The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-04-26

| during the whole OF one Congress-. Again,
| there is hardly day when several mem
| bers are not detained from the House by
| Illness The Chamber, despite the
| thousands spent upon it's ventilation, is
| one of the very worst for pure air in the
world. Its ventilation was designed by
| eminent engineers, and in theory the
air of the hall should be constantly re-
| newed, but in fact the plans do not
| work. As the months go by, men sicken.
| and frequently the results are serious.
Then again, among SO large mum Der
there are some who have reached the
decline of life, and natural weakness in
tervenes. Others, earnest and ambitious.
oyerwork themselves-the constant de-
mands of constituents, added to the at
tention they pay to public measures,
break them down. Some are, and long
have been, in delicate health and are
| unable, when storms are raging, TO
reach the Capitol. Thus it happens that
twenty to forty is to be expected. ana
sometimes the number mounts much
higher.
The Democrats, knowing the small
majority of the Republicans in the Lth
Congress, proclaimed, long before the
session began, their purpose to baik tne
majority in any legislation dlstasteful 10
Guc nIHOflGy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS oh~ ANAS
requiring all present to vote, there was
no penalty for noncompliance, and IL
had become the custom in previous
Congresses when member present r.
fused to vote to allow him to remain
silent, and he, not voting, was not
counted in determining the presence OF
a quorum. Thus his silence became as
effective in destroying the quorum as
his absence could possibly have been.
IT a call of the House was ordered he
could answer to his name and thus es-
cape being included in the warrant OF the
Sergean t-at-A-ms for arrest as an aDsen-
tee, aud upon the next vote he could re-
main silent and be constructively an
sent. In fact, if actually absent ana
arrested and brought into the hall, he
could still refuse to vote, and thus the
object sought to be accomplished by Sc
curing his presence was frustrated. THIS
custom put party which did not have
a clear majority constantly present ana
voting and composed of its own mem oers
entirely at the mercy of minority,
which could stop all business by. simply
refraining from voting, although pres
ent in the hall and participating in the
lation excepting answering upon the
vote. The Democrats counted upon this
custom to defeat the purposes Of the he
publicans, and confidently expected sue
cess But Thomas B. Reed was made
Speaker, and they reckoned without
then host. A gentleman was introduced
to Mr.. Reed in my presence a few years
words the gentleman assured Mr.. Reed
that he would entirely refrain while
fellow member of the House with him,
from any illusions to Reed shaken
by the wind" "Yes," interjected by
stander; do so; the pun is old. and then
Tom isn't that kind of Reed"
Well do I remember when the first
run along from December 2, 1889, to JAN
uary 90, 1890. Mr.. Reed had been elected
Speaker, the vote standing: Reed, 1866;
Carlisle, 1874: Cummings, l.. This was,
if ! recollect Alright, about the only oc-
casion for the first four or five months
in the session when the Republicans
had majority of the whole House
present. Eight members had died and
their successors, chosen at subsequent
special elections, were present. Three
of these were without credentials.
O'Neall, of Indiana; Wiiber, of New
York; Randall, of Pennsylvania, and
Witthorne, of Tennessee, were absent on
account of illness. Smith, of Arizona,
a delegate with no vote, was also absent.
OF the absentees WILDER alone was
Repu blican. Of the three new members
present without credentials but one was
a Republican. 1t will be seen that the
Republican strength was unusually well
represented in the vote for Mr.. Reed, and
yet it made barely quorum.
A committee on Rules had been prompt
ly appointed but with the exception of
partial provision for emergencies had
reported nothing. The old rules had not
been adopted even temporarily, and the
House was sailing along solely under
common parliamentary law From the
beginning the Democrats had been alert
They held number of seats secured by
the rankest fraud and violence and they
felt that it was in their power, by beating
quorum, to prevent the seating of the
rightful occupants and any consequent
increase in the Republi strength.
From time to time skirmishing had oc-
Cured. showing their constant watch
fulness at length, January 90, 1890, the
contested election case of Smith VS. Jack
son. from West Virginia, was called up.
Such cases always generate bad blood.
They are privileged. and can be called
up at any time, but it is also in order
against them This question was i'm
stantly raised by Mr.. Crisp. and vote of
yeas and nays showed yeas. 1862 Zone
Democrat in the affirmative); nays j., 8:
not voting, 1861 All the Democrats but
four sat silent, and of these four voting
three subsequently Withdrew their votes,
leaving but 161 Republicans and one
Democrats (Buckalew, of Pennsylvania
voting--less than quorum. Crisp i'm
mediately raised the point Of no quorum.
For several days previous the Repub-
Iicans had been straining every nerve to
have every man present, but Grosvenor,
of Ohio: Hansborough, of North Dakota
(now Senator); O'DonnelI, of Michigan;
Rockwell, of Massachusetts,, and WILDER
of New York, were absent. WILDER was
very ill, and subsequently died. / am
not informed of the cause OF the absence
of the others, but it was undoubtedly
good, as they were all faithful men. AS
the roll call proceeded and the Democrats
refused to respond, Speaker Reed was
observed glancing constantly about the
hall and from time to time dotting
something down upon a slip of paper
which lay upon his desk. When the call
was concluded he rose to his feet and an
nounced the vote. Crisp cried out, "No
quorum; then the Speaker, holding this
Slip of paper in his hand, in measured
tones, in which there was no trace of ex-
element or weakness, began, "The
Chair directs the clerk to record the fol-
lowing names of mem bers present and re-
fusing to vote"-and then bedlam broke
III