Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/254

 MARK TWAIN

by these allies, and as loudly disapplauded if I may invent a word by such of the Opposition as could hear his voice. When he took his seat the President promptly put the motion persons desiring to vote in the affirmative, stand up ! The House was already standing up; had been standing for an hour; and be fore a third of it had found out what the President had been saying, he had proclaimed the adoption of the motion! And only a few heard that. In fact, when that House is legislating you can t tell it from artillery practice.

You will realize what a happy idea it was to side track the lawful ayes and noes and substitute a stand-up vote by this fact: that a little later, when a deputation of deptuties waited upon the President and asked him if he was actually willing to claim that that measure had been passed, he answered, &quot;Yes and unanimously.&quot; It shows that in effect the whole house was on its feet when that trick was sprung.

The &quot;Lex Falkenhayn,&quot; thus strangely born, gave the President power to suspend for three days any deputy who should continue to be disorderly after being called to order twice, and it also placed at his disposal such force as might be necessary to make the suspension effective. So the House had a sergeant-at-arms at last, and a more formidable one, as to power, than any other legislature in Christen dom had ever possessed. The Lex Falkenhayn also gave the House itself authority to suspend members for thirty days.

On these terms the Ausgleich could be put through

�� �