The sun., 1908-06-01
THE SENATE NEAR CLoTURE
DEMOCRATIC SENATORS FEARED
ADOPTION or SUCH A RULE.
Mr.. Halo Gave . Hint OF II After La Toilette
Had Talked ls11 Hours on the Currency
'Riil-vice-Presiden Counts quorum
and Quotes Democratic Precedent.

and Quotes Democratic Precedent.
WAsHINoToN. May BIN the opinion
Of somo people here who watched closely
the stirring legislative events of Friday
and Saturday the United States Senate
10 no longer the most deliberative body In
the world. 1t Is true that every effort
| made by tho Republicans to stop the La
/. Toilette flibuster had precedent to sane
ton II, but the Senate had been chary here
tofore OF enforcing authorized measures
which might seem. even by inference. TO
curtail the utmost freedom of debate. There
| 10 widespread belief. however. that the
senate was dangerously near adopting a
! cloture rule in order to get a vote on the
currency measure which La Toilette. with
the aid Of Stone and Gore, was trying to
kill by the favorite means Of, talking 1t
to DEATH q practice not permitted, 1t Is
said. In any other legislative assemblage.
hint Of what might come was conveyed
by Senator Hale yesterday forenoon after
the Senate had been in continuous session
for nearly twenty-four hours. Mr.. Hale
Ia one OF the most conservative wearsrs
OF the toga and a stickler for the traditions
Of the Senate. But his faith In the virtue
after one Senator had talked for three-quar-
ters Of day and another apparently was
making an attempt to exceed that record
The second Senator was Mr.. Stone Of Mis-
souri,. and to him Mr.. Hale gave these words
Of fatherly advice:
Il wish the Senator would bear In mind
what has helped heretofore to contribute
to the discussion. He has joined with me
in opposing every effort to curtaii the proper
privileges Of the Senate or to embody in our
rules any form Of cloture. He and hereto
fore have stood here facing each other and
making the same declaration that the
beauty Of the rules Of the Senate is that the
Senate can always get vote after reason
able debate. That ID what saves the Senate
from attempt that at any time may be made
TO throttle us and our proceedings by put
ting a cloture upon US. 1t is such things
that have happened in the last twenty -four
hours that give rise to apprehension that
some day some party in power may resort to
cloturs and throttle the right of speech in
the Senate"
Some Of the Democrats took this as a hint
that there might be a resort to cloture to
pass the currency bill. At one time there
was talk Of a Democratic rally around La
Follettes standard Of obstruction. but 1t
came to nothing. Gossip had it that the
Democrats were convinced that IL they be-
came part OF the hlibuster the Republicans
would call up the bill providing for pub
lioity Of election expenses and pass 1t with
the House amendment, intended to lay the
foundation for reducing Southern represen-
tation In Congress on account Of the sup
presslon Of the negro vote It was rumored
that cioture rule would be adopted to pre-
vent prolonged debate on this measure.
Whether they were influenced or not by
these reports the Democrats, with the
exception Of Stone and Gore, gave La Fol-
lette no material assistance. There was q
brief period In the exciting flibuster when
obstructive tactics. That was yesterday
afternoon. when Mr.. Foraker, In order to
stop Mr.. Stone from talking against time
by reading extraneous matter as part OF
his speech. made the point that -it was not
privilege to read newspaper. a pamphlet,
leave Of the Senate" While the debate on
Mr.. Foraker's point was in progress Mr..
Aldrich moved recess Of half an hour,
ostensiblv to enable the Senate chamber to
luncheon. When the Senate reconvened
Mr.. Bacon FOR the Democrats urged that
Mr.. Foraker withhold his point Of order
on the understanding that it would be taken
up in the future, and Mr. Foraker consented,
thus ending an incident that might have
resulted in bringing about a radical change
In the SSbate's methods Of delberation.
Democfats privately denounced as revo-
lltionary Vice-President Fairbanks's a ruling
that when there was a call Of the Senate
10 determine the presence Of quorum
Senators present who refused to answer
to their names could be counted to make
up a quorum, but Mr. Fairbanks showed
that q similar ruling had been made in 1873
by Democratic presiding officer OF the
Senate, Allen q. Thurman, the "Old Roman"
OF Ohio. This was the subsequent Tom
Reed rule which caused an outbreak in the
fouse Of Representatives in the Fifty-frst
Congress and was denounced as revolution
ary and arbitrary. Mr.. Farbanks's decl-
sion was the outcome OF a vote which showed
on its face that forty-sx Senators, OF one
less than quorum, were present. This de-
bate followed:
MIR. Gore-Mr. President. I submit that the
division dscloses that there is not the pres
ence Of quorum.
Ihe Vce-President divieion disclosed
the existence OF quorum.
MIR. Gore-It takes 81 to constitute a
quorum.
The Vice -President-The Chair is Of the
opinion that quorum is present.
Mr.. Gore--I should like to say that there
are e2 members Of this body. Half Of that
ence Of 20. As l understand IL takes one
more than half to constitute q quorum.
The Vice. Presiden ent-There was present
Senator who did not vote. quorum 10
present, in the opinion OF the Chair
MIR. La Follette-Mr President, may |
make a parliamentary inquiry? 1t is this:
Whether the decision OF the President of the
Senate at this time establishes the precedent
In this body OF counting a quorum when the
vote discloses that no quorum is present
Mr.. Fairbanks then read the Thurman
decision In part as follows: -No quorum
has voted. The Chair has counted the
Senate. There Is a quorum present, but
no quorum voting
little later on there was a vote on a
point Of order raised by MIR. Aldrioh that
a quorum having been obtained by a call
of the Senate no further call to obtain
q quorum could be made unless other busi-
ness intervened, That was another eye
opener In the way OF preventing dilatory
procedure and looked like an entirely new
thing until Mr.. Aldrich showed that SINH |
lar point raised by David b. Hill in the |
Congress. when he was Sena- |
tor from New York. had been sustained
MIR, Aldrich's point Of order was adopted
yeas, s5; nays. s. That was seven less |