The times., 1899-12-21

During the present session Of Congress
references have been frequently made to
that part Of the House of Representatives.
which has come TO be known as the Chero-
kee Strip.
On Monday. December 4, after the
Father Of the House" Mr. Harmer of
Pennsylvania, had administered the oath of
Office to David B. Henderson of Iowa, as
Speaker, that officer then proceeded TO ad-
minister the oath Of Office TO members and
delegates who presented themselves in front
Of The Speakers desk as their names were
called by States and Territories When the
State of Utah was called Mr. Tayler of
Ohio said:
Mr.. Speaker: I object to the swearing
in of the Representative-elect from Utah,
and to his taking his seat in this body.
do 50, Mr.. Speaker, on my responsibility as
a member Of this House, and because
specific, serious. and apparently we'll
grounded charges Of ineligibnity are made
against him"
After further objection from Mr.. Tayler
and Mr.. McRae Of Arkansas, Speaker Hen
derson said: "The House Will observe order.
I viii request the gentleman from Utah
TO step aside until the rest of the members
are sworn in It is then reported that
Mr.. Roberts stepped aside and took seat
in the Cherokee Strip.
Since the opening day of the session not
/ day has passed that many persons have
not spoken Of the Cherokee Strip The
nail Of the House Of Representatives is
/ divided by the main aisle into two sides,
known as the west side and the east side,
the former having long been designated as
the Republican side and the latter IS the
I Democratic side. On each side are $50
desks, CT total on both sides Of $50 seats
551 for Representatives and three for the
delegates from Arizona New Mexico. and
Oklahoma. The $50 desks. at each OF
which is a revolving chair except in the
! sew cases where the members request 10
have plain stationary ones, are divided by
four narrow aisles into five tiers all be
ing wedge-shaped and growing pointed as
! the centre Of the hall is reached, except
the outer or south tier which Is of uni
4 form size. being four desks wide and
seven desks deep. Some of the other tiers
/ are two desks wide at the point and others
/ three. and all gradually expand to eight
/ desks in width at the rear OF the hall.
BY unanimous consent, il is always
3
/ the party in power, or the party having
+ a majority of the members, shall first fill
up all the seats on their own side and
that the Surplus or overflow shall then
find seats in the oblOng tier on the outside
of the other half Of the hall. That tier,
+ which thus is0lates the members who are
so unfortunate as 10 be obliged to be
+ seated there. from the main or larger por-
! tiOn Of their party associates, has long
! been known as the Cherokee Strip"
AS a natural consequence the so-called
4 Cherokee Strip alternates from one side of
the hall 10 the other, according 10 which
( party is in power. Now it is the outer tier
! on the Democratic side that constitutes
I that undesirable territory. but when the
/ Democrats control the House, as they did
1 in the Fifty-secOnd and Fifty-third Con
: crosses. il was the outside tier on the Re
/ publican side.
Il happened in the Fifty-secoud Congress
that the Democratic majority was so large
that the overflow could not all be seated in
the twenty eight seats Of the one tier and
I the Democrats were obliged TO widen out
the usual strip borrowed from the Repub-
licans
The name Cherokee Strip" has clung to
that shifting portion Of the House for a
dozen yeans or more. but just how long ago
IL was so named, and who first gave il that
witty appellation, are now disputed points
1 ne most generally accredited story IS JnaL
the expression was first so used by the late
Representative Holman at the time when
the long and narrow strip Of land between
Kansas and the Indian Territory, which
was afterward merged into Oklahoma,
seemed 10 have no owner. and was called
NO Man $ Land. " or the Cherokee Strip"
II usually happens when a prominent
member is obliged to draw one of those un-
desirable seats. because the others are all
taken. that some new member, having a
good seat, volunteers TO exchange 1t was
so this time. Representative Hepburn of
Iowa. the Chairman of the Interstate and
Foreign Commerce Committee was the
last man in the entire membership OF the
House to be called, and so. of course, he
was obliged 10 90 10 the Cherokee Strip" ="
greeted as he went by vigorous handclap-
ping on both sides OF the chamber
Very soon. however, the delegate from
New Mexico, Pedro Perea, sought out Mr..
Hepburn and traded him his seat one Of
the best in the hall. his chance to select
having come TO him very early in the draw
ing. II is safe TO say that when that dele
gate tries to secure statehood or any other
legislation for New Mexico from the pres