The Savannah morning news., 1901-03-18
TO VOTE By ELECTRICITY.
A Push-ButtOE scheme for Congress
Highly Favored.

Highly Favored.
From the New York Journal.
Washington. March cit Is proposed to
place in the House of Representatives a
device enabling Representatives to vote
and have their votes recorded and count
ed and displayed by electricity. 1t would
insure accuracy and save time
Every time a roll call is taken in the
House it costs the people of the United
States approximately $1,000 during a short
session OF Congress. The gross expense
of maintaining the House of Representa-
tives is about s5Oo0.O0O per annum. Count
ing 100 days in short session, the ex-
pense amounts to $4,000 day of not more
than five hours length. or 5000 an hour.
The time consumed in roll call is about
forty-five minutes.
At the present time there are 357 mem
bers of the House. Under the new APP
portionment there will be $50 members.
The method of roll call now in vogue is
for the reading clerk to call the name OF
each member At the conclusion Of the
call another call Is made, and the names
of those not responding the first time are
called. During this proceeding there is
confusion. so that the reading clerk IL
usually compelled to call each name twice.
and time is lost in ascerta ming whether
the member has responded.
The proposition of an electrically trans
mtted roll call originated in the mind OF
Representative Peter J. Otey of Virginia.
He was informally encouraged to investi-
gate the project, II being Understood that
a favorable report would be followed by
formal acceptance on the part OF che
House.
The architect of the Capitol, under
whose jurisdiction the proposed change
would come, has reached the conclusion
that the project Is entirely, feasible, and
recommends its adoption. The architect
suggests three distinct features: A visible
record of the vote, duplicate record
which shall constantly be under the eye
of the tally clerk, and q third record
which shall be in the nature of a perma-
nent or official record.
The principal feature of the device will
consist of a large board to be placed i'm
mediately above and oack of the Speak
ers desk, IN plain view of every mem
Der. The board shall be divided into
spaces so that each member shall have a
space which shall bear his name and be
permanently his. The name Will be in
black upon white porcelain glass. There
shall be two smaller spaces at the right
of each name, one marked Aye and one
marked may"
! The tally clerk shall have Immediately
under his eye, upon his disk. board
precisely similar to the large one, upon
a scale OF possibly one to five. Then, close
at hand, within easy view the tnird or
permanent official record shall be placed.
This will be similar TO the smaller record
save that as each vote is recorded the
a k..xfg -. -.
space marked AYE" or may" as the
case may be. 1t is also proposed that
this last and official feature shall be pro-
vided with a mechanism for automatical-
~ counting the ayes" and mays" az
they may be electrically sent In, so that
when the last vote has been recorded the
total will be Immediately available for
use of the Speaker In announcing the to-
tails. The official sheet. which may also
be In duplicate, may then be handed to
the official reporters who place it in the
proper channel leading to the Government
Printing Office, where the following MORN
ing 1t win be inserted In the Congressional
Record.
1t Is proposed to place upon the desk
of each member of the House a three
button panel. one marked AYE" and one
may" and one ''pI esent, not voting
Let Il be supposed a roll call has been
demanded. The officer in charge of the
mechanism presumably the tally clerk,
throws In a switch which will complete
half the electrical circuit, which includes
the three divisions mentioned above. The
same act on iliumines the board, or rath-
er makes luminous the names thereon. A
member desiring to vote may do 50 at
any time within she prescribed limit and
instantly the vote will appear upon tho
board In case lie has voted aye a
small red disk will appear at the right
OF his name At the same time nlinia-
ture red disk will have lighted up the
space on the small board under the eye Of
the tally clerk, and the punching device
will have punched out the word AYE"
opposite his name ON the official or per.
manent sheet. In case he votes may
green disk win appear on the boards and
may" will be punched from the official
sheet. In case he should be paired with
some absent member, yet desires the re-
cord to show that he was in his seat, he
will press the button marked present.
not voting" and this record will be made
on all three boards, the signal in this case
being white
As separate wire will run from each
members desk TO the three boards, the .
vote OF the entire House might be made
spontaneously, provided each member
pressed his button at the same moment.
The device will not only save nine
tenths of the time now uselessly con-
sumed, but 1t will make impossible the
practice of h.ibustering, or killing time.
Under the present system the minority
may block legislation indefinitely and the
majority seems powerless TO prevent II.
This is directly the result of the great
length Of time required TO call the roll.
Before the possibilities Of parliamentary
procedure are exhausted dozen roll calls
may be demanded; and by this time the
day has been consumed and nothing ac-
complished. Under the electrical voting
system hlibustering would cease as the
on rules could limit the time
OF voting to one minute If desired
II ~ estimated that the device at Its in
would cost approximately u5.-
)00 On the basis OF 4 saving Of 5000 on
each roll ca., the new electrical device
would pay for itself within two days. The
new device may be IN working order when
the Fifty.seyenth Congress convenes next
December.