Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1910-03-18
FIGHT IN CONGRESS.


House hanging in til, balance, his cup.
porIers te1clns for time and no one In
position 10 say what would be the ou:-
come, the fsrcess battle probably that
ever has been waged against The H:use
rules ool;tsrated party lines In The cham
Der yesterday and last night.
II had been raging for ak hours at 10
o'clock last night, the hour when tho
regulars believed they could rally their
strongest force for The fnal clash that
was to determine whether the iusurgeDt
republican aed democratic coalition Tsa
powerful enough to unhorse the regular
organization.
At that hour The Cannon forces we're
plainly In the minority aud we're flibus-
tsripg to prevent the crucial test. 1t hat
been reported by the republican whip,
Mr.. John Dwight, of New York, lhst
reinforcenents were coming from Phila-
delphia and New York, and the Cannon
men were bspging on like grim death In
the hope tba. the handful OF men tup,
posed to b, on the New York express
would bs sufficient to turn the tide.
a new committee on rules, With the
speaker ineligible for membership In it
-ihe isaue wss as real as that. The
pending aettion for hours was resolu-
tioa by Representative Norris, of Ne
braska, reading IS follows:
Resolved, That the rules of the House
be as follows:
"The Committee on Rules shall con.
sist of IS mem bers, Of whom shall be
10 ,nbers of the maj ority party and s of
whom shall be members of the minority
party, to be selected as follows:
"The states of the Union shall be di.
vided by committee Of three selected BY
the House for that purpose into nine
groups, each group containing. as near
as may be, equal number of m embers be:
longing to the maj ority party. The states
of the Union shall likewise be divided
into six groups, each group containing,
az near as may be, an equal number OF
members belonging to the minority party
ttAt 1880 o'clock on the day follow
ing the adoption of the report of said
committee, each of said groups shall
meet aud select OF its number
member Of the committee OIL rules. The
place of meeting for each of said groups
shall be designated by the said com
mittee of three in its report. Each OF
said groups shall port 10 the House the
name of the member selected for meu-
bership OH the committee on rules.
1.-The committee on rules shall select
its own chairman; the Spe aker shall not
be eligible TO membership On said conf
nittee. All rules or parts thereof 1ncoa-
sistent with the foregoing resolutions are
hereby repealed"
Over matter comparatively trivial
itself the insurgents found their oppor.
tunity 10 get test OF strength With lhe
Organization" 1t occurred over an
attempt by Mr.. Crpmpacker, Of Indiana,
to obtain consideration for resolution
amending the census act. Practically
no member Of the House opposed The
resolution, but 1t vas copterded that the
method used in bringing 1t up trsndcend-
ed the rules OF the Hause. Speaker
Cannon on Monday suled against that
view and wss defea ed. The question
came up sgaiu yet rdsy and The re. u
lars believed they had mustered Eufi-
Gent strength on tle democla &c side to
reverse yest.rday's a,U;ou. The vet
developed they had been mistaken or de.
ceiyed, and the Cannon forces again
we're beaten. The second vote took
place In the afternoon. The effect was
startling. The "tatt, OF blood" seemed
10 infuriste those who had long !reIted
under the restraint Of organization rule.
Iusurgent republicans and democrats
swarmsd to common battling ground and
through the leadership OF Repressr tsti7e
BtoWB, OF Nebraska, msde concerted
movement against the republican rules.
RepoaiDg In Mr.. Norris's desk had been
the resolution prepared ct the beginning
of the present session. The Nsbraskao
had The resolution handy against the poe
sibility OF a time coming thst would
make it uaeful. He seized the opportunity
and flung tae gauge of op,n ta:tle il to
the Arena.
The previous disastrous result made
the Cannon forces wary and Immediately
they began "sparring for time"
It was eViderE on every aide thst the
organization wss fighting for every t4is.
tsncs. The conflict vas on plan differ.