The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-16
HOUSE PASSES BILL FOR KNOX Frames Up a Special CONSTITUTION IN DEBATE Messrs. Clayton and Clark Are at Odds. Former F.vess Measure ana Lstter os<s
 poses It-Menhers Depiers As ssait on the orxanie

| Washington, Feb l5.-By a vote or i7s to III, the House today passed the bt,a removing the bar to Senator Knox'a | eligibility for the office of Secretary | of State.
 | This was the second vote of the day | on this measure, and the two were sep- sratsd only by about two hours tinis. fl The first was taken on the bill under
 general order for the suspension ok the rules. under which bill must re
 eeive 6 two-thirds majority to Insure It's passage. The first vote was IFS | for to i2s against, the majority thus falling considerably less than the tWo- | thirds requirement.
 Immediately after this result was announced the House Committee on | Rules had c meeting which resulted In Mir. Dalxeil bringing in a rule making | it an order for the House to fake ne | the bill and again vote on 1t under con- | ditiuns which would only require majority vote to pass it.
 Tho opponents of the measure did not | cease their antagonisn. which on the l previous occasion had brought cut | number of sharp criticisms but imme- ,I diately demanded a roll call on the previous question of the adoption or the rule. This call consumed twenty. i've minutes and after the rule had been adopted the debate was resumed. RdEs s0kNGSCAA &1TB SS&e~Nt~~~~~F WI the bill does not accomplish an evasion of the .legislation. Among several osh- CT precedents Mir. Oimstead cited the
 case of Senator Morrill,. of Vermont who was appointed Secretary of thet
 Treasury.
 Tn fine opinion of Mr.wllllams (Mfss.l ,, who opposed the bill. that was the only
 reputable authority alluded to. sena- tor Morrill,. he said. had been confirm T cd through Senatorial courtesy, which . he sald, ovsfridss all barriera. consta-
 tutIonal and otherwise.
 eThe bill" he declared, was "a clear . plain. paipat51e. obvious and manifest case of direct and expressed censtl. tutIonaI Inhibition" : .sar Clark (AEO.). for the second flsns during the day. took the floor in oppo. Mtioh t0 tie kiiT and said that con- ] kress was making itself efhe iauGhlna j stock of every intelligent man on the ! face of Gods green earth" He referred to a famous expression ] by the late Tim Campbell, Of New
 York, who said: Whats the constttu-
 tion between triends," and said that If the bill under discussion should pass.
 Mr. Campbell would stand justiHed as
 constitutional lawyer. Il In adding his voice against the ptll,
 Mir. Caulfeid of Missouri declared that
 1t was a case of constitutional juggiery
 or of favofitiakn.
 The debate was brought to close
 by Mir. DeArmond,s of Missouri who
 argued for the bin.
 ? On . yea and nay vote the bill was
 passed 173 to TIT. There was no dem
 onstration of any kind when the an-
 nouncement was made.
 Clayton asd Clark. A special rule enabling it's nnal pas" l sage by the House permitted a ma iortty instead of two-thirds. Mir. Clayton, of Alabama. Democrat, in favoring the bill said that 1t of- tended against no provision of the
 Constitution and that It's enactment
 into law would not be In violation of the organic law of the land. The bill, he said, sought simply to reduce the annual compensation of the Secretary of State, and the Congress clearly had
 the power to make such reduction.
 For that reason" he said. T favor
 the bill in order that Senator Knox may assume the duties of hls ofsioe." Mr. Clark of Missouri, opposed tho .. bill, which, he said. was simply an ef-
 fort to override the Constitution by a !, | statute.
 .We are asked to stultify ourselves" , he explained. "and that is exactly what 1t amounts to. for fear that we . will not be persona grata at the White House"
 : Representative Mann. Republican of , Illinois, opposed the passage of the , bill on the ground that, MT. Knox's ap- pointment to that position would be . unconstitutional whether the bill was passed or not. He said he did not in-
 tend to be q party to conspiracy to
 violate the Constitution.
 COnstftutiOn ia Sacred.
 We have had" said MT. Mann. some
 criticism of the present President. be- cause he was not q lawyer or judge
 and did not fully appreciate the pro- visions Of the Constitution and we had [ hoped that the next President, both Z a lawyer and a judge. would consider ! the Constitution inviolate and sacred. am not In favor of forcing him to
 its violation"
 Further opposition came from Mr. Gillespie, of Texas. who charged that the bilI was an attempt to amend the T Constitution by legislative enactment
 He said he would forever feel humiIi-
 ated If Congress passed any act to , override It.
 ] The bin was opposed by Messrs. Fucker, of Missouri; Hackett of North
 Carolina; Hardwick. of Georgia; Henry, of Texas; Webb. of North Carolina: : Mann. of Illinois. and Cochran. of New York; and advocated by Messrs. Par
 ksr of New Jersey; Lasseter. of vir-
 Rinia; De Arnond. of Missouri. and
 Galnes of West Virginia As the result or RtVa Voco Noto
 on the bill Speaker Cannon declared that it had been earrled.' but Mir. Ruck- . | er rallied the opponents of the meas
 urs and forced a roll call. By a vote
 of i79 to Ias. in which all party lines
 were broken. the bill was rejected, the
 neeessaFy two-thirds required to sns- : pend the rules not being forthcoming. Immeidately after this result was 7 Announced the committee on rules held ! a session to bring In a rule whereby the hilI could Do passed by majority vote.
 Alter being in sessIon a few mos
 nsnts the committee reported a rule D to take up the btll and it was disposod
 of.
 How AzsuAbsgs V0Aea. Twenty-sax Republicans voted against the bill, and thirty-one Democrats for , it. as follows:
 Republicans against: B0de (AGinn {, ! Birdsali (Ka,), Calderhead (Kas.). Cary CW1G), cauineAd (A1o.), chansy (Tnd.), D Cook (col.l. penhy (1dleh.l Falier { l Clli.l. ciihaua (Ind1. Hayes (cal.l. ' q .