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or for a call of the House, since the exercise of the power of the House might be absolutely defeated by repetitions of the motion to excuse.-Cong. Globe, 1, 31, p. 376; Journals, 1, 31, p. 1538; 1, 33, pp. 757, 765, 854, 1243; 1, 35, p. 866; Cong. Globe, 1,39, p. 945. Also Speaker Carlisle, Congressional Record, 1, 50, pp. 2710--2711, pending consideration of the "direct-tax" bill.

WAR CLAIMS, COMMITTEE ON.

(See Committees.)

WARRANTS, WRITS, ETC.

He (the Speaker) shall sign all acts, addresses, joint resolu tions, writs, warrants, and subpoenas of, or issued by order of, the House.-Rule I, clause 4.

The Clerk shall attest and fix the seal of the House to all writs, warrants, and subpœnas issued by order of the House.Rule 111, clause 3.

The Sergeant-at-Arms shall execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof directed to him by the Speaker.-Rule IV, clause 1.

The form of the motion for a warrant for absent members is as follows:

"That the Sergeant-at-Arms take into custody and bring to the bar of the House such of its members as are absent without leave."

This being a command of the House, an order and not a resolution is the appropriate proceeding.

WAYS AND MEANS, COMMITTEE ON.

(See Committees.)

This committee has leave to report at any time bills raising

revenue.

The right to report at any time bills raising revenue pertains only to the Committee on Ways and Means.-Journal, 1, 49, p

2293.

WEST POINT.

(See Military Academy.)

WITHDRAWAL OF MOTIONS.

A motion may be withdrawn at any time before a decision or amendment (Rule XVI, clause 2), but not after the previous question is ordered. It may, however, be withdrawn while the House is dividing on a demand for the previous question (Journal, 2, 29, p. 241); and all incidental questions fall with such withdrawal.—Journal, 1, 26, p. 57.

Motions withdrawn the day on which they are made are not required to be entered on the Journal. (See Rule XVI, clause 1.) The motion to reconsider can not be withdrawn after the House has voted down a motion to lay the same on the table, such action being held to be a decision on the motion.-Journal, 2, 46, p. 814.

A motion in behalf of a committee to suspend the rules and pass a bill having been submitted but not seconded, and being undisposed of when the House adjourned, the same committee was permitted, when suspension of the rules was next in order, to withdraw the previous motion and in its stead to move to suspend the rules and pass another measure.-Congressional Record, 2, 51, p. 487.

It is not in order, except by unanimous consent, to withdraw an amendment proposed to a bill and pending when the previous question is ordered or becomes operative by virtue of a previous order of the House.-Congressional Record, 1, 51, p. 4061.

An appeal can not be withdrawn after the yeas and nays have been ordered on a motion to lay such appeal on the table.-Congressional Record, 1, 51, p. 6353.

(See Motions.)

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS.

No memorial or other paper presented to the House shall be withdrawn from its files without its leave, and if withdrawn therefrom, certified copies thereof shall be left in the office of the Clerk; but when an act may pass for the settlement of a claim, the Clerk is authorized to transmit to the officer charged with the settlement thereof the papers on file in his office relating to such claim, or may loan temporarily to any officer or

bureau of the Executive Departments any papers on file in his office relating to any matter pending before such officer or bureau, taking proper receipt therefor.-Rule XXXIX.

WITNESSES.

Witnesses are summoned in pursuance and by virtue of the authority conferred upon a committee "to send for persons and papers."-Journal 1, 35, pp. 88, 175.

The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, a chairman of the Committee of the Whole, or of any committee of either House, is empowered to administer oaths to witnesses in any case under their examination.— R. S., sec. 101.

Any Member of either House of Congress may administer oaths to witnesses in any matter depending in either House of Congress of which he is a Member, or any committee thereofStats. at L., Vol. 26, p. 60.

The rule for paying witnesses subpoenaed to appear before the House, or either of its committees, shall be as follows: For each day a witness shall attend, the sum of $2; for each mile he shall travel in coming to or going from the place of examination, the sum of 5 cents each way; but nothing shall be paid for traveling when the witness has been summoned at the place of trial.-Rule XXXVII.

By the act of May 3, 1876 (Sess. Laws, 1, 44, p. 44), witnesses residing in the District of Columbia summoned to give testimony before any committee of the House of Representatives shall not be allowed exceeding $2 for each day's attendance before said committee. (See Warrants, writs, etc.)

Any person, summoned as a witness by authority of the House to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter before the House, or any committee thereof, who shall willfully make default, or who, appearing, shall refuse to answer any question pertinent to the matter of inquiry, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars nor less than one hundred dollars, and imprisoned in a common jail not less than one month nor more than twelve months.-R. S., sec. 102.

No witness is privileged to refuse to testify to any fact or to

produce any paper respecting which he shall be examined by the House, or by any committee of the House, upon the ground that his testimony to such fact or his production of such paper may tend to disgrace him or otherwise render him infamous.— R. S., sec. 103.

Whenever a witness, summoned as mentioned in section 102, fails to testify, and the facts are reported to the House, the Speaker shall certify the fact under the seal of the House to the district attorney for the District of Columbia, whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for their action.-R. S., sec. 104.

In one case where a witness refused to answer a question propounded to him by a select committee, it was ordered and adjudged by the House that he be committed to the common jail of the District of Columbia, to be kept in close custody until he should signify his willingness to purge himself of the contempt.-Journal, 1, 35, pp. 387 to 389. And after having been so imprisoned for more than three months, he was, by the further order of the House, on the 22d of March, released from jail and delivered over to the marshal of the said District to answer a presentment against him in the United States criminal court therein.-Ibid., pp. 535 to 539.

A witness having refused to answer a question during an examination by an investigating committee of the House was committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and, per sisting in the refusal, was confined in the District jail. The imprisonment was afterwards decided by the courts to have been illegal on the ground that neither House of Congress is vested by the Constitution with the power to punish for contempt a person not a member of such House, and a verdict was obtained for a large sum in damages in a suit by the witness against the Sergeant-at-Arms. (See proceedings in case of Hallett Kilbourne, first session Forty-fourth Congress; also case of Kilbourne vs. Thompson, United States Supreme Court Reports, Vol. 103, p. 168.)

YEAS AND NAYS.

"The yeas and nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the Journal" (Const., 1, 5, 3, 5). And "in all such

cases" (reconsideration of vetoed bills) "the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively" (Ibid., 1, 7, 2, 6).

"One-fifth of those present" is construed to mean one-fifth of the last vote; but if a count of the other side, i. e., those opposed to the yeas and nays one-fifth of those who vote on the question of ordering the yeas and nays, constitute the number required to order them. See Cong. Record, 1,49, Vol. 17, part 1, p. 176; Journals, 1, 45, p. 290; 2, 50, p. 204; 1, 51, p. 903.

A quorum is not required to vote on the question of ordering the yeas and nays, nor on the question of reconsidering the vote by which the yeas and nays have been ordered or refused.-Congressional Record, 1, 50, p. 7546.

Ordering the yeas and nays is a proceeding by which the method of taking a vote is determined, and is not the transaction of business.-Journal, 2, 50, p. 204.

After the yeas and nays are ordered and a Member has answered to his name the roll call must progress without debate.-Cong. Globe, 1, 31, p. 1686; Journal, 1, 47, pp. 597–641.

MAY BE DEMANDED, WHEN.

The yeas and nays may be called for while a vote on a division or by tellers is being taken (Cong. Globe, 2, 28, p. 121), or while the Speaker is announcing the result of such vote (Ibid., 1, 29, p. 420), or even after the announcement, and before passing to any other business (Ibid., 1, 31, p. 277); but not after the result is announced, if delayed until the Speaker shall be in the act of putting another question.-Journal, 1, 32, p. 254.

The yeas and nays may be demanded on questions arising during a call of the House in like manner as on other occasions.-Journal, 1, 46, p. 376.

Whenever on any question a quorum fails to vote, either by the Speaker's count or by tellers, a demand for the yeas and nays takes precedence over a motion for a call of the House.Journal, 3, 46, p. 596.

It is not in order to repeat a demand for the yeas and nays, which has been once refused (Cong. Globe, 1, 29, p. 304; 2, 30, p. 623; Journal, 1, 33, p. 939), until such refusal is reconsidered.

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