The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-05-08
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND SOME OF THE POWER He HAS

cupants OF the chair have had the Presi-
Dental bee in their bonnets who never
received even the nomination.
Vote Rarely Recorded.
The vote Of the Speaker is rarely re-
corded except when necessary 10 break
tie, and this has been done only a few
times half dozen or so, I'm the history
Of the government The most famous
vote ever recorded by a Speaker was at
the opening Of Congress In December.
1876. The Hayes and Tllden campaign
had just come 10 a stormy end. and the
Speaker Of the House. Michael c. Kerr.
had died during the vacation. The sec
ond session was called 20 order by its
Clerk. George NJ. Adams. Colorado had
been admitted TO the Union by the Presi-
dents proclamation in the interim, and
the new State had elected James Bel
ford, the Red Rooster Of the Rockies. %
10 a seat in the House. The Clerk, having
no official information that Colorado was
a State did not enroll his name before
the candidates for Speaker were named.
and an effort to have 1t enrolled then was
defeated.
Samuel J. Randall was elected Speaker,
whereupon Abram s. Hewitt offered a
resolution providing for the appointment
Of three special committees 10 investi-
gate the Presidential election. One. COM
posed Of fifteen members, 10 be sent 10
Louisiana; one OF six TO go to Florida.
and one Of nine TO go TO South Carolina.
Hewitt asked unanimous consent to pass
the resolution, which was refused. He
then moved to suspend the rules and pass
tho resolution, which, after some Skin
mlshing. went through. by 156 20 IS which
was exactly the two-thirds vote required
to suspend the rules. The following day,
however, Mr.. Plaisted, OF Maine, rose TO
a question OF privilege and announced
that he had voted mo" but that his
vote had not been recorded.
Following some bitter discussion. PIais-
ted succeeded in having his vote re-
corded. This deprived the DEM bcrats of
the two-thirds votes. and the Resolution
would have been defeated had they not
found one OF their number, Benoni Fuller.
Of Indiana. whose vote had not been
recorded. but the recording Of Flller's
name still left the Democrats one vote
short, for it required two votes TO offset
Plaisted's and give them the necessary
two-thirds. When this condition was
made clear the Speaker Mr.. Randall, an
nounced that he would have voted the
day before, as was his constitutional
right. had his vote been necessary to de-
eide the matter.
Asks Unanimous Consent.
II the Journal had shown the vote to be
l57 to 70. he would have voted in the
affirmative, thus making the necessary
two-thirds. Unanimous consent was ask
ed to have his vote recorded: to this Ma
thaniel T. Banks objected. but was finally
persuaded TO withdraw his objection
Omar d. COnger, of Michigan. persisted
in his objection, the Speaker, in spite Of
this, resting on his constitutional right.
recorded his vote, a vote that caused the
creation Of the electoral commission and
saved the country another civil war.
Since the early days OF the republic
there has been constant disputes over the
place the Speaker should occupy in rela-
ton 70 the other officials of the govern
ment' and the merry war Is still waging
In 1903. when Nathaniel Macon, OF Geor-
gia' was Speaker of the House. he was
on certain occasion assigned to a place
behind the Cabinet. II naturally made
little difference to him personally what
place he occupied. but the prerogatives OF
the ONCE were in his keeping and he de-
named his rights, assumed his rights,
In Iact' and placed himself next to the
vice President. and, until the order Of
succession to the Presidency was changed
the Speaker was generally granted this
place. Since then. however. he has been
placed much lower on the ofI;ctsr list.