May 8, 1911

The joint resolution ·. (H. J. Res. 39) proposing an amendment to the Constitution providing that Senators shall be elected by the people of the several States was announced as next in order.

l\Ir. BORAH. M:r. President, I know, from the suggestions of Senators made privately, that there are those who are not prepared to proceed to a discussion of the measure at this time, but who desire to discuss it later. I have no desire, of cour e, to urge it, if I could, to such a conclusion as to pre­ vent the discus ion going on at the convenience of Senators, but I desire at this time to a.sk unanimous consent that the joint resolution be taken up and made the unfinished business. I will say that after that request is granted, if it shall be, I will ask to h:rre the joint resolution laid aside for the convenience of certain Senators who desire to discuss the subject.

Mr. HEYBURN. l\Ir. President, I should like to inquire .Mr. GALLINGER. under what rule we can make anything unfinished business before 2 o'clock, or the equivalent hour of 4 o'clock to-day?

· Mr. BORAH. I understood the Chair to suggest the other day that it could only be done by unanimous consent, and I have sufficient confidence in the parliamentary knowledge of the Chair to proceed with safety in that respect.

.Mr. HEYBURN. Mr. President, while it is said that any­ to take up a bill. thing can be done in the Senate by unanimous consent, we have rules, with reference to the order of business, which I am inclined to think are without the rule of unanimous con­ the time. sent We have a standing rule which provides that only matters taken up after 2 o'clock can be made unfinished business or become unfinished business automatically. I assume that the hour of 2 o'clock, under the former manner of procedure, when we met at 12 o'clock, now becomes 4 o'clock; in other words, the morning hour lasts for two hours as applied to this class of procedure. Of course, it is ea:sy enough to object to anything that may be taken up by unanimous consent, and thus send it o-ver; yet--

Mr. BAILEY. Mr. President, will the Senator permit me?

l\!r. HEYBURN. Certainly.

Mr. BAILEY. I venture to say that until the rules are amended the calendar hour has been eliminated, and that the real fact is that the motion to proceed to the .consideration of the joint resolution is in order.

The VICE PilESIDENT. That is not the motion, however. The requ es t is for unanimous consent that the joint resolution be made the unfinished business.

Mr. BAILEY. I understand that; but I was meaning to say , that, independently of the request, such a motion would be in order. If the Senator from Idaho will look at the very firs~ sentence of Rule VIII, he will see that it reads:

At the conclusion of the morning business for each day, unless upon motion the Senate shall nt any time otherwise order, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of the calendar of bills and joint resolu .. tions, and continue such consideration until 2 o'clock.

Now, undoubtedly it is more than 2 o'clock, and the consid~ eration of the calendar is not in order. I perfectly understood that, and I have on the President's table amendments to the rules which would have conformed them to the change that has been made in the hour of meeting.

The VICE PRESIDENT. That has already been covered by . a resolution passed many years ago, introduced, as the Cha ir now remembers, by Senator Hoar, that where the hour of meeting is changed from noon the morning hour is concluded at the end of two hours. The unfinished business then becomes the order, no matter what the hour may be by the clock.

:Mr. BAILEY. And that resolution of Senator Hoar is printed in the Manual.

Mr. GALLINGER. That is right.

Mr. BAILEY. But I have not understood that it was a part of the standing rules of the Senate.

The VICE PRESIDENT. That has been the practice of the · Senate since the present occupant of the chair has been here.

Mr. BAILEY. If the present practice of the Senate has been to regard it as a part of the rules, then I am in error, and I withdraw the suggestion. -

Mr. HEYBURN. Then it is not in order until the e:xpira~ tion of two hours after the time fixed for the meeting of the Senate to make anything the unfinished business or to take up the unfinished business. But had this become the unfinished business by reason of its having been taken up under the rule and laid over, it would not be due for consideration until the expiration of the morning hour, not fixed by the clock, but the two hours. So it is not in order now to deal with any matter with a view of making it the unfinished business.

Then I suggest again, as I did on a former occasion, this can not, without a complete violation of our rules, be taken up under a motion that it shall be the unfinished business. I:ll it is ever th~ unfinished business, it must become so automatically, by reason of having been taken up after 2 o'clock or the equivalent · of 2 o'clock; in other words, after the morning hour.

I think any attempt to violate the rules and set them aside in this offhand way ought not to be countenanced. Of course I can pre-vent it by an objection, but I want to see the practice settled, so that we will not be placed in the po s ition of objecting, and I do not think it is in order to take up the calendar under Rule VIII until after 2 o'clock. We proceed by unanimous consent until that time.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Oh, yes; clearly, as soon as the morning hour is closed and it is so announced by the Chair, it is then in order. There can be no possible que stio n about that. The rule expressly says so. While I would not debate the matter with tb.e Senator from Idaho, because I think he is right, that we can not make a matter the unfinished business except by unanimous consent until after 2 o'clock, I should like the Clerk to read clause 3 of Rule VII, which has some application to the matter of moving to proceed to the consideration of bills. We are not compelled to wait until 2 o'clock before we can make a motion

Mr. HEYBURN. I agree with that, but a me as ure does not become the unfinished business because it is taken up before

Mr. GALLINGER. That is true.

The VICE PilESIDENT. The opinion of the Chair is that the granting of unanimous consent amounts to a suspension of all rules and that the Senate can practically do anything by unanimous consent, upon the theory that it thereby suspends the rules. Of course, a matter taken up after 2 o'clock becomes automatically the unfinished business, but the Chair thinks there are other modes in which it can be so made.

Ur. GALLINGER. It will be observed, if the Chair will permit me, that in the matter which I desired to have read that very question is included :

Until the morning business shall have been concluded, and so announced from the Chair, or until the hour of 1 o'clock has arrived, no motion to proceed to the consideration of any bill resolution, report of a committee, or other subject upon the calendar shall be entertained by th~ Presiding Officer unless by unanimous consent.

I think that rule is of universal application in this body; , that by unanimous consent it can be done.

Mr. HEYBURN. I thoroughly concur in . that conclusion, and if a Senator moves now to take up this measure one objection sends it over.

The VICE PRESIDENT. No; the joint resolution is up now. One obj e ction sends it over after it is up. It has been reached in the call of the calendar. It is now up.

Mr. HEYB U RN. I intended so to express myself. I may baye been unfortunate in framing my · language.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The Chair begs pardon of the Senator.

Mr. HEYBURN. The calendar is in order now, because the Chair has declared that -morning business is concluded; but I merely desire to suggest that the Senate can not now by unanimous consent make the joint resolution the unfinished business. It becomes the unfinished business, if at all, automatically, by reason of the position it occupies in the order of business.

Mr. BORAH. I desire to ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be taken up and made the unfinished business.

Mr. HEYBURN. I object.

The VICE PRESIDENT. Objection is made.

Mr. BORAH. I move that the Senate take a recess until 4 o'clock . this afternoon.

:Mr. BACON. I understand the object of the Senator from Idaho, in m a king the motion, is that after the Senate reassembles he may move to take up this joint resolution; anfl I would s11ggest to him, in view of the fact that the hour of reassembling proposed is an hour and a quarter from now and many Senators will doubtless be absent, that he couple with it a request for consent that no business shall then be transacted other than to act upon that motion, except a motion for an executive session. Of course I do not mean to exclude such a motion.

Mr. DAILEY. We might have to vote on the motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution, and we would want a quorum here.

Mr. BACON. YeR; of course.

The VICE PRESIDENT. The motion the Senator from Idaho made is nol debatable. The question is on a?:reeing to the motion made by the Senator from Idaho that the Senate take a recess until 4 o'clock.

The motion was - agreed to; and (at 2 o'clock and 47 minutes p. m.) the Senate took a recess until 4 o'clock p. m.

AFTER THE RECESS.

At the expiration of the recess (at 4 o'clock p. m.) the Senate reassembled.

Mr. BORAH. l\Ir. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The VICE PRESIDEl\TT. The Senator from Idaho suggests the absence of a quorpm. The Secretary will call the roll.

The Secretary called the roll, and the following Senators answered to their names : Bacon Curtis Kern Rayner Bailey Davis La Follette Reed Borah Dillingham Lippitt Shively Bradley Dixon Mccumber Simmons Brandegee du Pont Martin, Va. Smith, Md. Brig g s Fletcher Martine, N. J. Smith, Mich. Bristow Fo s ter Myers Smoot Brown Gallinger Nelson Stone Bryan Gamble Nixon Sutherland · Burnham Gore Oliver Taylor Burton Gronna Overman Thornton Chamberlain Guggenheim Owen ~·ownsend Chilton H e y b urn Page Warren Clapp Hitchcock Paynter Watson Clark, Wyo, John so n, Me. Penrose Wetmore Crane John s ton, Ala. Perkins Williams Culber s on Jones Poindexter Works Cullom K e nyon Pomerene

The VICE PRESIDENT. Seventy-one Senators have answered to the roll call. A quorum of the Senate is present.