The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-01-14
THE DEADLOCK
STILL CONTINUES
Fight Has Apparently Settled Down
to a Question Of Endurance.
WHAT ARE SPEAKERS POWER
To Compel the Attendance Of Mem
bers in the House-Fist Shaking
and Disgraceful Scenes.
Special to the Astorlan.

Salem. January 3.-There Is no
change In the house deadlock tonight.
Benson's followers claim there are in
dications Of weakness in the opposition
| line On the other hand the Bourne
men say they will stay out all session
unless Bourne is assured OF election
as speaker No steps toward a COM
promise are being taken. and the fight
has settled down to a question OF en-
durance The contest for United
states senator which has been thrown
in the background by the fight for
speaker. is the subject OF reyiving in
terest tonight, for the reason that to-
morrow night is the time set for the
Republican caucus. At Senator Mitch
ellis headquarters II Is confidently as
serted that he Is sure OF the caucus
nomination and consequently re-elec-
ton. 1t is claimed that forty-nine sig
natures have been secured to the eau
Gus call and that fifty will go into the
caucus. four more than majority.
Mitchell's opponents claim that the call
| for a caucus is signed by forty-seven
only, and that some Of them will re-
fuse to enter the caucus. or IL they do
they will make their position 80 plain
that they will not be bound by its
actions.
The house spent another day in a
| fr,. fn nj frfx
four members assembled at 10 o'clock.
but as II requires two-thirds. or forty
members. to constitute quorum moth
ing was done and adjournment was
taken until o'clock.
The house assembled at o'clock and,
as usual, found no quorum. Bilyeu, Of
Lane. started to go out when his name
was called on roll call. Somers Of
Linn. insisted that he be enrolled as
present, although he did not answer
TO his name. Speaker Davis ruled that
members must be enrolled present il
found inside the house when their
names were called. This decision
evoked great applause at Rilyeu's ex-
pense. There were several roll calls,
and at one time thirty-four members
were enrolled as present The house
remained quiet until 4:50 p. m, when
Crawford. OF Douglass. arose and ask
ed the chair to direct the temporary
sergeant-at-arms to compel the at
tendance of absent members. Craw-
ford maintained that 1t was within
the power of the chair. under the con-
stitution. to require absent members to
attend. Bilyeu, of Lane, objected, main
tanning that there was no way for thei
chair to enforce any decree. He said
there were in the contemplation of the
law no members of the house until
they We're sworn in. After a spirited
debate the speaker stated that he
wanted time to look into his powers as
to compelling the attendance of ab-
sent members; meanwhile he would
request the temporary sergeant-at-
arms TO use due diligence to secure a
quorum tomorrow The house then ad-
joumed.
The legislative hold-up is still on and
the house Is in its disorganized state
yet. The morning session brought out
some grandstand talks that have been
the features of the show. Somers, the
Mitchell men, and Uren had their daily
fight, which consisted principally of
loud words and the shaking OF fists.
Tomorrow the house viii be called to
order by Temporary Chairman Davis,
who still holds the seat What the
outcome will be is merely conjecture.
That Bourne and Mitchell are fighting
1t out is an old story and as both
are great political generals the finish
is anxiously awaited by the First
Dayers." who have been here for a
week.
That Simon is on the inside of the
hold-up is not conceded by old politi-
clans, but it is thought that he is
encouraging the fight with the hope
that it will bring about the defeat Of
Mitchell.
That the Mitchell men will remain
loyal to their leader is an assured fact
and the prominent leaders say there
will be no compromise. Mr.. Barkley,
the gentleman who delivered such an
erratic address in Astoria for Bryan
is one of the Bourne lieutenants, and
tonight in the hotel lobby is frequently
using the terms of revolutionists to
all that can hear.
The senate goes on serenely and a
large number of bills have been in
troduced.
The Mitchell men claim fifty votes
for their candidate on the first bal
lot.