. History of the United States from the earliest discovery of America to the present time. ct, lunatic, idiot, orunable to take care of himself. This law,like the supplementary one of March 3, 1887,proved inadequate. In 1888 Americanconsuls represented that transatlanticsteamship companies were employing un- EXPANSION [1888 scrupulous brokers to procure emigrants forAmerica, the brokerage being from threeto five dollars per head, and that most emi-grants were of a class utterly unfitted for citizenship. The Presidents ur-gency in this matterhad little effect, theattention of Congressbeing earl
. History of the United States from the earliest discovery of America to the present time. ct, lunatic, idiot, orunable to take care of himself. This law,like the supplementary one of March 3, 1887,proved inadequate. In 1888 Americanconsuls represented that transatlanticsteamship companies were employing un- EXPANSION [1888 scrupulous brokers to procure emigrants forAmerica, the brokerage being from threeto five dollars per head, and that most emi-grants were of a class utterly unfitted for citizenship. The Presidents ur-gency in this matterhad little effect, theattention of Congressbeing early divertedto other great measuresmainly embodied theRepublican policy—the Federal ElectionsBill, the McKinley Tariff Bill, and the De-pendent Pensions Bill. As Speaker of the House, Hon. ThomasB. Reed, of Maine, put through certainparliamentary innovations necessary to en-act the partys will. He declined to enter-tain dilatory motions. More important, heordered the clerk to register as presentand not voting, those whom he saw en-deavoring by stubborn silence to break a. Thomas B. Reed. 1888] MR. HARRIS OXS ADMINISTRATION 53 quorum. A majority being the constitu-tional quorum, theretofore, unless a ma-jority answered to their names upon roll-call,no majority appeared of record, althoughthe sergeant-at-arms was empowered tocompel the presence of every member. Asthe traditional safeguard of minorities andas a compressed airbrake on majorityaction, silence became more powerful thanwords. Under the Reed theory, sinceadopted, that the House may, through itsSpeaker, determine in its own way thepresence of a quorum, the Speakers or theclerks eye was substituted for the voice ofany member in demonstrating such mem-bers presence. Many, not all Democrats, opposed theReed policy as arbitrary. Mr. Evarts issaid to have remarked, Reed, you seemto think a deliberative body like a woman;if it deliberates, it is lost. On the yeasand nays or at any roll-call some woulddodge out
Size: 1408px × 1774px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1912
