APPENDIX. 



TEN USEFUL RULES OF PARLIAMENTARY USAGE. 



1. No motion is in order unless the person making the motion has the 

 floor, and no person has the floor until recognized by the President. A 

 motion is not before the house for any remarks or discussion until it has been 

 seconded and has been stated by the President. 



2. A motion to adjourn is always in order, provided the person making it 

 has secured the floor and been recognized by the chair, and provided the body 

 is a convention or any public meeting that closes its sessions by adjournment. 

 If, however, the body is a secret society, the motion to adjourn may not be in 

 order, because there are usually regular closing exercises and forms that the 

 President is under obligations to see carried out. When a motion to adjourn 

 is properly made, and is in order, it is not subject to amendment, discussion, 

 or modification in any way ; it must be voted on. However, a qualified mo- 

 tion to adjourn, as to a certain specified time or place, is debatable, and may 

 be amended. 



3. Questions that are subject to amendment may be modified twice and 

 not more ; that is to say, the question may be amended, and the amendment 

 may be amended. 



4. A motion to lay on the table is not debatable, cannot be amended ; if 

 carried, cannot be reconsidered, and requires a simple majority vote. When 

 a motion to table an amendment or a substitute, or any modification of the 

 main question, is carried, the original question goes to the table with it, and 

 is subject to all the restrictions imposed by the vote. 



5. A motion to limit debate may be amended, and usually requires a two- 

 thirds vote. 



6. The following motions or calls do not require a second, and are in order 

 even when some other person has the floor : First, a call to order ; second, 

 objection to the consideration of a question ; motions for orders of the day or 

 regular order of business ; third, question whether subject shall be discussed. 

 A motion to appeal from ruling or decision of the President may be in order 

 when some other person has the floor, but it always requires a second. 



7. A motion for the "previous question" is intended to shut off debate 

 and bring the body at once to a vote on the question. It should not be en- 

 tertained by the chair unless it has three seconds. Large bodies usually re- 

 quire five. This motion should be avoided as much as possible, because it is 

 not generally advisable to refuse any one the right to discuss a subject. 

 When the motion is properly made and seconded, the President immediately 

 says: " Shall the main question be now put? " If two-thirds of the votes are 

 in the affirmative, he declares it carried, and proceeds to put the main ques- 



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