Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-05-09
HOUSE LEADERS PLAN
QUORUM RULE CHANGE
Economy of Time and Efficiency in Con-
sideration of Legislation Would Be
Gained by Proposed Method

move by some disgruntIed member
who was not allowed to have his
own way.
Debate OF IFS. Recalled.
The matter OF quorum was debat-
ed in the constitutional convention of
1897. when diverse views were cx-
pressed. One member forecast the
present situation. contending, as the
the debate shows. that less than =
majority in each House should he
made quorum: otherwise great delay
might happen in business and great
Inconvenience from the future in
crease in members" Mr.. Mercer who
was a prominent member of the con
vention. was also in favor Of less than
a majority. His view is reported as
follows: $50 great a number will put
it in the power Of a few by seeding
at critical moment to introduce con-.
WILSON'S and endanger the govern
ment. Examples of secession have al
ready happened in some of the states"
He was for leaving it to the Iegisla-
ture to fix quorum. las In Great
Britain. where the requisite number is
small and no Inconvenience has been
experienced"
On the other side were some Of the
strong men Of the convention. among
them George Mason of Virginia. who
thought it would be dangerous to
leave the quorum flexible. He said
III the legislature should be able to
reduce the number at all 1t might re-
d,,ro 4 n1a o,,H t6x
United States might be governed by
junta." Finally the majority pre-
vailed.
In the house Of commons. which has
a membership of more than 700. a quo
rum is fixed at forty in both the house
and committee Of the whole. and has
been so for more than a century. This
shows that they long ago adopted the
now famous strength percentage of
~ of l per cent"
Z. 8. More Insistent ON Quorum.
Any one consulting the rules Of leg
islative bodies in other countries
reaches the conclusion that we are a
little more insistent on such a large
number for quorum than is Gus
tomary throughout the world.
1t is a more theory that cannot be
Der of the House should be in con-
slant attendance on all proceedings.
The working members are busy in va
rious ways. and more frequently in
! their Offices and committees than on
i the floor Of the. House. The point of
J mo quorum" Is never made without
interrupting some work that is really
| necessary and urgent.
When the quorum bell sounds the
call members come streaming in from
every direction. and mainly from the
House office building, SO that they
have to cover several hundred yards
in responding. Then to a large ex-
tent they leave as soon as they have
answered their names. SO that no real
ly good purpose has been served in
their response.
The average time taken in calling
the roll (the list is always called
twice. is perhaps about forty minutes
The number of roll calls would doubt
less be much reduced and considerable
time saved by cutting down the quo
rum, say to fifty. in the committee of
the whole. Any one who has an op-
portunity to witness the conduct of
business can hardly think that il
would be prejudicial to the public in
terests to make the number fifty in
stead OF 100.
Because Of the time taken by a roll
call, as has been explained. it has
often been suggested that some device
should be installed as substitute.
Bills have occasionally been introduced
looking to the use OF an electrical
voting machine, and a demonstration
was given several years ago. but thus
far nothing has come of the effort. In
the English house Of commons the
members divide on q question by 60
ing into different lobby rooms and be-
| ing counted, no record being made
of the individual vote