Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-22
HOUSE MAY CAST PRECEDENTS
ASIDE IN SPEAKERSF1IP FIGHT
Pressed for Urgent Moratorium Action,
Members May Engage in Free-for-Al
Scramble for Seat.

Time-honored precedents may be cast
to the winds in the coming fight over
control of the House, involving as it
does necessity for prompt action on the
celebrated tntergovernmential debt
moratorium.
A ticklish situation may arise from
the struggle to decide whether the
Democrats or Republicans shall win the
SpeakerShip and other House plumS.
The rub is that definite action on the
Hoover debt suspension plan must be
taken by December Is, barely a week
after Congress eonyenes, because inter-
est payments on the war obligations
will fall due at that time.
Those who have looked UP precedent
think it is not inconceivable that the
House will become embroiled in an or
ganization tangle comparable to the his
toric contest in 1909, which eliminated
In the election Of Joseph B. Varnum
of Massachusetts, as Speaker There
were FIVE candidates in this, the first
of the great ISpeakership conflicts Var
decided majority OF those present
instead of mere plurality would be
required.
COIorful Battle in '49.
Perhaps the most colorful Speaker
in l849. On that occasion seven mem
bers were absent, due to death or Ill
ness. Four ballots were taken the first
day with no election. Six more ballots
were taken the next day.
Finally Andrew johnson of Tennessee,
later President, offered the following
terSe resolution:
Resolved, that If on the next vote
Of the House for Speaker no individual
tr1@ oil fuA Apst&x - oil
votes cast the individual receiving the
plurality Of the votes shall be Speaker
of the House of Representatives for the
present session and be so declared by
the clerk"
Johnson's resolution was tabled after
hours of spirited debate.
Then some one advanced a proposal
for gradual elimination of those with
the lowest vote. This was defeated.
The next plan contemplated election Of
q temporary chairman, but failed.
Reject Hat Gamble.
At this point some desperate mem
Der suggested that the names of the
leaders be placed in a hat. The candi-
dates refused, however, to carelessly
gamble away their chances to grab a
lions share Of the spoils.
Ultimately, after the hight had
dragged out to the f1fty-ninth ballot,
1t was decided a Speaker should be
chosen by a plurality OF votes con-
| f1rned by a majority. This was done
over the vociferouS protests OF every
one obtaining from one to half a dozen
votes, as might occur this year. The
successful resolution read:
Resolved, that the House will pro-
coed Immediately to the election of
the Speaker viva Voce; and If after
the roll shall have been called three
times no member shall have received
majority of the whole number Of
| votes, the roll shall again be called
and the member who then shall receive
the largest number Of votes, provided
! it be a majority of quorum, shall be
declared to be chosen Speaker"
Cobb Wins Seat.
Representative Cobb of Georgia re-
ceived 102 votes out of 222 and then
was declared elected by majority vote.
Incidentally, this was the first time the
spectre of the battle over slavery APP
peared in Congress. The speakership
tuSsle bristled with threats of secession.
Other outstanding contests for the
biggest office the House can confer oc-
Cured IN 1889, 1855, 1856, 1859, 1850
and 1879. In each instance the speaker
| ship was in doubt until the final roll
call. A less strenuous fight was waged
in 1928. In several instances one party
would have a majority until the
| eleventh hour, only to see it wiped out
by death, accident or serious injury.
Parliamentarians, in specializing over
the possible stalemate, pointed out the
| Constitution says in Article TX, Section
v: Each House shall be the judge of
the election, return and qualification
of its own members and majority of
each shall constitute a quorum to do
business"
House Faces Paralysis.
Thus, until the qualifications are es-
tablished, the House will be in an I'M
organized condition and could not act
on the Hoover moratorium or pass any
| law. Although the President might and
probably will send Congress a message
on the debt suspension plan immedi-
ately after it convenes, it, remains to
be seen whether the House could re-
ceive it until it had organized.
In a somewhat similar situation many
years ago, Representative Humphrey
Marshall Of Kentucky said:
1.-THE President has taken the re-
Sponsibility OF addressing us while we
are in disorganized, or rather an I'M
organized, condition. We assume here
to be a House; but the Constitution
says that each House shall be the judge
of the election, return and qualifica-
ton of its own members. We are here
and we have not exchanged credentials
with each other and we do not know,
therefore, that the body of gentlemen
here assembled and assuming to be a
House, is a qualified House; or if there
is the majority of quorum here. And
how are we to know that fact? Why,
when the oath shall have been admin
istered to us, and upon the presenta-
ton of our credentials.
DISCRIMINATION Discussed.
IT take it that until there is an as
certained majority Of a constitutional
House whose election and qualification
are established, we are in an morgan
lied condition and cannot possibly do
any business. Yet We have assumed as
the President has a right to assume,
that we are House. We have assem-
bled here and have called the yeas
and nays. Although we have not COM
municated to the President that we
are organized and ready to receive
communications from him, still, when
his messenger appears at our door and
. Z.