Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-11
ADOPTED BY HOUSE
Special Rule Regarding Vote on
Porto Rican Bill.
EXCITING SCENES PRECEDED DIVISION
Result Was 1853 Yeas, 142 Nays; II
Refrained From Voting.
d e B ATE IS RES UMED
d EB ATE IS RES UMED

cided to vote on the Porto Rican bill at 5
o'clock today
At II o'clock the committee on rules as
sembled in Speaker Hendersons private Of
i1ce and settled the days program, fixing
the final vote for pm. today. The special
rule provided for the occasion allowed
twenty minutes on each side to debate the
rule, and, on its adoption. a debate on the
Dill until o'clock. 1t was expected that
this arrangement would bring test vote
on the rule early in the day, as it was ar
ranged that the rule should be brought in
Immediately after the reading of the Jour-
nal. The Speaker and Messrs. Dalzell and
Grosvenor voted for the special rule, and
Mr. Richardson, the democratic member Of
the committee. voted against it.
Getting Out the Votes.
Early in the day the party managers were
e&ertinS their utmost endeavors to assem-
ple a 1uIl vote. The measures adopted were
almost unprecedented in their thoroughness.
On the republican side there We're twenty
nVe or thirty absentees, but Representa-
i've Long, the republican whip" was in
Geographic communication with every one
of these, and it was known on what train
each man would arrive.
Mr Long summed up his work by saving
that every republican would be present or
paired, with a single exception, Boutelle of
Maine: and 1t was hoped to pair him later.
1t Is impossible to guard against sick
ness, flood or Disaster said Mr.. Long
but. barring unforeseen mishaps, l look
Tor the passage of the bill as it came from
the Senate by majority of from three to
nine
Representative Richardson, the demo-
cratic foor leader, would not venture a
prediction. saying that with such a narrow
margin enc unexpected mshap might turn
the tide.
Mr.. Underwood, the democratic whip"
counted on not more than five democratic
atsentoea, three of them being sick men.
But the republican estimate of democrats
impaired ran up to nine, viz: Bailey of
Texas. Stallings OF Alabama, Fox of Mis-
slssippi, Cochran of Missouri. Crowley of
l!l1nols, Ridgely of Kansas, and Robert
son. Davey and Meyer of Louisiana. The
sick list included Robertson, Crowley and
Iidgely. 1t was expected, however. that
Mr.. Ridgely might venture out for the vote
ana MIR. Fox was expected by train. The
democratic managers also claimed that a
pair had been arranged for Mr.. Bailey
which would have to be accepted.
Conference of Republican Opposition.
The half score of republican members who
oppose the bill held conference at the
Capitol shortly before noon. Eight mem
bers We're present, and the reports pre-
sented showed that a total of nine republi-
Mr.. Mccall of Massachusetts summed up
the situation from that standpoint as fol-
lows: we have nine republican votes Be-
yond that all depends upon the presence Of
democratic members, and that is an un-
known quantity to us. But the vote will
be Close
Crowds in the Galleries.
The struggle attracted great crowds to
the galleries Of the House. and all the
r IONS Indicated folJ
with exciting incidents.
Excitement was at a high pitch when the
Speakers gaTel fell at noon AS soon as
the reading of the journal was concluded
Mr.. Dalzell Pa-). one of the leaders of the
majority and a member of the committee
on rules, presented the special order under
which the House was to operate as follows:
Resolved, That Immediately upon the
adoption Of this resolution the committee
of the whole house on the state of the
Union shall be discharged from the consid-
Grafton of III. r. S245 (the Porto Rico bilD
and the Senate amendments thereto; that
the same shall be considered in the House
until 5 pm. Wednesday, April II, 1900,
vote shall be taken on the motion to con-
cur in the said Senate amendments en-
gross. And all members shall have leave
to print ON the subject of said bill and
of this rule
Upon the conclusion of the reading of the
rule, upon demand of Mr.. Dalzell the pre-
vtous question on its adoption was ordered
This gave twenty minutes for debate on
each side under the rules
Mr.. DalZell said he would discuss the rule
briefly. On February 2s the House sent to
the Senate the Porto Rico tariff bill Tine
attached by the Senate fur
nished a civil government for the island, It
was the opinion Of the majority, he said,
u mat those amendments should be concurred
in. There had been enough discussion on
the subject. he said. What the country de-
sired was not debate, but action.
MIR. Richardson's Opposition.
Mr.. Richardson, the minority leader,
called attention to the fact that the rule
would permit the House to vote only upon
a single proposition. If 1t had been possible
for the Senate to add to the iniquity Of the
original bill levying Is per cent of the Ding
ley duties on goods going into Porto Rico,
ne said, 1t had done SO in the so-called civil
government amendment Under the guise
or civil government, he said, the Senats
had imposed an imperialistic government
upon the people of the island He asserted
that 1t was never the intention of thu re-
publicans Of the House in the first instance
TO enact any such measure. He quot I'd
president Mckinley, Secretary Root ex-
President Harrison, ex-Speaker Reed and
other republicans Of national reputation IN
favor OF free trade with the islands. and
drew a salvo of applause from his 1emo-
President in the language OF ex-Speaker
Reed as the emperor of expediency''
Proceeding, he expressed his regret that
the Secretary Of War had not seen fit to
furnish the opinion of Judge Charles A.
Magoon. the attorney of the insular bureau.
to the effect that the Constitution extended
ex-proprfo vigore to our new possessions
upon which, he said the original recom-
mendations Of the President and the Secre-
tary of War were based.
He read some extracts from this alleged
suppressed opinion which had bean printed
In New York newspaper. The reading was
frequently punctuated with applause.
Why, Mr.. Richardson asked, had the
President. the Secretary of War and the
republican party changed front upon this
whole question? For reply he read the
statement of Prof. Schurman of the PhiIiD-
pine commission. that the trusts had gone
down to Washington and had grasped the
republican party by the throat
The Alleged Deal.
He also recalled the statement printed a
short time ago in a local newspaper that a
republican member of The House had said
that in return for the passage of the bill a
large contribution was to be MADE TO the
republican campaign fund.
Mr.. Richardson created something Of q