The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-21
Parliamentary Kicks and Snarls.

o'hoiHohldiy N'ChS dhu 0hdHs.
Guthrie, o. T.. Jan. 0-The first parlia-
mentary battle of the season occurred in
the lower house Of the legislature last night
when Mr.. Doyle of the committee on con-
| ference on the clerk hire bill, reported to
| the house. Mr.. Doyle sent q most peculiar
report to the clerks desk. 1t was some
| thing like this: I'VE. your committee. re-
port favorabiy on the within bill as ii has
been amended by striking out the word
and on the second line Of section before
The word but and the word not on the
third line before the word was and after
the word it," As there were about sew
enty-five changes like this they almost de-
| throned the mind Of the clerk.
| Il understand all that nearly as well as
do Dutch" said one man in the back
| row, supposed to be Jimmy Graves. from
Oklahoma county. TT is as clear mud.
| said Mr.. May of Kay county. What does
1t all mean?'' asked Mr.. Lytton of Payne
county. Just then somebody proposed to
have the bill read over again and the clerk
was about to faint, when Colonel c. NJ.
Barnes, the Republican leader, came to his
rescue. Mr.. Barnes in his quiet way inform
| ed the house that the entire proceedings
were out of order. That brought Mr.. Doyle
| to his feet, who. with eyes as big as sau-
4
Why and in what manner it was out of
| order. Because it is out of order under
| the rules said Mr.. Barnes" taking up
| the rules Of the house and citing Mr.. Doyle
| to the same. Mr.. Doyle insisted and re-
| insisted that the proceedings were in or
| der. but Mr.. Barnes was only toying with
| Mr.. Doyle. who, in all probability, comes
nearer being his match than any other man
| in the legislature. Mr.. Barnes viewed Mr..
Doyle's struggle to prove that the proceed
sngs were in order with merry twinkle in
his eye and whenever Mr.. Doyle made a
seemingly strong point Mr.. Barnes would
knock it all to pieces with a few words
and smile. Everybody in the house knew
that MIR. Barnes was right, but Mr.. Doyle
and he could not help knowing it. The
fact of the matter is there is no rule better
established in parliamentary law than that
the senate should first consider its own
bill and afterwards send it to the non-con-
curing body. Mr.. Barnes held that the
report of the conference committee could
not be considered in the house until the
senate had sent it there and hence all the
talk on the report was out of order. Speak
er Tousley saw the point at a glance and
sustained the point of order raised by Mr.
Barnes. In the vulgar parlance of the
day, Mr.. Barnes had the Populist house
on the pig train" for nearly half an hour
He had every one of the twenty-three Pop-
ulists present sewed up in a network of
parliamentary law from which they could
not extricate themselves until Mr.. Barnes
himself kindly showed them a way out of
the hole he put them in. / consider Mr..
Barnes one of the best parlimentarians in
the west If it had not been for him I'm
the lower house / do not know what would
n hof haI ~, 4La~ II
to keep his eye continually on them to keep
them out of trouble. Some day he will be
called away and if he does the lower house
is in danger of getting parliamentary lock-
jaw. He is genial in his method of reason
ing and discussing points of order and the
opposition members have great respect for
nm as parliamentari for the reason
that he has so often proven himself right
After Mr.. Barnes had succeeded in having
the whole proceedings declared out of order
Mr. Dale Lytton had just discovered one
important thing and that was that the
conference committees changes in the bill
were in nearly every case points upon
which there was no contention and that
some of the main features of contention
were not settled at all. 1t then developed
that the conference committee had exceed
ed its authority and went farther than both
a
the committee assumes more power than
the legislature of which it is a faction"
There was very interesting discussion on
parliamentary law lead by Mr. Barnes
when word came from the senate that the
report of the committee on conference had
been taken up in the senate and voted
down. This was entirely unexpected and
nobody could be found sufficiently enlight-
ened to ascertain the cause as the report
was supposed to be practically dictated by
President johnson of the senate and, be-
sides, 1t was a report that cut down the
expenses sufficiently to make il reasonably
satisfactory. Governor Renfrow was In
the ante-chamber of the senate listening to
the debate with great interest He is keep
ing his eye pretty well fixed on this bill
Tor he is sure to swipe it with veto unless
it brings the aggregate appropriation for
clerk hire below s., 000 This is about what
the appropriation of the Republican house
who is not only conservative, but honest,
will not permit his party TO exceed the
Republican legislature in so-called extra
vagance. 1t developed later on that the
defeat of the conference committees re-
port was due to Senator Lynch who. in a
quiet way, struck at Mr.. Johnson. 1t was
supposed until then that all the difficulty
between Mr.. Lynch and Mr.. johnson. grow
ing out Of the appointments of committees.
was settled, but am informed on good au-
thority that it is not. The supposition
that they had made up grew out of the
fact that they speak pleasantly to each
ether when they meet. 1t IS asserted now
that Mr.. Lynch is still camping on the |
trail of Mr.. Johnson and that he will con-
tinue to do so as long as Mr. johnson is in |
Il ~
that is said OF the matter is true. Mr.. |
Lynch showed great skill IN organizing the |
fight af.ainst the conference report. He |
had some OF the senators firmly attached /
10 him since the first fight with AR John |
son anG 10 get enough additional members |
10 fight the conference report he reached |
cut his hand and pulled into mis- little COM |
hine, as il IS called. the senator's, whom |
the report effected adversely-the senators |
who were deprived of the privilege of en- |
ploying a private clerk by the terms of the |
report, which struck Gown either FIVE or l
seven clerkships. Since Mr.. Lynch so clev- /
erly effected this maneuver stock in his |
combine has advanced great deal and the /
name of Lynch has charm again for |
those who admire fighting qualities in 4
man. That man Lynch will continue to |
remain a thorn in the side of Mr.. John
son and his friends.
There was a report here today that Col
onei Barnes OF this city and Judge Seay of |
kingnsher have had an important confer
ence the nature of which. although no; |
known, is supposed TO be along the line OF
a pooling of their interests In the suberna-
torial race against those of Dennis Flynn
and the other candidates. According TO |
the report, Governor Seay telegraphed for
Mr.. Barnes Saturday and the latter wen.
to see him and had a most pleasant visit
II the ex-covernor's elegant mansion on
the hill. None participated in the confer