Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/152

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about 70 to 80 per cent of the voters of a state go to the polls, at times it is very difficult for the Senate to keep a quorum, notwithstanding that the senators are paid handsome salaries for that very purpose.

"During the trial of the Archbald impeachment case frequently there were only 15 to 20 senators present, though two distinguished republicans and an equal number of distinguished democratic senators to my knowledge have pleaded with senators to remain and listen to the testimony."

Ashurst then went into an extended legal argument, quoting "fathers of the country," and the federal supreme court to prove that no special form of government was defined as "republican" in the constitution. He declared that congress was the only court that could declare a given form of government "unrepublican" and that by its action in admitting to membership senators and representatives from states that have adopted the system of direct legislation, congress itself has recognized this form of government to be republican under the terms of the constitution.

Finally the senator defended the right of the people to express themselves directly without regard to precedent, and declared that "in such free expression alone lay the safety of human society, for whose service governments were maintained."


How to Combine a Series of Speeches. In reporting meetings it is frequently desirable to give indirect or direct quotations from the remarks of the speakers. When several speakers are quoted, the speaker's name is put at or near the beginning of the paragraph in which he is quoted, so that in a rapid reading of the report, the eye catches at once the change from the words of one speaker to those of