Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-03-19
srance of a conspiracy to prevent

About 90 A. NJ. there was a hot de-
bate about the possibility of appointing
"a new sergeant or other officers
necessary to bring in the absent mem
bers. It was the general opinion that
the sergeant-at-arns and his deputies
were making no sincere effort to find the
missing Republicans. Mr.. Dalzell. in the
chair, ruled that the minority there pres
ent was helpless to appoint any addition
al officers of the House.
The Democrats contended that the ar
pointnent of additional officers necessary
to secure a quorum was an essentIa, part
of the powers conferred upon less than
a quorum by the constitution of the
/ United States ana rules of the House
Finally Representative Hardwick. Dem,
Ga, moved the appointment Of a tempo
rary assistant sergeant-at-aruns, with au-
thority to employ additional assistants
| to bring in the missing repre- sentatives.
The Chair ruled the motion out of or
| der, but an appeal was overruled with a
shout The same procedure was gone
through with upon a motion that the new
| ly appointed officers ha equipped with new
warrants.
| for the missing Republicans
Speaker Cannon himself came upon the
| scene about A. NJ. Mr.. Burleson OF
| Texas asked the Speaker whether he had
| signed the new warrants las ordered by
the House."
| Uncle Joe's'' voice quiverod with sup.
pressed rage as he replied. with a bang
| of the gavel:
The Chair declines to be catechisod by
the gentleman from Texas"
This defiance by the Speaker struck
| sparks all over the room. Burleson's
voice shook with passion as he said:
| with all respect to the Speaker of thi'
| House, am l to understand that the
! Speaker declines to obey the mandate o
this iIouse? Have not these warrants
been issucd?"
| Warrants were issued" shouted ths
| Speaker, under the rules. for snnmoninf
of each Of the absentees.
| II mean the warrants ordered by this
| House to be given to Joe Sinnott. who
was appointed by this House a special as.
sistant sergeant-At-arm. persisted Burle
| son.
The Chair has no knowledge of any
| Joe Sinnott, whoever he may be- retort
Cd the Speaker with scornful deliheration
| II submit the Speaker Is rs much
| bound" shouted the Texan. ito carry out
| the will of this House when there is moi
quorum as when there is a quorum
Then followed a lively interchange. par
! ticipated in by Underwood of Alabama
| Olmstead of Pennsylvania. James o
| Kentucky and the Speaker, the latter evil
| IDENTIFY suppressing his emotions with
much difficulty.
The end of it was that the Speaker re-
| fused to recognize the authority of less
| than Il quorum TO issue any warrants fol
| anybody.
LESS than Il quorum has no powers If
| this respect save those conferred upon il
| by the rules. Such as a warrant as tina
requested" the Speaker carefully EN-
| phasized the word requested" by th'
| gentleman from Texas and tie member:
| less than a quorum would be null an'
void and would be no protection TO Mr.
Joe Sinnott. whoever he may be.
The Speaker will hesitate long be
| fore performing ministerial duty UNI
| der the rules otherwise than as pre-
! scribcd by the rules"
The Speaker less aggressively re
marked that the long night vigil had
| evidently led certain members to b.
somewhat careless in the use o.
! language and to cast suspicion upoI
| faithful employees.
II have never known a. quorum tc
| he obtained in the early hours or be-
| fore daybreak," he said.
Before this time the heat noticeabIy
| cooled, there was some desultory argu
| ment, but everybody seemed to lose
| interest thereafter in the new assist
| ant sergeant-a alarms and his unsigned
warrants.
The hands of the clock indicated
| o'clock when the roll was concluded.
1t was evident to the most casual OBJ
| server that the Olmstead motion had
| been lost, but there was no hurry in
| announcing the result. At least the
| Speaker said that the motion had been
| lost n to 90. with % present but no vOt-
| ing. The proceedings under the call
! Of the House was to suspend the Ohm
stead motion which had been offered
| earlier.
| At this hour "Uncle joe was still
ut The helm. He appeared slightly wor-
| ried, but The carnation which had
| araced the lapel yesterday was still
| fresh and his voice was not the least
| biz husky.
| Mr.. Mann raised the point of no QUO
! rum, but apparently the Speaker was
| not certain Of the footing of even as
| close q friend as the Chicago member,
| whose hair had not been combed Tor
| "a hours, and he refused TO entertain
| the point. He held that as the House
| was not even then undergoing the
process OF a call, the point could not
be entertained.
There is a quorum of record, ne
said, ''but it does not materialiZe.' He
| then stated that no business could Dc
transacted so long as there was not u
| sufficient number to meet the require
ments of parliamentary practice. I'M
mediately the House thinned our
| Probably not 50 members We're left IN
their seats and some of them were
asleep, some read the morning papers:
others gathered in groups and dis
cussed the situation. The Speaker, idly
toved with his gavel Some Of his DEM
ocratic friends took advantage of the
opnort,,njtv of a social visit with him