CUSHIXG S PARLIAMENTARY MANUAL " A motion to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn, a motioh to adjourn, and to take a recess, shall always be in order, and the hour at which the House adjourns shall be eutered on the journal. 1 ' Gen. Weaver : "Always in order" is the language of the rule. The Speaker : But the House, in the judgment of the Chair, can transact no business until its journal has been read. It has been held again and again that an order of the House fixing the day to which the House shall adjourn, or to take a re- cess, is' the transaction of business, and requires the presence of a quorum. (Jen. Weaver : Let the journal be read. When the laughter had subsided, the Clerk began to read the journal. He had hardly begun before the General made the point of order that it must be read in extenso. including the yeas and nays. The Clerk has been in the habit of omit ting them. The Speaker decided that he must read ihe yeas and nays. The Clerk picked up the Congressional Record for the purpose of reading them, when Gen Weaver made the point tnat he must read them from the journal and not from the Record. At this the Llerk began to read them from the tally sheet. The General promptly fired off another point of order. It was that ihey must ue read from the journal and not from the tally sheet Mr. Randall suggested that the tally sheet was a part of the journal, and tue Speaker so de- cided. When the Clerk finished, Gen. Weaver moved that when the House adjourn it be until Monday. Similar d fficult es are encountered in the British Parliament, and the rules have been amended so as to curtail th^ privilege of moving the adjournment. The Speaker's consent must be ob'amed to the motion, after a written apolicatfon has been handed in. As in the ca3e of closure, this is obviously too large a discretionary power to be lodged in 'he Chair. The great restorative change that is requin d is one that will multiply means of action, through the medium of standing committees. This is the most effective way of transacting business in our own Congress. The vital difference between the bulwarks for the protection of minorities in the British House of Commons and in the American Congress is the longevity of the former body. It is elected for seven years, and an appeal to the voters against the tyranny of majorities, may be postponed for that period. Our House is elected for two years only, and t he Hghts
