members, punish members for disorderly behavior, and compel the attendance of a quorum to do business.

Each house has a Committee on Rules to which all proposed changes Rules. are submitted. The Senate always uses the rules of the preceding session, but the House must formally adopt rules before they can be applied, although few changes occur from one Congress to another.

The officers of the houses are elected at the beginning of each Con- Officers. gress and hold office during the sessions of that Congress.

Both the Senate and the House have committees on elections that Contested hear the evidence in disputed cases and report to the houses which of elections. the contestants is entitled to a seat.

Each house may punish a member for disorder, but even in flagrant Expulsion cases the punishment is likely to be mild, reprimands being given on of members. occasion, but suspensions very rarely. Two thirds in either house may expel a member, but cases of expulsion are almost unknown.

No business can be transacted in either house unless a majority of its members, the constitutional quorum, is present. If less than half are in attendance, they may either adjourn or authorize the sergeantat-arms to compel the others to attend. Neither house is allowed to adjourn more than three days without the consent of the other. At the close of a long session, the date for final adjournment is usually fixed by agreement without great difficulty.

In order to insure a complete record of what is done in Congress, the Constitution provides that "each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy." At present we have a daily paper called The Congressional Record, which contains a full report of all speeches delivered, and some others prepared by congressmen, and a biweekly Journal which gives a summary of all bills introduced and all votes taken.

The attend

ance of

members.

Adjourn

ment.

Constitution, Art. I, § 5, cls. 1. 4.

Cong.

Record.

Constitu

tion, Art. 1, §5, cl. 3.

Hart, Actual
Gov't, § 107.

297. The Privileges and Disabilities of Members. — When the Special English Parliament was struggling to limit the power of the King, privileges. centuries ago, the King was often able to defeat their wishes by arresting the leaders of the opposition. Since the contest between Parliament and the Stuarts, which ended in the complete victory of the former, members of Parliament have been free from interference by the King or his ministers. Some of these privileges were claimed by the legislators in the colonies, and are now granted to Congressmen and our state legislators by the constitutions. Members of Congress are "in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same, and for any

Constitution, Art. I,

§6, cl. 1.

Compensation of congressmen.

Constitu

tion, Art. I, § 6, cl. 1.

Fuller,

H. B., in No. Am. Rev., 188 (1908),

539-551.

Disabilities

speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place."

Members of Congress receive from the Treasury of the United States a salary of $7500 a year besides traveling expenses - mileage of 20 cents a mile.1 Extra compensation is granted in the form of allowances for clerks, for free delivery of mail upon public business, allowance of money for stationery, and of large numbers of government publications and quantities of free seeds. Yet with all these perquisites of office, our congressmen are so underpaid that few business men can afford the luxury of holding the position. The shortsightedness of this policy is self-evident.

Great was the dread among the members of the convention which framed the Constitution that congressmen might be drawn from the plain path of duty. They accordingly inserted in the Constitution of congress this clause, "No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time, and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office."

men.

Constitu

tion, Art. I, § 6, cl. 2.

Bills and laws.

Spofford,

A. R., in Lalor's Cyclopedia, III, 71-94

(esp. 75, 76).

a law is either a bill or a joint resolution, introduced in the Senate or the House by some member.2 About one bill in eight is fortunate enough to be enrolled as a part of the law of the land. Most of them never reach a second reading, which means that they are never read at all; for, when a member introduces a bill in either house, the clerk or secretary reads only the title, the bill being immediately "committed." It is then likely to be "killed in committee."

1 The Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate receive $12,000 each per year.

2 Members are not allowed to introduce bills when they please, for the houses are too busy to consider new bills except on stated days. In the House, for example, new bills must be introduced upon the first and third Mondays of each month. If a member has a bill to bring before the House, he takes it on those days to the desk of the Speaker or the clerk, and has the pleasure of listening to the reading of the title when the roll of the States is called.

From stereograph, copyright, 1906, by Underwood and Underwood, New York.

If the bill has enough friends, or is of sufficient importance, it is in Reports time reported back by the committee to the House and placed upon the of bills. "calendar," after being read the second time. The committee may have altered the original measure so as to destroy all of its essential McConafeatures, and it may be further changed when an opportunity is given chie, Cong. Committees, later for debate and amendment, before the third reading and final 195-204. vote. Bills are not, however, taken from the calendar in regular order, as appropriation bills and others of particular importance may be reported and discussed at any time. In the House, bills are taken from the calendar for consideration in the order prescribed by the Committee on Rules (§ 310).

Hart, Actual

Gov't, § 116.

The chief difference between the methods of the Senate Debate in and the House is observed in connection with the discussion the House. of proposed laws. The House allows comparatively little debate, no one being permitted to speak who has not first obtained the consent of the Speaker or of the chairman of the committee in charge of the bill, for the Speaker gives the privilege of the floor to those only whom he wishes to recognize. According to the rules of the House, debate may be closed at any time by having one of the supporters of the bill move the "previous question," which gives the majority an opportunity to decide whether a vote shall be taken upon it at once.

the Senate.

In the Senate, on the contrary, there is no rule limiting Debate in debate, which has often continued for weeks upon some important bill, as in the spring of 1902, on the one establishing a Civil Government for the Philippine Islands. This gives the minority an opportunity to delay action, by "filibustering," as it is called, a method that is now impossible in the House.

methods.

299. The Taking of a Vote. When a bill has been read The three for the third time, the vote upon it may be taken in one of three ways, a majority of those present being necessary for its passage. (1) The usual method is to call for the ayes and noes, the presiding officer deciding from the sound whether the measure has passed. (2) When the result is in doubt, or a member asks for a rising vote, this is taken

Hart, Actual
Gov't, § 117.