would too" Applause on the Re
publican side.
''Will the gentleman from Maine pardon
another inquiry?' asked Mr.. Turner.
Does the gentleman from Maine insist
that the speaker Of the house has the au-
thority to count the quorum without
rule of the house,
II do"
"Then the gentleman differs from the
supreme court itself"
Not at all. If the gentlemen will read
more carefully that decision of the SUI
preme court, they will find that the SUI
preme court, like a supreme court, con-
fined itself to the question at hand and de
cided that a present quorum was the con-
stitutiOnal quorum. | want to get that
into Il reasonable number of minds on the
other side [iaughterl, and then we shall be
victorious. The present quorum, | reter
ate, is the quorum. Having decided that,
they then very pa 'eriy decided that the
house would have = right to make rule
as to how that quorum should be ascer-
tanned, but in the absence of rule the
speaker Of this house, just like the presid-
ing officer Of every parliamentary body,
would act as its agent, us he is the depos-
itory of that power which is not specified
by the house