Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-05
Customs of U. S. Senate Discussed
by Mr.. Gorham.
ENTERTAINING INCIDENTS RECALLED
Comment Upon So-CaIIed Secret
Sessions Of Upper House.
ADDRESS BEFORE MEMS CLUB

"Cnwritten Laws of the United states
Senate was the subject of paper of great
interest read by George C. Gorham. last
evening, to a large assemblage at the New
York Avenue Presbyterian Church. The
occasion was the meeting of the Mems
Club of that church There We're present
many men distinguished In public life. The
strietest attention was given the reading of
the paper, which was filled with terse COM
ments on the customs of the Senate, of
which Mr.. Gorham was the secretary from
1868 to 1879
The meeting last evening was the first
since the organization of the Mems Club.
which now contains a membership of about
one hundred. MIR. Charles Moore as chair
man of the committee on program,
called upon to preside during the evening.
Mr.. GOrhem's Address.
After Rev. Wallace Radcliffe had made
several announcements regarding the bust
ness of the club, Mr.. Gorham was intro
duced. He said:
The Constitution provides that eac-.
House shall make the rules to govern its
proceedings. but the Senate is governed al
most as much by usage as by written rules.
Indeed" said Mr.. Gorham, lone of it's
unbending rules is to do nothing it has
never done before. and in what it does, to
never deviate from previous methods.
Upon the opening of session the sew
eral resolutions to notify the House and
the President of its organization. and readi-
to proceed to business, and to fix the
hour of daily meetings, are prepared in
advance in the secretary's office, and the
language of presidents is followed with
minute precision. If any incident occurs
which is out of the common, il is not dealt
with in an off-hand manner. in accordance
with the Judgment of those present but the
som mol iS sbal Si,oii iS
found. and whatever course was then pur-
sued is carefully copied.
The Senate would be scandalized to see
a malet with a handle in the hands of its
presiding officer, the instrument used for
a gavel instead, from time immemorial,
being piece of ivory something like a
small maiet without a handle.
The Senate chamber is very sparsely
populated during the first few minutes of
its daily session, which are commenced pre-
cisely at noon with prayer by the chap
lain One morning only one senator ap-
peared in his seat at the appointed hour,
WhereupOn the pres. dent pro TEN. then Mr..
Ingalls, struck the desk with his gavel,
and. with the utmost gravity, said: The
senator from Vermont will come to order
The senator obeyed and the prayer went
on.
During the presidency pro tenn. of Mr.
Wade, new and bashful senator told him
he desired very much to obtain the floor
TO ask unanimous consent to pass certain
private bill.
oh, bring it right up after prayer said
the old gentleman. First rate time to pass
your bill when no senators are about
1T is needless to say that the advice of
the experienced old stager was taken, and
with the desired result 1t should be said
that it was a bill to which none would
have objected. for more honest man never
sat in a public body than the rugged old
senator from Ohio.
Debate Is Free.
unlimited. Every senator may speak as
long he chooses upon all debatabe
questions. He is the sole judge of the per-
tinency of his remarks 10 the question be-
fore the body.
There is a rule of the Senate, which
commands every senator to vote, when his
name is called for that purpose, unless for
special reasons he is excused by the Senate
rut this rule is n dead letter; no senator
votes unless he chooses to do so. Whenever
Il senator's refusal to vote is criticised, the
Senate's helplessness is disclosed, and no
attempt is made to enforce the rule. So
with the exercise of the constitutional pow
er of minority to compel the attendance
OF absent members They may be notified
nut no sergeant-at-arms has yet been found
who would lay violent hands upon a truant
senator, and compel his attendance in the
Senate chamber.
The Party Caucus.
Mr. Gorham spoke of the important part
played by the party caucus in the Senate.
OF the binding effect of a party caucus he
said.
"A request was once made to Mr.. Henry
b. Anthony of Rhode Island, whose author
lily on senatorial and party laws and usages
regarded as very high, to give his
opinion in writing as 10 the binding obliga-
ton OF a caucus upon members who attend
H. Some were contending that these con-
VocationS were mere conferences for an in
terchange of opinion, and mutual enighten-
Msnt, but not conclusive of the action of
those in attendance. His reply was, sub
stantially, that it must be left for each
member 10 decide for himself what had
teen the implied understanding of the meet
ing as TO the yielding of all to its expressed
opinion, and that il rested entirely with
bin, as point of honor, to do whatever
his conscience said was that understand
ing. The accepted rule Is that, except as
Sarded by him as wrong. each member who
attends u caucus is bound to act as its ma
JorIty Directs"
Mr.. Gorham spoke OF the great influence
welded by conference committees. Get
an item of any size he said Into an ap-
preparation bill in the House, secure an
amendment to it in the Senate and four
men can do pretty much as they please as
TO the amount"
The Secret Session.
The executive session received considera-
attention at the hands of Mr.. Gorham. He
said:
Perhaps the feature of the Senate by
which 1t is best known to the most people
is the secrecy of its executive sessions
which IS al once an offense and delight
IL onends the American sense of official ac-
cCuniability to the people and it de-
lights the love Of mystery, which is orc OF
the strongest of human tendencies. II is
as precious to the journalist as disease is
to the physician
1T was my fortune for eleven years to
have admission to the Senate in secret ses-
sion, as secretary of that body. Slow as
the Senate is in changing. / saw about two
hundred different men sit as Senators dur
Ing that time. When 1 left it, TO make way
Tor one Of the opposite party, then domi-
nant, ii contained but four who had been
members when / entered its service. /
never saw more human nature per capita
than among those two hundred, and, mark
you, this is not said disparagingly. / am a
great believer in human nature; but we all
know that, with the exception Of ourselves.
IL has Its weaknesses and pecularties.
My observation of these in the executive
sessions of the Senate lead me TO the opin-
ion that the average man. like the average
boy behaves himself better before folks
than he does in private groups. Not that