Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-07
By Guy o. Hardy.
,al to The Chieftain.

Promptly at 12 o'clock noon the
Speaker of the House announces. "The
Chaplain will offer prayer. Usually
the House is not crowded-usually only
a few members are present. For sew
eral days now a member who has not
been conspicuous for any worthy in
dustry in the house has been forcing
many roll calls by making the point
of order that no quorum Is present 1t
requires 21S gentlemen to make quor-
UNI. If nothing is said about it-and
ordinarily nothing Is said, the house
goes on doing business, listening TO
speeches, etc, with less than quor-
um. But II 4 member raises the point.
the speaker counts those present. II
21s gentlemen cannot be counted in
the room then the majority leader or
some one else moves "a call OF the
House. That means the roll is called:
1t requires about 25 minutes to call
the roll.
II a member wants to throw a mon
key wrench into the machinery and
delay proceedings, he raises the ques-
ton of a quorum at every faVoraoIe
opportunity. AS a rule 1t is not the
big men who do this. It is usually some
one who fancies that he has not been
given fair treatment by the leader on
one side or the other. And during the
past two years most OF this form of
sabotage to the political machinery
has been on the minority side.
This morning the obstructng one
made the point of no quorum before
the Chaplain had offered prayer. Thcre
was some discussion as to whether
this could be done at this time. but the
Speaker ruled that the point could be
raised at any time SO the roll was
called.
Then the Chaplain offered prayer to
a larger congregation than usual.
hay Th hn n
have when one is regularly appointed.
For twenty-five years Rev. Henry n.
Couden has served as chaplain, but
was recently retired at his request.
Rev. Couden is blind. has been blind
all these years. He lost his eyesight
from a bullet fired in the Civil War. or
rather as they say down here some
times. in the late unpleasantness be-
tween the states
The chaplain is usually paid 1890
year but because OF his long service
and perhaps on account of his blind
ness and declining years Rev. Couden
was paid $500 in recent years.
The house Is now working on the
army appropriation bill.
Here is the way a great supply bill
is born and reared. SO to speak:
The war department presents Its
estimates OF the needs Of the depart
ment for the year. This bill is for the
fiscal year from July l, 1921 to July
1872. This estimate is printed up in
specific detail for use by the appro-
priation committee. Formerly the bill
was worked up and reported out by
| the committee as military affairs and
several other committees had the right
to report out appropriation bills. But
in order to conform to the new budget
| law, which congress passed, but Pres
| ident Wilson vetoed. the house adopted
n rule to refer all appropriate bills to
a single committee. the appropriation
| committee.
This committee has q subcommittee
| to consider each bill.
| The subcommittee on the army bill
takes the estimates from the depart
ment and holds hearings on them. The
heads of tho various branches of the
| war department come before this COM
mittee and explain what they need,
and why. The members of the commit
| tee bring out a great deal OF informa-
| ton in these hearings. 1t may take a
month to so thru the hearings and a
| few weeks to work up the bill after
| wards.
When the bill is prepared by the
sub committee it is referred to the
appropriation committee for considera-
ton and approval. Then 1t Is reported
| to the house.
The bill is read. then there Is debate
OF four hours Half the time is con-
trolled by the chairman of the sub
committee, who is a Republican, and
half by a Democratic member of the
committee. Always on any subject the
time for debate is equally divided be-
tween Republicans and Democrats.
After tho four hour debate. in which
the general policy OF the bill is brought
out. the bill is read for amendments
| 1t is read section by section. During
| this reading the Five Minute Rule is
| in force. Any member who gets up to
talk can talk only five minutes. And
| he nut talk to motion. Very often
n member moves ITO strike out the
last word" and the next chap ito
strike out the last two words. Then
| he makes his FIVE minute speech and
gets something out of his system.
| The member may ask for unanimous
| consent to extend his remarks. If no
| one objects, he may put in his speech
| in the record about anything he wishes.
| often n member says II object" in
which case he cannot add anything to
| his speech. Just now "A member is OBJ
| jecting to all of these requests.
| AS the bill is read by sections, many
| amendments arc offered. Somebody
wants to increase this or that item. But
It is mighty hard to get an amendment
thru increasing any item this year.
| There is strong sentiment for ccono-
my in this Congress. Many worthy
! items may be cut out, but the Congress
| Is determined to cut down the expense
| of the government.
| II is generally felt in Congress and
| out that the War Department has been