Evening star., 1930-03-30
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Fifty years ago the House Of Repre-
sentatives was in a wrangle over the
tariff bill and, as hap
House In pened occasionally In
naodIooL those times before the
Oeau1OoA' adoption OF the Reed
rules" for counting q quorum, 1t was
in deadlock. The Star Of March %,
1880, thus tells of scenes at the session
Of the night before:
Some Of the scenes during last
nights session of the House were Of a
farcical character, with one episode Of
a more serious nature. It appears that
Mr.. Coffroth Of Pennsylvania, who Is q
high tariff Democrat, happened to be
under the voice Of Congressman Black
burn. The latter was denouncins
Speaker Randall He said that he was
a traitor to the Democratic party and
that it would be much better If he
would move, bag and baggage, into the
Republican camp. Coffroth interrupted
Blackburn in his denunciation of the
Speaker and said: I viii not stand idly
by and allow you to thus speak Of my
colleague, and If you persist in doing so
think would feel justified in striking
you WELL returned Blackburn, you
have heard what said and If you mean
are q liar At this Coffroth made q
menacing gesture toward Blackburn, but
a demonstration between the two was
averted by friends. AS Coffroth moved
away he said: You say, Col. Black
burn, that the Speaker is traitor to
the Democratic party. There Is one
charge you cannot impute to him, and
that is that he ever was traitor to his
country
"Of the amusing scenes there was
one particularly comical. Mr. Frost Of
Missouri, who is the youngest member
of the House, was arraigned at the bar
and asked what excuse he had to offer
for his absence. The sergeant-at-arnls
had dragged him from dinner party
and he was arrayed in full evening
dress. His excuse was that he did not
think his presence was necessary. He
had long sought to catch the Speakers
eye, but had never succeeded. 1t graf
ified him, however, to be placed in
position where he could get such recog-
milton at last
"At one time Secretary Robson and
several members who had been driving
with him we're brought up in a group.
The ex-Secretary made an excuse that
tleman from Kentucky would have
constrained him to give up the fight
and let the House adjourn long ago.
The others said they had been more
agreeably employed than In either fli-
clustering or watching fllibusterers. Mr..
Heilman of Pennsylvania, who was
asked what his excuse was for his abb
sence, made answer in the German Ian
guage, which provoked hearty laughter.
At 20 minutes past IL o'clock the
House adjourned With the exception
oF nly he
best Of feeling prevailed among the
members"
I'VE hope there is no truth" says The
Star Of March 81, 1880, 'in the report
Monrm.r+ that the committee on
nasi0u grounds proposes to bring
e"' in bill to appoint joint
committee, To sit during the recess of
Congress, for the purpose of selecting
plan and making arrangements for
the completion of the Washington Mon
ument. A step Of this character is hos
tile to the construction of this long
delayed work, is reflection upon the
committee for the District of Columbia
In the House, now charged by the House
with this matter, and means q Suspen-
sion of present operations and q plunge
into the sea of rival designs and most
costly monuments, with the hopes of
bringing up from the deep some other
design to take the place of this impos-
ing obelisk. 1t means that no effort is
to be spared to prevent the completion
of the present Monument, or of any
monument whatever, for from the well
known excessive cost of the archi-
tectural designs suggested-from three