Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-21
Mr.. CALLS DOCUMENTS
They Were the Subject of Quite Debate
in the Senate.
Considerable Personal Feeling Was
Developed and the Galleries Were
Greatly Entertained.

The Senate galleries were crowded at
noon today by spectators who were in evil
dent antieipati tion of q lively debate on the
Hawaiian question. That such a discussion
was imminent was apparent from the great
activity of Senators Frye and Gray, who
sit Immediately in frcnt of the Vice Presi-
dents desk, holding the fianks Of the two
sides of the chamber. They were very busy
making notes, consulting newspapers and
Congressional Records, and the senatorial
barometer unquestionably indicated a
storm.
But there is another Senator who has
been preparing for war. This Is Mr.. Call,
who has loaded the table of the Vice Pres
idei:t with all sorts of controversy-provok-
ing .esolutions. Today he chose the SER
geant-at-arms of the Senate as his particu-
lar target and he gave half an hour of en-
tertainment that the galleries had not
and which certain Senators enjoyed
hugely. The resolution that he called
up directs the Senate officials to set aside
a room and furnish the clerks necessary to
send out certain public documents. lie eN-
planned that he had the accumuiatlons or
sixteen years of certain public documents
which he wished to send out, and that the
folding room officials had refused TO SEND
them for him. He spoke with considerable
bitterness of the large number OF Senate
officials who have little or nothing to do,
a. he expressed it, who ought to perform
this work.
Mr.. Cockrell replied that the resolution
was a reflection on Col. Bright. the SER
geant-at-arms, and was designed to secure
for Mr. Call favor not given to other
Senators.
This was Mr.. Calls cue for stump
speech on the tyranny Of two or three
Senators, who. he said. would permit moth
ing to. be done without their permission.
The sergeant-at-arms, he continued. had
such sacred garments that they could not
be touched except by the few who were
recognized as very near to him.
Senator Chandler caused great deal of
laughter by gravely urging that If Mr..
Call had allowed his public documents to
accumulate for sixteen years he ought TO
have the help of the entire Senate force.
Mr.. Voorhees, defended the Sergeant-at-
arms from what he regarded as an unjust
attack. He said that he had been in public
service for fully as many years as Mr.
Call, and had never yet had to have the
government clerks do his work for him.
This brought Mr.. Call to his feet with q
sharp retort, intimating that Mr.. Voorhees,
was the special defender of the sergeant
alarms, and resenting the imputation con-
tanned in Mr.. Voorhees, speech that he
(Nr. CID could not adequately attend to
his business. Mr.. Voorhees, replied sharply
expressing his great asto1ishment and
chagrin that such scene should be en-
acted in the Senate.
Senator George said it was time the coun-
carried on the pay rolls of the Senate with
little or nothing to do. 1t had come to a
point that the current expenses of the Sen
ate and the House We're greater than the
entire cost OF the government under Wash
ingtons administration. He argued that
this work could properly be done for the
Senators by the employees.
Considerable personal feeling had been
aroused by this debate, and when the reso-
luton was put to a vote Mr.. Call demanded
the ayes and nays. On the first call there
were Line in the affirmative and twenty
four in the negative. This did not con-
stitute quorum, and the roll was again
called. showing forty-six present. The
margin was so close between the number
present and quorum that it began to look
as though the Hawaiian question might
not come up for discussion at all. The Sem
ate has on frequent occasions before spent
hours in oscillating between roll calls and
quorum calls in a vain effort to secure
forty-three Senators to vote on the ques-
tion. At this juncture Senator Chandler
executed neat flank movement, which
was highly successful. He moved the ref
erence of the resolution to the committee
on rules, and the thing was done before
any one could wink an eye.