The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-06
Donovan Downs Minority Leader Mann In Debate On
 Aggravated Absenteeism
Oaths Of Members And Statute Cut ting Pay And Mileage Show Purpose Of Law-==Connecticut Member
 Quotes ViewsOf Champ Clark
From Our Staff Correspondent.)


 Washington, Nov. 6-Congressman | Jeremiah Donovan of Connecticut was warmly applauded by the majority of the members present at the session | of the House, yesterday, when he re- piled to RepreSentativ Mann, the lead- CT of the Republican minority who has | been the champion of absenteeism. It l is believed that the member from Connecticut got the ''goat" of Mann for the first time for he attempted to reply to Donovan with composure and ended up by shouting that the gentle
 man from Connecticut was a slander-
 of the House and should resign On Saturday last, in a debate upon absenteeisn, MT. Mann said that the
 member from Connecticut did not use
 norant of the law relative to absen-
 teeism and in many ways was quite
 uncomplimentary. At the session
 yesterday MT. Donovan secured the
 privilege of the floor for a minute and
 proceeded to read the law which he had referred to in the debate on Sat-
 urdap, and to read a few extracts
 from a Chicago Tribune editorial,
 which were undoubtedly written by some one quite familiar with the lead
 CT of the minority.
 Of the debate the Record gives the following:
 MT. Donovan-Mr. Speaker, will read from the Record of Saturday. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Mann) the minority leader, has stated that my grammar was like my facts in regard to the law of the United States. It is true, MT. Speaker, that the gentleman from Connecticut'S grammar and the rules governing the same are very few. It is also true that his vocabulary is somewhat linn ited, but just the same, sufficient to express the thoughts in his mind.
 read now from section 40 of the revised statutes of the United States, second edition 1878:
 "The secretary of the Senate and sergeant at arms of the House respec- lively, shall deduct from the monthly payments of each member or delegate the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House, respectively, unless such member or delegate assigns as the reason for such absence the sick ness of himself or of some member of his family
 The only reason that is to be as- signed for their absence is sickness of themselves or members of their families. And ,Mr. Speaker, that is the supreme law of the land, notwith- standing the great mind from Illtn- ois to the contrary. daughter). It is joint action and 1t must remain the law of the land; and challenge the gentleman from Illinois to dare to repeal the act.
 "tNow, even throwing that statute in the waste basket, it is still a viola ton of the law for members to ab- sent themselves No member here can take away the right of a congress sional district to be represented in this body except for treason, and any mo ton or any act that one binds with another in the way of a pair is an illegal act, except for sickness, and it does not allow the well member to go ie 1cT f7o al law, the higher law.
 1T have but two rules, MT. Speaker. The first is to tell the truth. The other one is to hew to the line and let the chips fall where they will an old saying of many years. I had always supposed, being present here for many weeks and months that the member from Illinois CMr. Mann) was sincere in his maneuvers until the other day, when either through bar ter or trade, he fixed upon those whom he allows to go without his objection, which to say the least, is not hon orabIe.
 ''The gentleman stated on that same day that he was not a politician. He practically stated that he is the ablest has stated, when a reference "was made to another leader of the minor ity, that that leader was not as alert as this one, which means that he is the most alert. (LaughCer.)
 ''He is not a politician hold in my hand, MT. Speaker, a copy of the Tribune, a paper of much published in the district of the gentleman from Illinois. It is a reply to his political activity in a way. I read:
 MT. Man is a gentleman of precise attachments. He would know exact ly how many pins were in a paper of pins, but he might be in doubt wheth- | CT to use them railroad spikes or | bayonets. He is a marvel of minu- l tiae. Like a GuIliVer, with a head | full of small precise information, he | wanders through a Brobdingnag of l big ideas and sees only the buttons 1 0n the shoes. He could tell the num- | Der of seeds distributed by the gov | ernment in any one year or any ten | years: He would know whether two l cents more or two cents less had been | appropriated for Peach river in 1909 | than in 1911; he would know the cu- | bic air space of the hall of the House l of Representatives, the amount of | grass seed sown on the White House | avn, the ruling of the Speaker in any case at any time, the number of | pages in any book in the congression- Il library. In Lll1put, MT Mann Is ! giant
 50 says the Chicago Tribune of July 4, 1913. Gaughter). He Is not | politician he says. He does not znow much about it, but he is a hard working cuss. I read further:
 "He is the same gentleman who comes biennia1Iy to the Tribune of ice with the somewhat p1aintive plea hat the chances of his election and therefore, of his continued usefulness o the country lie in the discretion of he Tribune. The fattery never is de- ,eptive and the Tribune never has re- carded itself so far as the second con