The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-20
VCE-PRESIDENI OVERRuLED
sen tTI DIfIDES rHtT az Hty
va Rf6HT "a f0t NJ az orr ".
the Vote Was ~ To % on an Appeal 10,
senator Hale rhr Nire-Prrsisirnt
sltes Prrrrsirnt> Far Nis nullnx Get
ny several OF ms Predecessors.

ny several OF Ills Prrdrrrssors.
WAsHISGIoS, p,s. ~ tor IN. iirs,
time in many years the Srnat. to-day Sis
tanned an appeal from IN" decision of the
Nicc-President and revoked a ruhng 10y
which Senators announcing their pairs
were counted along with Senators record
ing yea and nay votes IN order To make a
quorum
The Senat" was loath 10 admin. St.r
this rebuk- To lts presiding officer and not
until Mr. sherman mad" the ruling
second time did the Senators take action.
The Vice President counted Senators
present who announced their pairs. n
addition Ia tho-" voting for the purpose
Of making quorum on SATURDAY.. and
when the senate met to-day u wa, the
first thing taken mp Tor consideration
There was "A general expression If diSIP-
prevail Of ths ruling IT III. char. which
was declared to h" III violation of the
presidents nf the S.nat" for more than
q hundred wears Tho discussion went
along for more than an hour and Il was
practically the unanimous decision 10 let
the subject drop with that form Of pro
test
Late in th. afternoon there was a repe-
tition Of tn" ruling hy Vice President
Sherman which brought the subject to
All acute issue Senators agreed that 10
was time - call q halt m what they he
heved To- De- an effort ~ modern,zs the
rules Of ia. S"nats and by vote Of 81
~ Il th. Snnat" sustained IA motion by
the veteran soma " Hal" IL Maine APP
pealing from the decision II the Chair.
Under the rule of tn. Senat. a member
who Is paired tina - IN say enters into
ayreemen. with a fellow Senator ~ re-
train from voting IN his Pbsence 10 never
counsed in making up quorum. The
theory Of the rule Is that III the absence 81
one Of the Senators Pared neither enters
into The consideration - legislation and
accordingly neither ia present theoret
ically. MIR Sherrcn was a member Of the
House for many years He served IN
that body when Tom Reed II Maine made
the now famous ruling under which all
members present were included IN the
making 81 "a quorum. Mr. Sherman be-
lieves IN the House rules and uncon-
sciously. according I" his friends. he
e:.empted To adapt the senate rules to
MS own way ~ thinking
II is notable fact that practically all
the Senators who have seen service in the
House voted to-day To sustain thsStihng
Of the Vice President. Among these
may be mentioned Me-srs. Lodge. Lori
mer. Carter Dixon. Jones and Smith of
Michigan The Senate old guard and the
insurgents Jouned in everything the Vice
President.
The trouble arose over $50 worth Of
silk stockings and s3i 600 in gold which
were lost with the destruction OF the
sailing vessel Venus in the Mediterranean.
The Venus claim IL one Of those included
in the French 81 'plI'tiun series. A motion
was made to strIA. II from the omnibus
claims bill, which was before the Senate
for consideration.
Senator Bristow ri Kansas maintained
that the silk hosiery and gold alleged TO
be lost were the property Of the captain
Of the Venus and that UPcle Sam could
not be justly held responsible for the
claim.
The motion Ia strike out was lost. 81
to -. The number of Senators voting
was three shy Of a quorum. The Vice
President. however. announced that there
were enough Senators not voting who
had announced their pairs to make a
quorum. Instantly Senators were on
their feet demanding recognition. and
after some little parliamentary maneu-
appealing from the decision Of the Chair
was put and carried. Senators seemed
inclined to emphasize the fact that they
will not tolerate any suggestion Of the
Reed rules in the Senate.
Those Senators voting TO sustain the
Chair were Messrs. Bourne. Bradley.
Brown. Carter. Crawford. Cullom. Dixon.
Gallinger. Jones. Lodge. Lorimer Page.
Piles. Root, Scott. Smith OF Michigan
and Warner.
The Senators voting in the negative
were Messrs. Bacon. Bailey. Beverage. !
Borah. Brandesee. Bristow. Burkett. !
Burnham. Chamberlain. Capp. Clark Of
Wyoming, Culberson, Cumm;us. Dick. !
Fletcher. Flint. Hale. Hepburn. Kean.
La Toilette. McCumber. Money. Nelson. |
Sewlands. Overman. Owen. Paynter. |
Perkins. Percy. Purcell. Shively. Simmons. |
swanson. Taliaferro. Terrell. Thornton !
and Youn q.
subject OF general discussion among
Senators when the minutes Of the journal !
OF Saturdays session were read for ap-
proval to-day
Senator Culberson said The attempt
TO count quorum Of the Senate was
without precedent and he protested
against the ruling OF the Chair "a being
In violation Of the rules ~ the Senate aud
the precedsnts IN this body
Senator Hale said he did not look upon
the incident disturbing for the reason
that nobody wa. harmed and no int rest
affected by the ruling
With all his great parliamentary
knowledge continued the senator from
Maine. the Vice-Presidsnt ha- followed
his natural habits inherited from another
body and done what was never don.
before in this body say this for 10 ~
In the minds Of senators. but | know
the vice-PresIdent did not int end to vio-
late the usag.s- Of the senate
Senator Carter maintained that the rtlI-
ing OF the Chair was correct and that ~
was no violsr on ~ the rule, on the Sen at.
to count those Announcing pairs for tbs.
purpose OF making quorum When
..sked by Senator Hale II he had any
recollection II such a thing having been
done before IN the senate h. haid he did
not
senator Smith Of Michigan concurred in
ths view ~ the Senator from Montana ,
He said that the V,ce-Pre-ident Is not
color blind and must take notice II the I
presence Of Senators answering 10 their