The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-05-23

has never been seen in Michigan outside
of state convention. Seats are being
reserved in the order in which requests
are received by the secretary Resi-
dents of Wayne County are required to
pay $1.00 in addition to their dues for
banquet tickets; bun those outside Of
Wayne county are given tickets when
they pay their 50. 90 yearly dues.
Some Impressions of the United
States Senate.
If anything were needed to illustrate
the impotency of the United States
senate in matters touching its own
internal discipline it is to'be found in
the recent Tillman- McLaurin mix up
in the very chamber of thataugust body
and the fiasco of the attempt to punish
them. In such cases affecting the
order and digaity of either body of con-
gress, the constitution has apparently
provided for punishment for the I'M
ruly members and leaves the punish
msnt thereof entirely to the will of the
body affected. This provision is found
in the first article of the consultation
relative to legislative functions. Under
the same authority either branch of
congress may suspend member by a
| two thirds vote of the members thereof.
The resolution declaring the two
South Carolina senators in contempt of
the senate. was passed and there upon
the president of the senate, Senator
Frye, assuming authority to act in con-
sequence of such resolution, instructed
the secretary to strike from the rolls the
names of the offending senator's In
doing this Senator Frye certainly acted
without deliberation. There was no
precedent to guide him.
At this time the important matter of
the Philippine tariff was under discus
sion. The debate had been carried
along from day to day in a somewhat
desultory but at times strenuous man
ner, the democrats doing most of the
talking, when the dramatic incident
occurred between Senators Tillman and
McLaurin. The debate was closed and
the senate busted itself for day OF two
about its own washing.
When the roll was called in the
passage Of the Philippine bill South
Carolina was passed over and no vote
from that state recorded. The state
was practically without representation
in the senate of the United States al
though guaranteed that right by the
constitution. The arbitrary and I'M
precedented action of the presiding
officer of that body had struck down
this constitutional guaranty, and such
old constitutional lawyers as Senators
Hoar and Morgan stood agh st.
1t was left to the young senator from
Texas to sound the alarm and call the |
halt, however, and Senator Bailey then /
became the David of the senate, at least /
of the democracy of the senate.
Senator Frye seeing the error which |
he had committed made haste to ex-
tricate himself and his party, and the i
names of the South Carolina senator's |
were restored to the roll. Just how far |
this error on the part of president of the |
senate affected the subsequent action of |
that body in dealing with the South |
Carolina senators, it is difficulty to say,
cir hn 1a1 ,,,I
closed doors. 1t is safe however to as
sumo that the friends of Tillman made |
use of it.
1T is difficult to. understand how
President Frye fell into the error of
assuming that he could declare the
seats of the two offending senator's
vacant, in the face of the express
warrant of the constitution that each
state shall be represented in the senate
of the United States There had been
no resolution to suspend. 1t was known
that the democratic members who love
Senator Tillman for his fighting quail
tiles would not stand for suspension or
expulsion, and the republicans had not
the necessary two-thirds majority.
There seems to be no doubt about the
authority of the senate, under the pro-
vision of the constitution, to expel a
member under certain conditions. But
this is done upon the theory that that
body must be clothed with authority to
protect itself and not that the State
may be deprived of its representation.
The executive Of the state must be
notified Immediately upon the expulsion
of member of the United State senate
so that he may appoint, if the legisla-
ture be not in session, other citizens of
the state to fill the vacancies and SO to
comply with the requirements of the
Federal constitution.
Senator Tillman had been unusually
abusive in his references and COM
parsons while speaking on the passage
OF the bill, and particularly sarcastic in
his illusions to the junior senator from
Michigan, who had had his turn a day
or two before. The honesty of purpose
of the Michigan Senator was questioned
and he was referred to as the "Oleagin-
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