Mr. DOCKERY. I hope my colleague [Mr. BURNES] will have the opportunity

he asks.

Mr. DIBBLE. I hope I shall be included in the same privilege.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will again put the question. Is there objection to the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BURNES] and the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. DIBBLE] making each a statement to the House?

Mr. CULBERSON. Regular order.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The regular order is demanded, which is equivalent to an objection.

The tellers resumed their count.

Mr. BURNES (before the count was concluded). I ask unanimous consent for one minute of time, to be occupied by the gentleman from South Carolina and myself.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Missouri asks unanimous consent that the gentleman from South Carolina and himself be allowed one minute each, in which to make an explanation. Is there objection? The Chair hears

none.

Mr. BURNES. Mr. Speaker, I have every disposition in the world to preserve the pension session to-night, and if this remaining half hour of to-day's session shall be devoted to the consideration of a general appropriation bill I pledge myself that I will do no act which will place upon the record the fact that there is no quorum, so that the pension session can go on.

Mr. DIBBLE. Mr. Speaker, it so happens that just at the present the gentleman from Missouri would have to make the point of "no quorum" in order to defeat the pension session.

Mr. BURNES. I beg pardon; I would not have to make that point, and the Chair has so decided. The point has already been made.

Mr. DIBBLE. So far as that is concerned, I have only this to say: We cannot transact any business in the half hour remaining of to-day's session. I do not think it right that we should be forced to vote on a question in regard to which a great many who think with us are, as I have stated, absentees. Therefore I suggest to my friend that he withdraw the point of "no quorum" and allow the recess to be taken, as a majority of those present have voted in favor of it. I made that motion simply because I am consistent with my record on the French spoliation matter.

Mr. BURNES. Mr. Speaker, I reserved the balance of my time, and use it now simply for the purpose of saying that I am gratified to hear from the gentleman from South Carolina that upon the pending point of order he can speak for all the absent friends of these claimants and these claims. I am gratified that he can with perfect. certainty count on every friend of these spoliation claims who is absent as being in favor of the pending point of order. The interest they have shown for their payment must be deemed paramount to a just decision of the law on the point of order. I hope they are not all "made that way."

Mr. BURNES (after further proceedings under count). I withdraw the point of no quorum.

Mr. DIBBLE. With the understanding that the gentleman from Missouri will

repeat the motion for a recess, I will state that I will not make the point of no

quorum.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. On this question the yeas are 64, the nays 69;

the noes have it and the House refuses to take a recess.

Mr. BURNES. I move that we take a recess until 8 o'clock p. m.

The motion was agreed to; and accordingly (at 4 o'clock and 40 minutes p. m.) the House took a recess until 8 o'clock p. m. to consider pension claims.

DEBATE CONTINUED, AUGUST 25, 1888.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE.

The House having resumed consideration of the French spoliation claims provision in the deficiency bill, the following resolution was introduced:

Resolved, That all leaves of absence now in force, except for illness, be revoked, to take effect at the meeting of the House on Monday next.

Mr. WEAVER (in reply to a statement made by Mr. CANNON). Do you think it is a good excuse for a member to make to state that he does not belong to the side responsible and for that reason absents himself from the sitting of the House ? Mr. CANNON. No; I do not think it is a good excuse for one elected as a member of the House to be absent from the sitting of the House unless called away on account of sickness or in case of some important emergency, nor is there any good excuse for this long session. If the majority had been reasonably efficient this session would have adjourned weeks ago. You control the House.

Mr. BURNES. Mr. Speaker, I wish to say a word in reply to my colleague on the Committee on Appropriations from the State of Illinois [Mr. CANNON]. In my judgment, he misstates this question. This is not a political matter; this is not a party question, and I thank God for it. It is a question higher than party, higher than any consideration which influences men ordinarily.

Mr. PAYSON. Will the gentleman permit me to ask him a question? Mr. BURNES. Wait a moment. In 1882 one of the most distinguished statesmen known in the annals of legislation took occasion in his place to tell us who it was that was responsible, and his remarks are so applicable to our present condition I beg to remind my friend from Illinois that it is not the Democratic party that is responsible for this condition of affairs on this bill; that it is not the Republican party who is responsible for the state of affairs by which we find ourselves surrounded, but it is because, in the language of a great American statesman, whose name I will communicate to any gentleman who may desire it—

A MEMBER. Who is it?

Mr. BURNES. It is no less distinguished a gentleman than the Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, who said for forty-nine years this question had been maintained by an army of nurses in Washington, and not only an army of nurses, but, to use his own language, an army of wet-nurses at that. [Laughter.]

This may be the cause of our troubles, and this may point somewhat to the party responsibility. The gentleman who has established his bureau up in the galleries

of this House, and who seems to have that interest in our proceedings that the most extraordinary pecuniary considerations alone can determine

Mr. DAVIS. I hope the gentleman will allow me to interrupt him for a question, and it is this: Whether the friends of the spoliation claims are responsible for the absence of the members of this House ?

Mr. BURNES. I blame no member of this House, whether upon that side of the House or upon this; but it is our misfortune that we are divided, not as partisans, but because of the army of nurses who for forty-nine years have maintained their establishment in this town, and, as JOHN SHERMAN has put it, "wet-nurses at that."

Mr. CANNON. A word in reply to what the gentleman has just said. I did not propose to discuss the French spoliation claims or any other claims at this time. Each member of this body is responsible for his own actions and votes touching them. They stand upon their own merits, if they have any. I do not think the kind of declamation the gentleman from Missouri has just indulged in will either strengthen him in his own views or influence the views of anybody in the House or out of it as to the wisdom or unwisdom or justice or injustice of the proposed legislation.

My remarks had reference to the public business, so far as legislation is concerned, the condition thereof and the responsibility therefor.

It is notorious as a matter of fact in this House, and the country will take note of the fact, and possibly demand an explanation of it, that for at least thirty days our business here has been done practically by unanimous consent. The great appropriation bills for the public service for the year commencing the 1st of July last are not yet enacted. Much important general legislation has not yet been considered in the House. Already this is the longest session of Congress for a generation, and nothing can be now done practically except by unanimous consent. The Democratic majority does not keep a quorum here and close up the business of the session, and the Republican minority is powerless to do it.

Mr. PAYSON. What occasion is there to bring politics into the question? Mr. CANNON. I say to my colleague, the Republican minority is not responsible for the status of legislation in the House. I will not for myself assume any responsibility for it. So far as I have power I arraign the Democratic majority for its inefficiency in the performance of its duties, in its control of the House, in its failure to enact the general appropriation bills, and in its failure to consider and enact important legislation. The Democratic majority is responsible for the condition which confronts us to-day, and it will be arraigned for its sins of commission and omission before the country, and ought to be, and I believe will be. condemned by the country.

Mr. PAYSON. Before moving the previous question

Mr. DUNN. Will the gentleman yield to me for a moment to allow an amendment to be read which I wish to offer?

Mr. PAYSON. I will yield long enough to permit it to be read and hear what it is.

Mr. DUNN. It is to direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to notify absent members by telegraph immediately of this order.

Mr. PAYSON. I have no objection.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The proposed amendment will be read.

The Clerk read as follows:

And that the Sergeant-at-Arms be directed to notify all absent members of this order by telegraph immediately.

* * *

Mr. DIBBLE. I moved to take a recess, and I stated the reasons then. I believe that the gentleman and every gentleman in the House understood them. My proposition was that a vote on this question, which is a question involving the dignity of the House, and one of far higher privilege than that of the question of claims, that it should be the imperative duty of members to be present, and I asked that a vote be taken on it at 1 o'clock on Tuesday, by which time a quorum could be present. That proposition was declined. But I shall be very glad when a fair proportion of the members of this House are here that the question shall be decided, and to that decision we will cheerfully submit, whatever the decision may be.

Before the adjournment of the House the resolution as amended was agreed to.

CONTINUATION OF DEBATE, AUGUST 27, 1888.

DEFEAT OF THE CLAIMS.

The CHAIRMAN. The pending question is on the appeal from the decision of the Chair taken by the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. DIBBLE]. The Chair having ruled that section 4 of this bill, known as the French spoliation section, was out of order on this bill, the gentleman from South Carolina appealed from that decision, and the question is: Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgment of the committee? Upon this question tellers have been ordered, and the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. DIBBLE] and the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BURNES] will resume their places as tellers.

Mr. DIBBLE. I rise to a parliamentary inquiry.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state it.

Mr. DIBBLE. On the simple demand for tellers is the question one on which members can vote who are paired with the right reserved to vote to make a quorum.

Mr. BURNES. That is not a parliamentary inquiry.

The CHAIRMAN. The question as to whether a member shall vote or not is one which rests with the individual member.

Mr. WHEELER. Mr. Speaker, before the vote is announced I desire to state that I am paired with the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BURNETT] on the question of the French spoliation claims, and I therefore refrain from voting on this question. If I were free to vote, I should vote to sustain the Chair.

Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. I desire to state, Mr. Chairman, that I have voted to make a quorum.

Mr. BURNES. That is exactly what we need.

390

The tellers reported-ayes 87, noes 45.

Mr. DIBBLE and Mr. EZRA B. TAYLOR. No quorum.

The CHAIRMAN. The point of no quorum is made, and the tellers will resume their places.

Mr. NELSON and Mr. BLAND objected.

The count was resumed and the tellers reported-ayes 94, noes 47.

The CHAIRMAN. The point is made that no quorum has voted. The Chair requests that all gentlemen present who have not voted will vote. The tellers again reported-ayes 94, noes 48.

Mr. BUCHANAN. XXIII be enforced.

The CHAIRMAN. the roll for the purpose mittee.

That is not a quorum, and I demand that clause 2 of Rule

No quorum having voted, under the rule the Clerk will call of ascertaining whether a quorum be present in the com

The roll was called. The tellers reporting no quorum present, the committee rose, and the Chairman reported to the House that he had ordered the roll to be called, &c.

The SPEAKER. The names of the absentees will be entered on the Journal. It appears from this roll-call that 168 members, being more than a quorum, are now present. The Committee of the Whole will, therefore, resume its sitting.

The House accordingly again resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.

The CHAIRMAN. A quorum having appeared, the tellers will resume their places. Gentlemen who have not heretofore voted will please pass between the tellers.

Mr. TURNER, of Georgia. I call the attention of the Chair to the fact that the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BURNES], who has been acting as one of the tellers, is at this moment absent from the Hall, and I suggest that the Chair designate another teller.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. TURNER] will act as a teller in place of the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. BURNES]. Those gentlemen who have not already voted will please pass between the tellers.

The tellers continued the count.

The CHAIRMAN. If all gentlemen who desire to vote have done so the Chair will announce the result. [A pause.] On this question the ayes are 105, the noes The ayes have it, and the decision of the Chair stands as the judgment of the committee. [Applause.]

59.

[The French spoliation provision having been disposed of, the committee resumed consideration of the deficiency bill proper.]