g States, thus
obtaining a heavy majority in the electoral vote. At the same time,
the Republicans obtained nearly as large a majority in the House as the
Democrats had had before.

CHAPTER VIII. THE REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITY

The Republican party had the inestimable advantage in the year 1889 of
being able to act. It controlled the Senate which had become the seat
of legislative authority; it controlled the House; and it had placed its
candidate in the presidential chair. All branches of the Government
were now in party accord. The leaders in both Houses were able
men, experienced in the diplomacy which, far more than argument or
conviction, produces congressional action. Benjamin Harrison himself
had been a member of the ruling group of Senators, and as he was fully
imbued with their ideas as to the proper place of the President he was
careful to avoid interference with legislative procedure. Such was the
party harmony that an extensive program of legislation was put through
without serious difficulty, after obstruction had been overcome in the
House by an amendment of the rules.

In the House of Representatives, the quorum is a majority of the whole
membership. This rule enabled the minority to stop business at any
time when the majority party was not present in sufficient strength to
maintain the quorum by its own vote. On several occasions, the Democrats
left the House nominally without a quorum by the subterfuge of refusing
to answer to their names on the roll call. Speaker Reed determined to
end this practice by counting as present any members actually in the
chamber. To the wrath of the minority, he assumed this authority while
a revision of the rules was pending. The absurdity of the Democratic
position was naively exposed when a member arose with a law book in his
hand and said, "I deny your right, Mr. Speaker, to count me as present,
and I desire to read from the parliamentary law on the subject." Speaker
Reed, with the nasal drawl that was his habit, replied, "The Chair is
making a statement of fact that the gentleman from Kentucky is present?
Does he deny it?" The rejoinder was so apposite that the House broke
into a roar of laughter, and the Speaker carried his point.

Undoubtedly, Speaker Reed was violating all precedents. Facilities of
obstruction had been cherished by both parties, and nothing short of
Reed's earnestness and determination could have effected this salutary
reform. The fact has since