The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-28

with the Responsibility OF power
4 shah address myself TO that class"
retorted Mr.. Reed. ''iu "a minute"
U.aughter)
The supreme court. he continued. had
decided q constitutional Quorom TO be ~
present quorum and the whole difficulty
here grew out Of the fact that the house
denied the right of members consdtut-
ing d quorum by their presence.
Mr.. Kilgore wanted 10 know whether
Mr. Reed had not moment before adj
mitted the right Of member TO remain
silent.
Certainly" replied Mr.. Reed sarcas-
tically. the trouble with the gentleman
is that he cannot understand what
saw" UaugtNerD
II trust" NE concluded. "that the
house viii take warning and proceed IN
accordance with the constitution Of the
United States. OF course. after YOUR Vo-
ciferation. il viii be difficult. but YOU
should be patriotic enough 20 sacrince
private feeling for the public good. Come
back into the true paIh. said he. sml-
ing. "aud live happily ever afterward.'
The Right Of Arrest.
Mr.. Turner of Georgia. who replied 10
Mr.. Reed. directed his attention 10 the.
validity of the warrants under which
members had been arrested.
Mr.. Dunn. u democrat OF New Jersey
asked whether Mr.. Turner believed mem-
bar Of the house.
Il believe" replied AIR. Turner, that
the house Of representative has the
right to arrest delinquents wherever they
are found. even If they were i'm the Whlts
house" CApplause)
Now. let me come 10 the decision Of
the supreme court. said Mr. heed.i
THAT decision was that a present Quor-l
rUm is q constitutional quorum, not n,
-
then remains. how shall We ascertain the
fact-if the presence of a quorum IS a.
fact. Now. IL the gentleman does not
choose TO trust the speaker-then II ls.
perfectly right that he should vote n ea-
clude the spesker from the exercise or
that function. But. in the absence &C
any method being adopted there Is one
officer who Is the organ or the mouse,
charged 10 act as its agent and that
officer very properly counts the presence
Of a quorum when there is one. and II.
any gentleman is dissatisfied with his &C.
ton there is an appeal 10 the house and
when the house itself has once declaret
that that counting is proper Wnys uens'
that Is the action Of the house
"WiU the gentleman from Maine par-'
don another inquiry asked Mr.. Turner.
Does the gentleman from Maine insist
that the speaker OF the house mad the
authority 10 count the quorum Wlthoug
a rule OF the house,
Il do"
Then the gentleman differs with tbs
supreme court itself"
NOT at all. II the gentleman VIII read
more carefully that decision OF the su-
preme court he viii find that the su-
preme court. like a supreme court con-
fined itself 10 the question at hand, and
decided that a present quorum was thu
constitutional quorum. L want 10 get
that into "A reasonable number Of minds
on the other side Qaughter), and then
we shall be victorious"
''Will the gentleman from Maine per-
NIT me 10 correct one impression that [
think he would not wish 10 have uisap-
prehended?" asked Mr.. McAIillin. This
gentleman has stated thar he was sus-
tanned by the house in his ruling that he
had a right 10 count quorum before
the adoption Of the rules BY referring
TO the digest the gentleman viii find that
from this TulinE-the one that I hav8
named-an appeal was taken and debat-
ed for two days, but no vote was ever
taken in the house on sustaining the de-
cision OF the chair = motion 10 lay the
appeal on the table was, however, de-
clared carried on a vote by yeas and
nays a quorum not voting, but being
supplemented in the same manner *
was done in the ruling appealed from
So that the ruling that he had right 10
count a quorum. being appealed from.
was sustained only by his counting a
quorum himself" applause on the
democratic side)
ooh well. now drawied Mr. Reed,
'this democratic applause at these Ut
terances you know IS getting fainter and
fainter I measure your advance in
knowledge by your approach TO silences
daughter on the republican side-) TheTs
is no trouble about you. The only dithF
culty with the democratic party is that
it takes a little longer time for IL TO az
rive" daughter and applause on repub-
lican side)
The Prisoner at the Bar.
During all this time Mr. Adams Ths
prisoner at the bar. had been seated IN a
revolving chair in front Of the bar OF the
house, lazily swinging TO and fro, an
amused spectator Of the proceedings, and
a laugh was occasioned when Speaker
pro tenn. Richardson announced that he
had excused the gentleman at the bar Of
the house to get his lunch.
Representative Dunn, a democrat, Of
New Jersey, one of the members arrest
ed, denounced the arrest as breach OF
his constitutional rights. he offered a
resolution 10 the effect that the war
rant was void and the names should be-
stricken from il.
At this point Mr.. Bland unexpectedly
withdrew his amendment and moved to
suspend all further proceedings under
the call Of the house under which the ar
rests We're made. The purpose Of this
was TO drop the much-confused question
instead Of attempting to straighten it
out.
Mr.. Reed made the point Of order that
Mr.. Bland could not dispense with a call
partially executed and on which members
were now under arrest.
Mr.. Springer insisted that vacating the
order Of the house of Feb. - would re-
lease the members under arrest.
Many members attempted TO talk and
the chair protested that he could not
hear half a dozen members at once
Mr. Reed said that every respectable
man must be SO sick and tired Of this
thing that even the solution offered by
AIR Bland might be a blessing. This
closed the opposition.
The acting speaker 0Verruled the pOinE
OF order and put the question on the
Bland resolution for VacaunC the call Of
Feb 10 and releasing the members under
arrest This was carried by a loud viva.
voce vote with very FEW dissenting votes.
Thus the tangle was suddenly termi-
mated and the arrested members of con-
gress were again free.
Representative Johnson OF Indiana. Of
fered a resolution calling on the ser.
aeant-at-arms to investigate whether AIR.
Johnson's arrest was with proper author
ity and To correct the writ III error was
discovered The resolution was agreed
to.
Then the call OF committees. usually