Page:Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies (1876).djvu/103

§ 40] but the first adjournment puts an end to the appointment, which the assembly can terminate before, if it pleases, by electing another Chairman. But the regular Chairman, knowing that he will be absent from a future meeting, cannot authorize another member to act in his place at such meeting; the clerk [§ 41], or, in his absence, any member should, in such case, call the meeting to order, and a Chairman pro tem. be elected, who would hold office during that session [§ 42], unless such office was terminated by the entrance of the regular Chairman. If there are Vice-Presidents, the first on the list that is present takes the chair during the absence of the President.

The Chairman sometimes calls a member to the chair, and himself takes part in the debate; but this should rarely be done, and nothing can justify it in a case where much feeling is shown, and there is a liability to difficulty in preserving order. If the Chairman has even the appearance of being a partisan, he loses much of his ability to control those who are on the opposite side of the question.