Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-03-27
IN THE HOUSE.

The consideration of the tariff bill un-
der the five minute rule for the purpose
of amendment which it was expected
would be strictly business. opened with
the liveliest political contest OF the SEES
sion. lasting for nearly three hours. Pre-
liminary to the main battle of the day
there was lively skirmish immediately
after the house went into committee
of the whole and the clerk instructed 10
begin reading the bill. Mr. Lanhan1,
democrat, of Texas, asked IL it would be
in order at this time to move to strike
out the enac.ing clause which he stated,
If adopted would operate as a rejection
in the republican ranks for there was not
a quorum of the committee present, and
1t was apparent that larger number OF
democrats were in their seats tnan re-
publlcanS.
Mr. Dingley, chairman of the ways and
rnea MS committee, suggested that the mo-
'tlon be held in allegiance until some pro-
gress had been made in the reading of
the bill when there would be larger at
tendance than at present To press the
motion now would only result in delay of
considera ton of the bill until a quorum
could be ob.ained. Mr. Lanham suave-
ly stated that the motion expressed his
antagonism to the bill and he desired to
press 1T to vote now, the chairman hav-
ing held 1t to be in order.
Chairman Sherman-The chair has
made no ruling; 1t has only expressed
hasty opinion that the motion is in order.
But has the gentleman studied the terms
of the special order under which the
house is proceeding?
Mr. Lanham--I do not understand, Mr..
Chairman, that that order superssdes the
general rules governing debate and the
consideration of the bill.
While the chairman was looking up the
subject an animated colloquy progressed
on the floor.
Finally Chairman Sherman ruled that
under the special order the motion by
the gentleman from Texas was not in or
der.
Promptly on the reading of the prefa-
tory para graph of the bill Mr.. Dockery,
democrat, of Missouri, offered an amend
ment authorizing the secretary of the
treasury to admit free of duty any arti-
Gle. the production and price of which
would BIZ controlled by trust in the
United States.
Mr.. Dingley. chairman of the commit
tee on ways and means, made the point
that the amendment was not ir order
at that place. and Mr.. DalzeH repub-
ican, of Pennsylvania that if it We're
in order as to time, congress could not
devolve ON the secretary a judicial duty
such as that of determining whether or
not trust was in control of certain ar
ticles. This preeipitated debate, based
on democratic charges that republicans
favored the trusts and did not want to
legislate against them. All of the lead
erS on both sldeS ana some not recog-
nized in that rank. took part. Charges
and counter charges were banded ba ok
and forth, and the record of the past
seven years was searched to show the
action of both parties on the subject of
trusts, After nearly three hours of .skir-
mishing, the qGestion ostensibly being
the point of order. General Henderson,
republican, of Iowa, appealed to both
sides tc pur an end to 1t, saying that II Ia
was the desire to get through the bin in
the time allotted for its Consideration
ga mighty bad start had been made all
around
The point against the amendment wes