contingencies for carrying on the several departments of the government.March 13, 1838.

121. Upon the engrossment of any bill making appropriations of money for works of internal improvement of any kind or description, it shall be in the power of any member to call for a division of the question, so as to take a separate vote of the House upon each item of improvement or appropriation contained in said bill, or upon such items separately, and others collectively, as the members making the call may specify; and if one-fifth of the members present second said call, it shall be the duty of the Speaker to make such divisions of the question, and put them to vote accordingly.-February 26, 1846.

122. The bills from the Court of Claims shall, on being laid before the House, be read a first and second time, committed to a Committee of the Whole House, and, together with the accompanying reports, printed.-March 16, 1860.

123. A motion to strike out the enacting words of a bill shall have precedence of a motion to amend; and, if carried, shall be considered equivalent to its rejection.-March 13, 1822. Whenever a bill is reported from a Committee of the Whole, with a recommendation to strike out the enacting words, and such recommendation is disagreed to by the House, the bill shall stand recommitted to the said committee without further action by the House.-March 16, 1860.* But before the question of concurrence is submitted, it is in order to entertain a motion to refer the bill to any committee, with or without instructions, and when the same is again reported to the House, it shall be referred to the Committee of the Whole without debate, and resume its original place on the calendar.-May 26, 1870.

124. After commitment and report thereof to the House, or at any time before its passage, a bill may be recommitted-April 7, 1789, and should such recommitment take place after its engrossment, and an amendment be reported and agreed to by the House, the question shall be again put on the engrossment of the bill.-March 16, 1860.†

125. All bills ordered to be engrossed shall be executed in a fair round hand. -April 7, 1789.

*This latter clause was inserted for the purpose of correcting a practice which had begun to obtain, whereby the friends of a bill were enabled, by striking out the enacting clause, to cut of debate and amendment and take a bill back into the House and there pass it. At the same time, however, an amendment was made to the 60th rule, whereby a majority is enabled, "at any time after the five minutes' debate has taken place upon proposed amendments to any paragraph or section of a bill, to close all debate upon such section or paragraph, or, at their election, upon the pending amendments only."

Of late years, according to the practice, if the previous question on its passage be pending or ordered, a motion to recommit is not in order. The latter clause of this rule was adopted, for the first time, March 16, 1860, previous to which there has been no fixed rule in regard to the case therein provided for.

126. No amendment by way of rider shall be received to any bill on its third reading.-April 8, 1814.

27. When a bill shall pass, it shall be certified by the Clerk, noting the day of its passage at the foot thereof.—April 7, 1789.

Local or Private Business.

128. Friday in every week shall be set apart for the consideration of private bills and private business, in preference to any other, unless otherwise determined by a majority of the House.-January 22, 1810; January 26, 1826; * and May 8, 1874.

129. On the first and fourth Friday of each month, the calendar of private bills shall be called over (the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House commencing the call where he left off the previous day), and the bills to the passage of which no objection shall then be made shall be first considered and disposed of.―January 25, 1839. But when a bill is again reached, after having been once objected to, the committee shall consider and dispose of the same, unless it shall again be objected to by at least five members.—March 16, 1860 t May 8, 1874.

Of Bills On Leave and Resolutions.

130. All the States and Territories shall be called for bills on leave and resolutions every Monday during each session of Congress; and, if necessary to secure the object on said days, all resolutions which shall give rise to debate shall lie over for discussion, under the rules of the House already established; and the whole of said days shall be appropriated to bills on leave and resolutions, until all the States and Territories are called through.--February 6, 1838. And the Speaker shall first call the States and Territories for bills on leave; and all bills so introduced during the first hour after the journal is read shall be referred, without debate, to their appropriate committees: Provided, however, That a bill so introduced and referred, and all bills at any time introduced by unanimous consent and referred, shall not be brought back into the House upon a motion to reconsider.-March 16, 1860,‡ and January 11, 1872. And on *Under the rule of 26th April, 1828, relative to a postponement or change of the order of business, it has been decided that it takes two-thirds to proceed to public business on Friday and Saturday. The reason of this decision is, that the rule of the 26th of April, 1828, made no exception in favor of the clause for a majority, contained in this rule; and that therefore that provision was annulled. There have been three appeals upon this point, but the House in all instances affirmed the decision in favor of two-thirds.

†The rule of January 25, 1839, simply provided for calling over the calendar on the first and fourth Friday; the words "and Saturday" were added on the 16th March, 1860. The latter branch of the rule, which provides that upon a second call at least five members shall object. was adopted at the same time. The words "and Saturday" were stricken out of rules 128 and 129, May 8, 1874.

11he words "bills on leave" where they occur were inserted in this rule on the 16th March, 1860. By rule 115 it is required that at least one day's notice shall be given of the motior, te introduce a bill on leave.

said call, joint resolutions of State and Territorial legislatures for printing and reference may be introduced.-January 11, 1867.

Of Petitions and Memorials.

131. Members having petitions and memorials to present may hand them to the Clerk, indorsing the same with their names, and the reference or disposition to be made thereof; and such petitions and memorials shall be entered on the journal, subject to the control and direction of the Speaker, and if any petition or memorial be so handed in which, in the judgment of the Speaker, is excluded by the rules, the same shall be returned to the member from whom it was received.-March 29, 1842.*

Of the Previous Question.

132. The previous question † shall be in this form: "Shall the main question be now put?"—April 7, 1789. It shall only be admitted when demanded by a majority of the members present-February 24, 1812; and its effects shall be to put an end to all debate, and to bring the House to a direct vote upon a motion to commit, if such motion shall have been made; and if this motion does not prevail, then upon amendments reported by a committee, if any; then-August 5, 1848-upon pending amendments, and then upon the main question.―January 14, 1840. But its only effect, if a motion to postpone is

* So much of the rules as authorized the presentation of petitions in the House was stricken out December 12, 1853. According to the practice under this rule it is competent for a member to withdraw from the files petitions and memorials presented at a former Congress, and re-refer them.

The previous question was recognized in the rules established April 7, 1789, and could be demanded by five members (the parliamentary law places it in the power of two members—one to move, the other to second). On the 23d December, 1811, it was placed on a footing with the yeas and nays; that is, at the command of one-fifth of the members present. It remained so until the 24th February, 1812, when the rule was changed to its present form of a majority. According to former practice, the previous question brought the House to a direct vote on the main question; that is, to agree to the main proposition, to the exclusion of all amendments and incidental motions; but on the 14th January, 1840, it was changed to embrace, first, pending amendments, and then the main proposition.

The original intent of the previous question was, to ascertain the sense of the House, in the early stages of a subject, as to the propriety of entertaining the matter; and if decided affirmatively, the debate went on; if decided negatively, the debate ceased, and the subject passed from before the House without motion or further question. This was the practice in Congress under the confederation; and it is still the practice in the British Parliament. Now, by the practice of the House, as well as by the terms of the rul it is reversed: if the motion for the previous question is decided in the affirmative, debate ceases, and the House proceeds to vote; if in the negative, the proceedings go on as if the motion for the previous question had not been made. Until the revision of the rules in March, 1860, whenever the previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered, pending a motion to postpone, the motion to postpone was cut off.

pending, shall be to bring the House to a vote upon such motion. Whenever the House shall refuse to order the main question, the consideration of the subject shall be resumed as though no motion for the previous question had been made. The House may also, at any time, on motion seconded by a majority of the members present, close all debate upon a pending amendment, or an amendment thereto, and cause the question to be put thereon; and this shall not preclude any further amendment or debate upon the bill. A call of the House* shall not be in order after the previous question is seconded, unless it shall appear, upon an actual count by the Speaker, that no quorum is present.— March 16, 1860.

133. On a previous question there shall be no debate.-December 17, 1805. All incidental questions of order, arising after a motion is made for the previous question, and pending such motion, shall be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate.-September 15, 1837.

Of Admission on the Floor.

134. No person except members of the Senate, their secretary, heads of departments, the President's private secretary, foreign ministers, the governor for the time being of any State, senators and representatives elect, judges of the Supreme Court of the United States and of the Court of Claims, and such persons as have by name received the thanks of Congress-March 15, 1867-shall be admitted within the hall of the House of Representatives-March 19, 1860 + or any of the rooms upon the same floor or leading into the same—March 2, * For the mode of proceeding in the case of a call of the House, see rules 36 and 37. †The first rule for the admission within the hall of other than members was adopted on the 7th of January, 1802, and was confined to "Senators, officers of the general and State governments, foreign ministers, and such persons as members might introduce." On the 11th of January, 1802, an attempt was made to amend so as to exclude persons "introduced by members," which failed. On the 8th of November, 1804, a proposition was made to confine the privilege to Senators, which also failed. On the 17th of December, 1805, officers of State governments were excluded. On the 1st of February, 1808, a proposition was made to admit ex-members of Congress and the judges of the Supreme Court. After a good deal of debate it was rejected. On the 11th of February, 1809, the rule was enlarged so as to admit judicial officers of the United States, as also ex-members of Congress. On the 25th of February, 1814, those who had been heads of departments were admitted. On the 10th of February, 1815, officers who had received the thanks of Congress were included. On the 12th of January, 1816, the navy commissioners. On the 21st of February, 1816, governors of States and Territories. March 13, 1822, the President's secretary. On the 26th of January, 1833, the rule was further enlarged by admitting "such persons as the Speaker or a member might introduce;" and on the 10th of December, 1833, the House, by a vote almost unanimous, rescinded that amendment. On the 23d of December, 1857, soon after removing into the new hall in the south wing of the Capitol Extension, the privilege of admission was restricted to "members of the Senate, their secretary, heads of departments, President's private secretary, the governor for the time being of any State, and judges of the Supreme Court of the United States." On the 19th of March, 1860, it was adopted in its present form, excepting the last clause, a proposition to admit ex-members having been rejected. The last clause, adopted March 2, 1865, was intended to

1865; provided that ex-members of Congress who are not interested in any claim pending before Congress, and shall so register themselves, may also be admitted within the hall of the House; and no persons except those herein specified shall at any time be admitted to the floor of the House.—March 15, 1867.

Of Reporters.

35. Stenographers and reporters, other than the official reporters of the House, wishing to take down the debates, may be admitted by the Speaker to the reporters' gallery over the Speaker's chair, but not on the floor of the House; but no person shall be allowed the privilege of said gallery under the character of stenographer or reporter without a written permission of the Speaker, specifying the part of said gallery assigned to him; nor shall said stenographer or reporter be admitted to said gallery unless he shall state in writing for what paper or papers he is employed to report; nor shall he be so admitted, or, if admitted, be suffered to retain his seat, if he shall be or become an agent to prosecute any claim pending before Congress; and the Speaker shall give his written permission with this condition.-December 23, 1857.

Unfinished Business of the Session.

136. After six days from the commencement of a second or subsequent session of any Congress, all bills, resolutions,* and reports which originated in the House, and at the close of the next preceding session remained undetermined, shall be resumed and acted on in the same manner as if an adjournment had not taken place.-March 17, 1848. And all business before committees of the House at the end of one session shall be resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress, as if no adjournment had taken place.-March 16, 1860.†

Miscellaneous.

137. Whenever confidential communications are received from the President of the United States, the House shall be cleared of all persons, except the members, Clerk, Sergeant-at-arms, and Doorkeeper,‡ and so continue during prevent persons not entitled to the privilege of the hall from occupying the cloak and other adjoining rooms.

* The word "resolutions," as here used, has been construed to apply to joint resolutions only. Prior to this date it had been the practice for several years, near the close of the first session of a Congress, for the House to adopt a resolution making a similar provision. This amendment was adopted to save the necessity for the passage of a similar resolution at every Congress.

In the rule as originally established, on the 17th of February, 1792, it is provided that the House be cleared of all persons, except "the members and the Clerk." In the rules of the 13th of November, 1794, the language used is "the members of the House and its officers." ID the edition of the 7th of January, 1802, the terms "members and Clerk are again used, and on the 23d of December, 1811, it was changed to its present form, so as to include the Sergeantat-arms, and Doorkeeper. By rule 10 it is provided that the Clerk, Sergeant-at-arms, Doorkeeper, and Postmaster, shall be sworn "to keep the secrets of the House."