Evening star., 1894-04-12
IN A BIG TANGLE
The House Finds Itself in an Anom-
alouS Situation.
A RULE TO FINE MEMBERS
Democrats Are Not Able to Muster
a Quorum.
TARIFF TALK IN THE SENATE

The democratic managers in the House
tccay decided to take heroic measures to
force the republicans to participate in the
proceedings.
The committee on rules, consisting of
Speaker Crisp. Messrs. Outhwaite and
Catchings democrats) and Messrs. Reed
and Burrows (republicans), held a meeting
Just before the House convened and for
mulated a rule to crush nlibustering, max
ing the penalty of failure to vote punisha-
BILE by a fine. The republicans having cog
nizance of the rule by which their hands
were to be tied before the meeting of the
House Messrs. Reed and Burrows deter
mined to contest every inch of the ground
and a fierce parliamentary fight was i'm
mediately precipitated. Speaker Crisp,
however, was in no humor for trifling and
with a stern hand he swept aside all pre-
liminaries and forced the fight on the main
| issue.
Report From the Committee ON Rules.
AS soon as the journal had been read he
recognized MIR. Catchings, from the COM
mittea on rules, to present the report.
Mr.. Burrows attempted to raise the point
| of order that no quorum was present, but
the Speaker held that the journal having
been approved the point of order could not
| be made save on vote upon some pend
| ing question.
| He then tried flank movement with an
| appeal from the decision of the chair and
| the Speaker declared that he could not
take Mr.. Catchings off the floor for that
! purpose.
Mr. Reed came forward at this juncture
| and manifested a disposition to hold
! joint debate with the chair, but the Speak
! er declined the invitation and directed the
| clerk to read the report.
Mr. Reed vainly attempted to interrupt
| the reading with appeals for recognition
| on point of order but the Speaker with
| averted head refused to listen to him and
! Mr. Reed, finding his efforts futile, sank
| down in his chair.
The report from the committee on rules
| was follows:
The New Rule.
| Rescind clause l of rule VIII and insert
| in lieu thereof as follows:
Every member shall be present within
the hall of the House during its sittings
| unless excused or necessarily prevented
and shall vote on each question put, unless
he has direct personal or pecuniary in
| terest in the events of such question.
| Whenever in pursuance Of section 5, arti-
Gle l. of the Constitution of the United
States, the House of Representatives, at
the request of one-fifth of the members
present, shall order the yeas and nays of
its members on any question to be entered
on its journal, and upon call Of the roll
of its members for that purpose a quorum
! thereof shall fail to vote, each member
within the hall of the House who shall fail
to respond when his name is called, unless
| he has a direct personal and ,pecuniary
interest in the event of such question, and
| each member who shall be absent from the
| hall of the House when his name is called
| unless he has been excused is neces-
sarily prevented from being present, shall
| be fined the sum OF ten dollars, and the
Speaker shall cause an entry of such fine
to be made against such members on the
| House IA
be collected and paid into the treasury of
| the United States"
THE ertry of such fine shall be made SUBJ
| stantially in the following form, namely:
! The House of Representatives, at the re-
quest of one-hfth of its members present
/ having ordered the yeas and nays of its
members on question pending therein, TO
| De entered on Its journal, and upon call
! of the roll of its members for that purpose
a quorum thereof having failed to vote, and
| (here set out name and state of the member
| or members hned) having been within the
| hall of the House and failed to vote when
! his name was called, without having a di-
rect personal or pecuniary interest in the
event OF such question (or as the case may
/ be, absent from the hall of the House when
| his name was called without having been
| excused or necessarily prevented from be-
| ing presently, ii is therefore ordered and ad-
judged by the House of Representatives of
| the United states of America that fine of
! $40 be, and the same is hereby entered
| against (here set out the name of the MEM
| Der fined), which sum shall be collected and
paid into the treasury of theUnited States"
The names Of all members who shall be
! fined on the same roll call may be included
! in a single entry on the journal and their
! hnes shall be entered on more than one roll
| call during the same day. The second en-
| try on the journal relating thereto shall
| have the caption Fine No -" the third en-
| try, Fine No. 3D. and so on. 1t shall be
| the duty of the clerk of the House to GER
| tify to the sergeant-at-arms of the House
| the names of all members against whom
| fines are so entered, and unless they shall
be voluntarily paid to HIM he shall deduct
the amount of said fines from the compen-
satlon or said members, and all sums that
may be paid to or SO deducted by him shall
| be paid by him into the treasury of the
! United States. The call of the roll Of the
/ members of the House shall not be deemed
/ to have been completed until the Speaker
| snail have made all necessary orders re-
| gardlng fines which may be imposed on
| members in pursuance of the provisions OF
| this rule.
| 1t shall not be in order to move nor
| shall the Speaker entertain a request for
| unanimous consent to remit the fines re-
quired to be entered aforesaid
MIR. Reed and the Speaker.
| Mr.. Reed was again on his feet when
the reading was completed, but the Speaker
recognized Mr.. Catchings to demand the
| previous question.
Then he turned to Mr. Reed, who said
he desired to raise point of order.
| Does the chair recognize me?" asked
| Mr.. Reed.
The chair will hear the gentleman"
| replied the Speaker.
| Il am to understand, then, that the
| chair recognizes me to make point of
| order?"
| The chair has recognized the gentleman
man from Mississippi to demand the pre-
| viCus question, and pending that he will
| hear the gentleman" retorted the Speaker
This did not suit Mr.. Reeds purpose,
| however. He wanted definite assertion
| from the Speaker that he was recognized
| in his own right.
| While indulging in some delicate fencing
| with the Speaker on this point the Speaker
| seemingly lost patience and, with a bang
| of the gavel, stated the question TO be on
the demand for the previous question.
No Quorum.
| Mr. Reed was left standing in the aisle
| while the Speaker took the rising vote The
| republicans declined to vote, and when the
| Speaker announced the result, 99-O Mr.
| Burrows made the point of no quorum. The
yeas and nays were demanded. The repub-
| licans determined to force the democrats to
| produce a quorum at every stage of the
! parliamentary proceedings looking 10 the