CONGRESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



175 



flie beginning of the session, in order to expedite 

 the legislative business and to economize in the 

 expenditure of public funds, a concurrent resolu- 

 . tion was offered in the Senate fixing the time for 

 liual adjournment on the 20th day of April follow- 

 ing. This resolution unanimously passed both 

 houses. It then became a standing rule of the 

 Legislature, and, under our parliamentary practice, 

 could not be changed except by a two-thirds vote. 

 Pursuant to a published call, signed by the chair- 

 man of the Republican caucuses of the Senate and 

 the House of Representatives, respectively, the 

 same having been issued at the customary time 

 and place and by the officials and in the manner 

 prescribed by the party regulations, a joint caucus 

 of the Republican members of the Senate and House 

 of Representatives was held Jan. 3, 1899, for the 

 purpose of nominating a person to be voted for as 

 the Republican candidate for the office of United 

 States Senator. 



"' At this caucus several candidates were voted 

 for, but Senator Quay, having received 98 out of 

 the 109 Republican votes present, was unanimously 

 declared the caucus nominee of the Republican 

 party. Under the act of Assembly of Jan. 11, 1807, 

 reaffirming the similar act of Congress of July 25, 

 1866, regulating the election of United States Sen- 

 ators, the Legislature proceeded to ballot on the 

 third Tuesday of January, 1899. Upon the follow- 

 ing day the members of the two houses convened 

 in joint Assembly, and it appearing upon the read- 

 ing of the journal of each house that the same 

 person had not received a majority of the votes 

 in each house, as required by the act of Assembly 

 aforesaid, the joint Assembly then proceeded to 

 choose a person for the office of United States Sen- 

 ator, and continued to ballot each succeeding day 

 until the Legislature adjourned on the 20th day 

 of April, as required by the resolution aforesaid. 

 Inasmuch as none of the candidates received a 

 majority of the votes cast, no election resulted. 

 On the first ballot taken in the joint Assembly, 

 Quay, Republican, received 112 votes; Jenks, 

 Democrat, 82 ; leaving scattering and absent, 60. 



" On account of members and Senators absent 

 and not sworn in, it required 126 votes to make 

 the majority necessary to elect. In this manner 

 the balloting proceeded day after day until the 

 close of the session, Quay receiving the support 

 of the regular Republicans, Jenks of all the Demo- 

 crats, and the other Senators and members divid- 

 ing their strength among the vai'ious candidates. 

 Seventy-nine ballots had been taken when the Leg- 

 islature adjourned without day on the date above 

 mentioned. On the 21st day of April, 1899, the 

 Legislature having adjourned and a vacancy in the 

 office of United States Senator existing by reason 

 of the failure of the Legislature to elect, the Gov- 

 ernor, believing that the State was entitled to a 

 full representation in the Senate under the pro- 

 visions of section 2 of Article II of the Federal 

 Constitution, appointed Mr. Quay to fill the va- 

 cancy until the next meeting of the Legislature." 



The debate was long and learned, and the de- 

 cision of the case singularly close. The Senate 

 committee to which Mr. Quay's credentials had 

 been referred reported a resolution that he was 

 not entitled to take his seat as a Senator, and, 

 April 24, 1900, a motion to amend by striking 

 '' not " out of the resolution was lost by a vote 

 of 32 yeas to 33 nays; not voting, 22. The reso- 

 lution refusing to admit him was then passed by 

 a vote of 33 yeas 'to 32 nays; not voting, 22. The 

 Senate preserved its consistency by a majority of 1. 



Another sensational case was that of William 

 V (lark, who had been elected a Senator from 

 Montana. Charges of bribery and corruption were 





brought against him, and the Senate ordered an 

 investigation. The report of the committee was 

 against him, and a resolution was submitted de- 

 claring that he was not duly and legally elected 

 to a seat in the Senate of the United States. May 

 15, 1900, Mr. Clark rose in the Senate to a question 

 of personal privilege, and, after a statement in his 

 own defense, submitted a letter of resignation, sent 

 to the Governor of Montana. The resolution in 

 his case was then passed over. In the meanwhile, 

 during the absence of the Governor of Montana 

 in California, the Lieutenant Governor appointed 

 Mr. Clark to fill the vacancy caused by his own 

 resignation; and the Governor, on his return, ap- 

 pointed Mr. Maginnis. 



Miscellaneous. The most elaborate piece of 

 legislation perfected during the session was " an 

 act making further provision for a civil govern- 

 ment for Alaska, and other purposes." It covers 

 231 pages of the volume of statutes. 



Of more political importance was the act " to 

 provide a government for the Territory of Hawaii," 

 though, in the nature of the case, it dealt far less 

 with mere details. It established the new Terri- 

 tory and created a Territorial government. 



The measure for a civil government in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands, introduced in the Senate, was not 

 acted upon. 



An important pension measure was approved 

 May 9, 1900. It is an amendment to the act of 

 June 27, 1890, and provides for the aggregation 

 of disabilities in granting pensions for incapacity 

 to earn a living, and also fixes the basis and the 

 limit of a widow's claim. It is as follows: 



" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 

 Representatives of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That sections 2 and 3 of an 

 act entitled " an act granting pensions to soldiers 

 and sailors who are incapacitated for the perform- 

 ance of manual labor, and providing for pensions 

 to widows, minor children, and dependent par- 

 ents," be and the same are hereby amended so as 

 to read as follows: 



" SEC. 2. That all persons who served ninety 

 days or more in the military or naval service of the 

 United States during the late war of the rebellion 

 and who have been honorably discharged there- 

 from, and who are now or who may hereafter be 

 suffering from any mental or physical disability 

 or disabilities of a permanent character, not the re- 

 sult of their own vicious habits, which so incapaci- 

 tates them from the performance of manual labor 

 as to render them unable to earn a support, shall, 

 upon making due proof of the fact, according to 

 such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the 

 Interior may provide, be placed upon the list of 

 invalid pensioners of the United States, and be 

 entitled to receive a pension not exceeding $12 per 

 month and not less than $6 per month, propor- 

 tioned to the degree of inability to earn a support ; 

 and in determining such inability each and every 

 infirmity shall be duly considered, and the aggre- 

 gate of the disabilities shown be rated, and such 

 pension shall commence from the date of the filing 

 of the application in the Bureau of Pensions, after 

 the passage of this act, upon proof that the disabil- 

 ity or disabilities then existed, and shall continue 

 during the existence of the same: Prorith'<1, That 

 persons who are now receiving pensions under ex- 

 isting laws, or whose claims are pending in the 

 Bureau of Pensions, may, by application to the 

 Commissioner of Pensions, in such form as he may 

 prescribe, showing themselves entitled thereto, re- 

 ceive the benefits of this act; and nothing herein 

 contained shall be so construed as to prevent any 

 pensioner thereunder from prosecuting his claim 

 and receiving his pension under any other general 



