Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-04
REED OVERRULED HIMSELF
A Majority of the Membership
of the House
CONSTITUTES A QUORUM
Il Was Impossible to Head of More Than One
Pension Bill.
THE CUBAN RESOLUTIONS CALLED UP
Mr.. Hit Spoke On the Subject for an Hour.
Mr.. Hyde Asked Him Question
Which He Refused to
Answer.
THE CUBAN RESOLUTIONS CALLED UF

Washington, April 3.-The house EN-.
tered upon the consideration of the report
| of the conference committee, recommend
| ing the adoption of the senate resolu-
| tions relating to Cuba, which Mr.. Hit,
| republican, of Illinois, chairman of the
! committee on foreign affairs, has been
| endeavoring to bring TO the attention of
| the house for some time. Mr.. Hit was
| desirous of securing action on the report
/ today, but the hour of recess intervened
| before the conclusion of the discussion
and it went over until tomorrow. The
! time this afternoon was occupied by Mr..
Hit, in favor of agreeing to the report,
| and by Mr.. Boutele, republican, of
Maine, who opposed the passage of the
resolutions.
! Before the Cuban matter came up the
house passed thirty-eight private pen
| sion bills, which had been favorably
! acted on at previous Friday night ses-
sions. In the course of this part of the
proceedings Speaker Reed reversed his
| famous ruling in the Fifty-frst congress,
which had been the subject of much con-
| troversy, and declared that a majority
! of the actual membership of the house
| constituted quorum. In the Fifty-first
| congress he held that it required a ma
! jority of all the members elected to the
1
vacancies.
! Mr.. Hooker, republican, of New York,
| reported the river and harbor appropri-
! alton bill for the year ending June 80,
| 1887 which will be called up Monday
A bill was passed authorizing the con-
! struction of bridge across the Missis-
| sippf river at st. Louis.
| At 5:1O p. m. the house took a recess
until o'clock, the evening session to be
| for the consideration of private pension
| bills.
The question of quorum came up on
the first pension bill taken up. When it
| was read Mr.. Pickler moved the previous
4 question.
| Mr.. Erdman. democrat, of Pennsylva-
MIA, made the point ofsno quorum on the
yote--127 to 6. A quorum was counted
and 1.-the previous question was ordered.
| On the passage of the bill Mr.. Erdman
| demanded vote by yeas and nays, but
| only twenty-five members Joined him in
| the request-an insufficient number-so
| the bill was passed.
On the next bill Mr.. Erdman
again made the point of no quorum, but
| the speaker said: "The chair overrules
| the objection, stating to the house that
evideBtly quorum is present"
The announcement was received with
applause and the passage of the remain
ing bills on the calendar proceeded with
out serious delay or interruption.
Upon another vote Mr.. Erdman again
| made the point of no quorum, and the
| speaker, after counting, said: There
| are 178 present--a quorum"
This was a reversal of his famous de-
cision in the Fifty-first congress, about
| which there has been much controversy
| and which was followed in later con-
| crosses. The entire number of represent
atives in full house would be 357 of
| which 179 would be majority; but there
are two yacancies-Mr. Grain of the
| Eleventh Texas district having died, and
Mr.. Boatner of the Fifth Louisiana dis
| trict having been misunderstanding the
actual membership 355, of which ITS is a
majority.
The ruling caught the attention of Mr..
Richardson, democrat, of Tennessee, a
keen parllamentarian, and he questioned
the speaker regarding 1t, saying that 1t
was in conflict with q ruling made by. him
in the Fifty-first congress, and asking
| If 1t was the intention to reverse that
Speaker Reed responded that II was his
intention to make the ruling as an
nounced. AT the close of the Fifty-first
| congress he had put dn the Record his
Views upon the question of the compost
| ton of quorum
When the question presented itself to
| the chair for decision there was much
| confusion, and 1t came up suddenly. Out
| of abundant caution the chair then de-
| cided that 166 members constituted a quo-
rum, majority of the full number of
| members, instead of 164, a majority of
| the actual membership. In the express
sion of his views which the speaker put
| in the Record at the end of that con-
| gress he adopted the practice of several
| bodies, notably that of the senate under
| the lead of the late Reverdy Johnson,
whose reputation as lawyer had always
| stood high, and stated his belief-which
| was his present belief-that 164 members,
| and not 1866, constituted a quorum Of the
house; in other words, a majority of the
actual membership. The decision re-
| ferred to by the gentleman from Tennes-
| see, said the speaker, was one against
himself and his side of the house.
Mr. Richardson assured the speaker
| that he had no criticism to make of the
| present ruling; 1T was only because of
| its reversing the former ruling that he
| had called attention to 1t.
Before the bills were disposed of Mr.
| Talbert, democrat, of South Carolina
was heard from. Rising to parlia-
| mentary inquiry, he asked IT, under the
existing condition
The Speaker-The gentleman will con-
fine himself to the parliamentary in
quiry.
Mr.. Talbert-I will try to do SO. but was
lust laying down my premise
The speaker-The chair will answer
parliamentary inquiry, but not premise.
Mr.. Talbert-Will it not be in order to
ask to lay aside bill on the ground
that 1t is an Outrage1
The speaker-It will not.
Mr. Talpert was continuing TO de-
nounce some Of the bills. but the speaker
sharply raped him to order and sternly
Notified him to take his seat when de-
/ c1ared out of order.
Upon the passage of the pending bill
Mr. Talbert asked II 1t was In order to
move to amend the title. 1t was and he
moved that 1t be made to read "a bill
not to pension Mollie crandall."
Can be heard on that motion. Mr.
Speaker" he asked.
mot under the rules OF the house."
was the response. Gaughter.)
The amendment was rejected.
/ Mr. Erdman, democrat, of Pennsyiva-
MIA, finally succeeded in heading Of one