New-York tribune., 1911-02-19
fFrom Tie Tribune Rurea q.

| From The Tribune Buread.l
Washington, Feb. 1S.-Scenes of the
| turbulent thirty-hour session over the
rules fight of last March were repeated
| in the House tonight in the fight OF the
Democrats and Republicans favoring the
omnibus claims bill to break the fllibus-
ter started by Representative Mann.
| At midnight tonight. after fourteen
| hours of continuous session, the f1libuster
was still on and the desultory debate on
the bill continued. An all-night session
prolonged through Sunday was in pros
pect at that time. Eighty Democrats TO
sit through the night have been desig-
mated by the Democratic whip. They
will be relieved by the same number at
noon tomorrow unless the bill passes.
This number Is sufficient TO control the
bill in committee OF the whole, into
which the House again resolved itself
Just before midnight. after a stormy ses-
sion to obtain a quorum.
Representative Clayton attempted to
secure an adjournment at IL o'clock by
ordering q special rule that the House
should take up the bill again at 10
O'Clock on Monday but the Democrats,
| profting by their experience Of last
night. defeated the motion by a vote of
| 125 to 81.
Never before did the House abandon
itself to such disorder While the Grid
iron Club dinner was invaded for alb
sentees by the ergeant-at-Arms, all
thought Of decorum was abandoned. In
the lull Of legislation a page sang MY
! old Kentucky Home" and was hoisted
TO the shoulders of some OF the mem
bers who carried him down the aisle to
the cheers Of their colleagues
Representative Hefin relieved the
tedium of waiting by telling negro dia-
lecr stories. Many other incidents with
out precedent in House history marked
the prolongation OF the legislative DAY OF
Friday, according to the ruling ot
Speaker Cannon.
With enough Republican votes to pass
tbe wa claims bill, the Democrats bat
tied all day against the lilibuster. Last
night the House had recessed until IL
o'clock to-day. Although Mr.. Under
wood made a tactical blunder in asking
a recess until the exact minute upon
which the House now meets every day
Speaker Cannon ruled that the recess
order was valid and that to-day Is stlll
the legislative day OF Friday. instead OF
| Saturday.
| Having thus regained the ground
thought lost the Democrats pushed the
reading of the bill all the afternoon. Mr..
Mann obtaining frequent rollcalls on all
sorts Of motions. At & o'clock the read
! ing Of the bill by sections began. a
quorum vanished in few minutes. after
debate had been ordered for three hours.
| On a call of the House only 143 members
responded, whereas 193 were needed to
transact business.
The same order that came last night
when similar situation developed was
| issued. The arrest OF absentees was or
dered, and for several hours they came
| in one by one.
May Sit Over Sunday.
The House had nothing to do but
| amuse itself. 1t gave way to such hilar-
| ity as generally marks the closing hours
Of a session. although there was an un-
| dercurrent Of harsher feelins-the Demo-
| crafts threatening to continue the session
| into Sunday and Monday or pass the bill.
! a Republican minority. LED by Mr.. Mann
bent upon preventing its passage. Mr..
| Mann's motions to adjourn were fruit
| less.
| Kentucky Home" The effort ended in
| discord and hoots.
Ssh" went over the House. Repre-
| sentative Stanley calling for quiet. Then
| "Jce" Merrick. Il twclve-year ar-old page,
with a clear tenor voice. took UP the
song. The House sat silent; the hubbub
| I'm the galleries ceased.
When the little singer had finished Mr..
Stanley, Mr.. Cantrill and other members
picked the lad up and carried him down
| the aisles, while the House cheered for
minute. In front Of the Speakers desk
the boy sang America and encores
brought other songs.
Joking and word play went on hour
after hour, while the House marked time.
The more serious aspect of the flibuster
is that there are six appropriation bills
and eleven conference reports yet To pass
the House Two days have been wasted
on the omnibus claims bill, and the Dem
ocrats have the votes to extend the leg
islative day into next week unless some
compromise is reached. The situation
throughout Is one of the most uniaue
that ever attended the closing days of n
session.
Speaker Cannon had ruled early i'm the
day that In so far as the House was con-
cerned to-day is yesterday. In other
words. he sustained the contention that
Fridays session was still in progress.
Then came the spectacle Of a big ma
iority Of the House members, composed
Of practically all of the Democrats and
many OF the Republicans. trying in vain
to work their will against a virile Re-
foptiuued on .econd mare