<DOC>
[Cannon's Precedents -- Volume VI]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:cannon_ccvi.wais]

 
                            Chapter CCVI.

                     THE JOURNAL AND ITS APPROVAL.

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   1. Reading and approval. Sections 623-628.
   2. Business not transacted before approval. Sections 629, 630.
   3. Motions to amend, especially as to records of votes. 
     Sections 631-633.
   4. Changes as related to actual facts. Section 634.

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  623. During the interim preceding the election of Speaker and 
adoption of rules the Journal of the proceedings is read and approved 
daily.
  Before the completion of the organization of the House in 1923 the 
Clerk decided questions of order and enforced, in as far as applicable, 
the rules of the preceding Congress.
  Members may not approach the desk during the call of the roll or the 
counting of ballots.
  On December 4, 1923 \2\ during the organization of the House and 
before the election of Speaker or adoption of rules, the Clerk directed 
the reading of the Journal of the proceedings of the previous day, when 
Mr. Finis J. Garrett, of Tennessee, inquired if the reading of the 
Journal prior to the organization of the House was in accordance with 
the precedents.
  The Clerk \3\ said:

  The Clerk will state to the gentleman from Tennessee that the 
precedent seems to have been established in the Fifty-second Congress 
when upon the opening day the House did not organize and on the day 
subsequently the Journal was read and approved. It was approved before 
the organization on the second day just preceding the vote being taken 
upon the election of a Speaker. And the Clerk will also state that such 
was the case before organization in the Thirty-fourth Congress. The 
question recurs upon the election of a Speaker, and the tellers will 
please come forward and take their places.

  The Clerk \3\ thereupon caused clause 7 of Rule XIV to be read and 
said:

  Before the roll is called the Clerk asks the indulgence of the House 
while he reads a portion of clause 7, Rule XIV, of the rules of the 
last House:

  ``While the Speaker is putting a question or addressing the House no 
Member shall walk out of or across the Hall, nor, when a Member is 
speaking, pass between him and the Chair; and during the session of the 
House no Member shall wear his hat or remain by the Clerk's desk during 
the call of the roll or the counting of ballots, etc.''
  While this rule is persuasive only under the present circumstances, 
yet the Clerk invokes its spirit and requests the cooperation of the 
Members and employees in its application.
  The Clerk requests all persons not officially connected with the 
taking of the vote to remain away from the Clerk's desk, and would 
suggest, respectfully, to the Members that when they desire to know 
whether or how they have been recorded their requests be made known in 
an audible tone from their accustomed places on the floor, to which the 
Clerk will respond. Thus
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  \1\ Supplementary to Chapter LXXXIII.
  \2\ First session, Sixty-eighth Congress, Journal, p. 7; Record, p. 
11.
  \3\ William Tyler Page of Maryland, Clerk.
Sec. 624
Members' rights will be safeguarded, and such procedure will make for 
decorum and for accuracy in the taking of the vote. The Clerk will call 
the roll.

  624. The reading of the Journal may be interrupted by a parliamentary 
inquiry.
  The point of no quorum may be made while the Journal is being read.
  A quorum is always presumed to be present unless otherwise disclosed.
  It is not the duty of the Speaker to take cognizance of the absence 
of a quorum unless disclosed by a yea-and-nay vote or questioned by a 
point of order.
  On April 6, 1910,\1\ while the Journal of the proceedings of the 
previous day was being read by the Clerk, Mr. Robert L. Henry, of 
Texas, rose and interrupted the reading to submit a parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Having been recognized by the Speaker for that purpose, Mr. Henry 
inquired if it was not mandatory upon the Speaker, under the rule, to 
ascertain the presence of a quorum before the reading and approval of 
the Journal.
  The Speaker \2\ said:

  It is within the power of any Member, including the Speaker, being a 
Member of the House, to make the point that no quorum is present, 
whether there is in fact a quorum present or not. Under the practice of 
the House, under all Speakers, it has always been the usage, as is now 
well known, that a quorum is presumed to be present unless a point of 
order is made by some Member, or unless a record vote by yeas and nays 
fails to disclose the presence of a quorum; and, so far as the Chair 
recollects, no Speaker has ever felt called upon to make the point of 
no quorum, looking into the faces of many Members who are quite as 
responsible for the business of the House as is the Speaker, unless in 
case wherein a record vote discloses the absence of a quorum. Does the 
gentleman make the point that no quorum is present?

  The Clerk proceeded with the reading of the Journal, when Mr. Henry 
again addressed the Chair and made the point of order that a quorum was 
not present.
  A quorum not being present, a call of the House was ordered, and the 
roll was called.
  The Speaker announced that 276 Members had answered to their names, a 
quorum, and the reading of the Journal was resumed and completed.
  625. If a question as to a quorum is raised before the reading of the 
Journal, a quorum should be ascertained to be present before the 
reading begins.
  The reading of the Journal may be dispensed with by unanimous 
consent.
  The granting by the House of unanimous consent to dispense with the 
reading of the Journal implies unanimous consent to its approval.
  On March 2, 1915,\3\ the Speaker \4\ directed the Clerk to read the 
Journal of the previous day, when Mr. James R. Mann, of Illinois, made 
the point of order that no quorum was present.
  The Speaker having ascertained that a quorum was not present, a call 
of the House was made. A quorum having appeared, Mr. Oscar W. 
Underwood, of
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  \1\ Second session, Sixty-first Congress, Record, p. 4325.
  \2\ Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois, Speaker.
  \3\ Third session, Sixty-third Congress, Record, p. 5177.
  \4\ Champ Clark, of Missouri, Speaker.
                                                             Sec. 626
Alabama, asked unanimous consent that the reading of the Journal be 
dispensed with. There was no objection.
  An inquiry by Mr. Mann if the action of the House in dispensing with 
the reading of the Journal implied its approval, was answered in the 
affirmative.
  626. While the Journal must be read in full on the demand of any 
Member such demand comes too late after the Journal has been approved.
  The duty of preliminary approval of the Journal, the reference of 
bills to committees and calendars, and similar matters of clerical 
routine are largely delegated by the Speaker to the Clerk at the 
Speaker's table.
  On February 21, 1910,\1\ following the reading and approval of the 
Journal, in response to a parliamentary inquiry by Mr. Victor Murdock, 
of Kansas, the Speaker \2\ said:

  The Chair will reply, in answer not strictly to a parliamentary 
inquiry, but as to a question of fact. The rules of the House require 
the Speaker to refer to the various committees bills which are 
introduced under the rules. There have already been introduced in this 
House over 20,000 bills. The rules require the Speaker to examine the 
Journal and to refer reports to the calendars. Now, with the duties of 
the Speaker it would be a matter of impossibility that he should read 
every particular bill; that he should watch the Journal; but the House 
in its wisdom has given a Journal clerk, reading clerks, an assistant 
to the Journal clerk, a clerk to the Speaker's table, an assistant to 
the Speaker, and, in addition, it has commissioned 391 Representatives 
whose duty and privilege it is to be as vigilant as the Speaker is 
required to be under the rule.
  The Journal is brought to the Speaker for a preliminary approval, as 
the Chair is reminded by the Clerk to the Speaker's table. This 
gentleman has been for many years Clerk to the Speaker's table, known 
to the membership as being far more competent as to the procedure under 
the rules than the Speaker, or any Speaker, I will say, with whom I 
have served. The Journal is brought by the Journal clerk to the 
Speaker's room every morning, inspected by the clerk to the Speaker's 
table, and if any question of doubt arises it is referred to the 
Speaker. That was done this morning.
  The Journal gives the names of the absentees when the Committee of 
the Whole reports as it did Saturday, and the Journal just approved has 
that list of absentees. But in the practice of the House ordinarily 
there is not a demand made that the names should be read when the 
Journal is read for approval. At any rate, it is too late now, because 
the Journal has been approved. If the gentleman was anxious to have the 
names read, he makes his inquiry too late. He sat in his seat until the 
Journal was approved, and under a parliamentary inquiry the colloquy 
between him and the Chair has occurred.

  627. On the demand of any Member, the reading of the Journal must be 
in full.
  On January 23, 1913,\3\ while the Journal was being read, Mr. James 
R. Mann, of Illinois, called attention to the fact that the Clerk was 
not reading the proceedings of the previous day in full, and was 
omitting that portion of the Journal relating to the introduction of 
bills and petitions.
  By direction of the Speaker \4\ the Journal was read in full.
  628. The reading of the Journal must be in full when demanded by a 
Member.
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  \1\ Second session Sixty-first Congress, Record, p. 2169.
  \2\ Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois, Speaker.
  \3\ Third session Sixty-second Congress, Record, pp. 1921, 1922.
  \4\ Champ Clark, of Missouri, Speaker.
Sec. 629
  The Speaker declined to entertain a motion to approve the Journal 
without reading in full.
  On May 28, 1920,\1\ during the reading of the Journal of the previous 
day's proceedings, the Clerk omitted, as customary, the reading in full 
of resolutions and roll calls, when Mr. Frank Murphy, of Ohio, demanded 
that the Journal be read in full.
  The Clerk proceeded to read the Journal in full, when Mr. Frank W. 
Mondell, of Wyoming, moved that the Journal stand approved without 
further reading.
  The Speaker \2\ held that the motion was not in order.
  629. The transaction of business is not in order before the reading 
and approval of the Journal.
  The Journal may not be approved until a quorum has appeared.
  On September 30, 1918,\3\ after the reading of the Journal and 
pending its approval, Mr. Thetus W. Sims, of Tennessee, submitted a 
request to take from the Speaker's table, for the purpose of sending to 
conference, the water-power bill with Senate amendments.
  Mr. Finis J. Garrett, of Tennessee, inquired if business could be 
transacted before the approval of the Journal.
  The Speaker \4\ pro tempore said:

  The Chair would like to state that in his opinion the first order of 
business is the approval of the Journal.

  Mr. Joseph Walsh, of Massachusetts, made the point of order that a 
quorum was not present.
  The Speaker pro tempore, having ascertained the absence of a quorum, 
the approval of the Journal was deferred pending a call of the House.
  630. The transaction of business, however highly privileged, is not 
in order before the reading and approval of the Journal.
  On January 23, 1913,\5\ immediately after prayer by the Chaplain and 
before the Journal had been read, Mr. James R. Mann, of Illinois, made 
the point of order that a quorum was not present. A call of the House 
was ordered, and a quorum having appeared, Mr. Augustus P. Gardner, of 
Massachusetts, proposed to present a conference report.
  The Speaker \6\ ruled that no business was in order until the Journal 
had been read and approved.
  631. While correction of the Record to conform with actual facts is 
by right, such correction of the journal is by motion or unanimous 
consent.
  On March 22, 1910,\7\ Mr. Frank Plumley, of Vermont, rising to a 
question of personal privilege, called attention to an error in the 
record of his vote on the preceding Saturday, and asked unanimous 
consent that the Record and the Journal be corrected to conform to the 
actual facts.
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  \1\ Second session Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, p. 7805.
  \2\ Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts, Speaker.
  \3\ Second session Sixty-fifth Congress, Journal, p. 585; Record, p. 
10954.
  \4\ Martin D. Foster, of Illinois, Speaker pro tempore.
  \5\ Third session Sixty-second Congress, Record, p. 1921.
  \6\ Champ Clark, of Missouri, Speaker.
  \7\ Second session Sixty-first Congress, Record, p. 3549.
                                                             Sec. 632
  The Speaker \1\ announced that correction of the Record was a matter 
of right and consent was not required, but that correction of the 
Journal was made on motion or by unanimous consent. The Speaker then 
submitted Mr. Plumley's request for the correction of the Journal.
  632. After the Journal had been printed it was held to be too late to 
amend it.
  On December 9, 1920,\2\ Mr. Philip P. Campbell, of Kansas, asked 
unanimous consent that the Journal be amended to record, nunc pro tunc, 
the adoption of an amendment to section 7 of Rule I proposed by Mr. 
Finis J. Garrett, of Tennessee, during the previous session of Congress 
and inadvertently omitted in the preparation and approval of the 
Journal for that day.
  The Speaker \3\ held that as the Journal for the preceding session 
had been printed it was not subject to amendment.
  633. The motion to amend the Journal takes precedence of the motion 
to approve it, but the motion to amend is not admitted after the 
previous question has been demanded on the motion to approve.
  On January 23, 1913,\4\ when the reading of the Journal of the 
previous day's proceedings had been concluded, Mr. John J. Fitzgerald, 
of New York, moved that the Journal be approved, and on that motion 
demanded the previous question.
  Mr. James R. Mann, of Illinois, offered, as preferential, a motion to 
amend the Journal.
  The Speaker \5\ held that while the motion to amend the Journal was 
preferential and took precedence over the motion to approve it, the 
previous question having been demanded, no motion to amend was in 
order.
  634. In amending the Journal the House may decide as to what are 
proceedings, even to the extent of omitting things actually done or of 
recording things not done.
  On August 16, 1912,\6\ Mr. James R. Mann, of Illinois, having been 
recognized for a parliamentary inquiry, called attention to the fact 
that while the special order, reported by the Committee on Rules the 
previous day making in order a motion to send to conference the post 
office appropriation bill, had been agreed to, the formality of making 
the motion thus provided for had not been observed and the bill had 
been sent to conference without authorization.
  The Speaker \5\ said:

  There are two ways out of it. The Journal can be corrected by common 
consent to make it show that the actual thing was done, or the Chair 
can again put the question.

  Mr. Mann objected that the Journal could not be corrected to record 
proceedings which had not actually taken place
  The Speaker said:

  Mr. Speaker Cannon ruled a number of times that by unanimous consent 
anything can be done, and the Chair thinks he was right.
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  \1\ Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois, Speaker.
  \2\ Third session Sixty-sixth Congress, Record, p. 145.
  \3\ Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts, Speaker.
  \4\ Third session Sixty-second Congress, Journal. p. 160; Record. p. 
1922.
  \5\ Champ Clark, of Missouri, Speaker.
  \6\ Second session Sixty-second Congress, Record, p. 11085.