COURT OF CLAIMS.

(See Claims, Court of, ante, page 296.)

DEAF AND DUMB, COLUMBIAN INSTITUTION FOR.

In addition to the directors, whose appointment has heretofore been provided for by law, there shall be three other directors of the Columbian Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb, appointed in the following manner: One Senator by the President of the Senate and two Representatives by the Speaker of the House. These directors shall hold their offices for the term of a single Congress, and be eligible to a reappointment.-R. S., sec. 4863.

DEBATE.

When any Member desires to speak or deliver any matter to the House, he shall rise and respectfully address himself to "Mr. Speaker," and, on being recognized, may address the House from any place on the floor or from the Clerk's desk, and shall confine himself to the question under debate, avoiding personality.-Rule XIV, clause 2.

When two or more Members rise at once, the Speaker shall name the Member who is first to speak; and no Member shall occupy more than one hour in debate on any question in the House or in committee, except as further provided in this rule.— Rule XIV, clause 1.

By parliamentary courtesy the Member upon whose motion a subject is brought before the House is first entitled to the floor.-Journal, 2, 30, p. 217. So, too, it is an invariable practice of the Speaker, at every new stage of a bill or proposition, to recognize first the Member who has had charge of it, even if another Member addressed him first, provided he is a competitor for the floor.

Members of the committee reporting a measure under consideration are, according to the practice, given precedence in debate; but when a Member of such committee has occupied the floor for one hour in favor of the measure and no other Member of that committee seeks the floor in opposition, it is the practice to recognize a Member not on the committee to

oppose the measure, although other members of the committee seek the floor to support it.

No Member shall speak more than once to the same question without leave of the House, unless he be the mover, proposer, or introducer of the matter pending; in which case he shall be permitted to speak in reply, but not until every Member choosing to speak shall have spoken.-Rule XIV, clause 6. But, the mover, proposer, or introducer of a pending matter is not entitled in all cases, as in the case of "the Member reporting the measure," to close the debate.-Congressional Record, 1, 44, p. 300. It is too late to make the question of order that a Member has already spoken, if no one claims the floor until he has made some progress in his speech.-Journal, 1, 29, p. 931.

Where an amendment is offered after a Member has occupied the floor, he may again occupy the floor, the question being changed.—Journal, 1, 28, p. 532.

A question or proposition should be stated by the Speaker or read by the Clerk before the commencement of debate thereon. Journal, 2, 48, pp. 745, 746.

A Member having consumed an hour or controlled the floor for that period, in his own right, in opening debate on a pending measure, and then (there having been no intervening debate in opposition) demanding the previous question which is ordered, is not entitled to another hour to close the debate.— Journal, 2, 44, pp. 201, 202, 250. Congressional Record, 2, 41, PP. 708, 709.

In the Fifty-first Congress, before the adoption of rules by the House, it was intimated by the Speaker that a Member having the floor could not yield to another to deliver remarks and at the same time retain the right to resume the floor.Congressional Record, 1, 51, pp. 955, 1010.

Where a Member has the floor, however, for a definite period, it has been the usage of the House, of long standing, to permit him to yield to others such portion of his time as he may see fit, reserving his right to reclaim the floor and occupy the remainder of his time.

When a motion to suspend the rules has been seconded, it shall be in order, before the final vote is taken thereon, to debate the proposition to be voted upon for thirty minutes, one

half of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and onehalf to debate in opposition to such proposition.-Rule XXVIII, clause 3.

When the previous question is ordered on any proposition on which there has been no debate, it shall be in order to debate the proposition to be voted on for thirty minutes, onehalf of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate in opposition to such proposition.-See Rule XVII, clause 1.

The reading of a report upon a bill constitutes debate; and where debate has been limited, the time occupied in its reading is deducted from the time allowed.

While a Member is occupying the floor he may yield it to another for explanation of the pending measure as well as for personal explanation.-Journal, 1, 32, p. 521. So, too, he may yield it for a motion to adjourn, or that the committee rise, without losing his right to reoccupy it for the remainder of his time whenever the pending question shall be resumed; but it is otherwise when he yields to enable another to offer or withdraw an amendment.

A Member shall confine himself to the question under debate and avoid personality (Rule XIV, clause 1)-but in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union he is not bound to confine himself to the question under debate (Congressional Globe, 2, 30, p. 587; 1, 31, p. 1475; 1, 32, p. 1856), except where a special order is pending, when the debate must be confined strictly to the measure under consideration.

The standing rules of the House now prescribe what shall be the order of business in Committee of the Whole, and a Member must confine himself to the measure under consideration; but greater latitude in debate is allowed than in the House.

A contestant for a seat under Rule XXXIV, or other person occupying the floor by leave of the House, is subject, alike with Members, to the rules regulating debate.-Journal, 1, 28, p. 1011.

For any speech or debate in either House, Members shall not be questioned in any other place.-Const., 1, 6, 1, 5.

In the Thirty-seventh Congress it was ordered that language

used in debate, not in order, should not be reported or printed. See also proceedings, June 29, 1864. Globe, 1, 38, p.

3390.

Though there is no positive order or rule of the House on the subject, the Speaker, following the above precedent, sometimes, but very rarely, directs that remarks out of order, or made by a Member not entitled to the floor, who persists therein after he is called to order, be omitted from the Record.

It being submitted to the Speaker as a question of order, whether, by virtue of a leave to print remarks in the Record, it was in order for Members to embody in their remarks the several parts of a printed book, the author of which was not a member of the House, Speaker Crisp answered: "It has always been a question to be determined by the House itself whether, or no, any gentleman, under leave to print, has violated the rules or the practice that have prevailed in the House. The extent to which a Member shall print is not a matter for the Chair to determine."-Journal, 1, 52, p. 144.

It was held that a Member is not entitled, as a matter of right, to inspect the original copy, from the reporters' notes, of remarks delivered by another Member which have been withheld for revision.-Journal, 2, 53, p. 435.

Citations or other matter not actually delivered in the course of debate, but simply referred to, can not be printed in the Record without consent of the House.--Journal 1, 53, p. 111.

WHEN IN ORDER AND WHEN NOT.

When a question is under debate, motions have precedence in the following order:

To fix the day to which the House

shall adjourn,

To adjourn,

To take a recess,

To lay on the table,

For the previous question,

To postpone to a day certain,

To refer or amend,

To postpone indefinitely,

(See Rule XVI, clause 4.)

Which are not debatable.

Which are debatable.

The previous question shall have the effect to cut off all de-. bate and bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate

question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered. Provided that when the previous question is ordered on any proposition on which there has been no debate, it shall be in order to debate the proposition to be voted on for thirty minutes, one-half of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate in opposition to such proposition.-See Rule XVII, clause 1.

Pending the demand for the previous question on the pas sage of a bill, it is not in order to debate a motion to reconsider the vote on its third reading; but the vote must be taken without debate. Journal, 1, 34, p. 1009. Nor pending such demand is it in order even to ask a question of the mover of the proposition. Journal, 1, 28, p. 1003.

A motion to strike out the enacting clause of a bill is debatable in like manner as are other amendments.-Journal, 2, 53, pp. 21, 22.

Pending the vote on the demand for the previous question on agreeing to a resolution, it was held by Mr. Speaker Randall that the motion to lay the resolution on the table was not in order, on the ground that no question was under debate; the demand for the previous question not being debatable.-Journal, 2, 45, p. 1090.

A motion to reconsider an undebatable motion is not debatable.-Journal, 2, 45, p. 592. But a motion to suspend the rules and agree to an undebatable motion-e. g., a motion to lay on the table-is, pursuant to Rule XXVIII, subject to debate for thirty minutes.-Journal 2, 52, pp. 142, 143.

When the previous question has been ordered on a proposition, no debate having been had upon it in the form in which it is submitted, the question is debatable for thirty minutes under the rule.-Journal, 2, 50, p. 384.

Where there has been debate in Committee of the Whole on a proposition, further debate is precluded by the previous question, although there has been no debate in the House.-Journal, 1, 52, pp. 173, 174.

The question of committing amendments of the Senate to a House bill, which amendments have not been previously considered by a committee of the House, is not debatable.-Journal, 2, 52, p. 101.