757, 765, 854, 1243; 1, 35, p. 865; Cong. Globe, 1, 39, p. 945. (See also decision of Speaker Carlisle.-Journal, 1, 50, p.)

Attempts have been made in several Congresses, in both houses, to compel members to vote who had refused to answer when their names were called, but without success. Although the rule (first adopted April 7, 1789) is imperative that "every member * shall vote on each question put unless he shall be excused," it has never been enforced when a member has refused to vote. A notable instance is that in the case of John Quincy Adams, who, on the 10th of July, 1832 (first session 22d Congress), asked to be excused from voting on a resolution submitted by Mr. Bates, of Maine, censuring Mr. Stanbery, of Ohio, who had charged the Speaker (Stevenson) with shaping his course in the chair with the view of obtaining office from President Jackson. The question was put to the House, which refused to excuse Mr. Adams, who thereupon refused to answer to his name.

Mr. Drayton, of South Carolina, then submitted two resolutions, the first asserting that Mr. Adams' refusal to vote, after the House had refused to excuse him from voting, was a breach of one of the rules of the House; and the second proposing the appointment of a select committee for the purpose of inquiring into and reporting to the House the course which it ought to adopt in the case so novel and important, but, after a long debate, both resolutions were tabled.

A member of a conference committee, absent on the business of his committee, or a member of a committee authorized to sit during the sessions of the House, is, according to the recent practice, understood to be absent by leave of the House. But such absence does not authorize the Speaker to entertain the request of a member to have his vote recorded after the second call of the roll has been completed.

A member has the right to change his vote before the decision of the question has been finally and conclusively pronounced by the Chair.-Journal, 2, 20, pp. 357, 358. [But not afterward.]

And it is not competent for a member to have the Journal amended so as to have the record of his vote changed upon a representation that such vote, though recorded as given, was given under a misapprehension.-Journals, 2, 8, p. 167; 2, 27, p. 263.

WAR CLAIMS, COMMITTEE ON.

When appointed, and number of members of.-RULE X.
Duties of.-RULE XI, clause 31.

This committee was created on the 2d of December, 1873 (1st sess. 43d Cong.), and given its present jurisdiction, formerly possessed by the Committee on Claims.

WARRANTS, WRITS, ETC.

The Speaker shall sign all acts, addresses, joint resolutions, 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 subpoenas issued by order of the House.RULE III, 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.

WASTE PAPER.

It shall be the duty of the Clerk and Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives and the Secretary and Sergeant-atArms of the Senate to cause to be sold all waste paper and useless documents and condemned furniture that have accumulated during the fiscal year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, or that may hereafter accumulate, in their respective departments or offices, under the direction of the Committee on Accounts of their respective houses, and cover the proceeds thereof into the Treasury; and they shall, at the beginning of each reg. ular session of Congress, report to their respective houses the amount of said sales.-Sess. Laws, 1, 47, p. 337.

WAYS AND MEANS, COMMITTEE ON.

When appointed, and number of members of.-RULE X.
Duties of.-RULE XI, clause 2.

The Committee on Ways and Means was first created as a select committee on the 24th of July, 1789, in the first session of the First Congress, and consisted of a member from each

State. To that committee was referred the report of a committee appointed to prepare an estimate of supplies requisite for the service of the United States the current year, with instructions to report thereon. The committee made no report, and on the 17th of September following was discharged "from further proceeding on the business to them referred, and that it be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States to consider and report thereon."

It was not until the 7th of January, 1802 (1st sess. 7th Cong.), that it became a standing committee, the fourth created by the House, Elections being appointed in 1789, Claims in 1794, and Commerce and Manufactures in 1795.

Until the Thirty-ninth Congress the general appropriation bills were reported by this committee, for nearly the first forty years of our history, in one act.

On the 2d of March, 1865, in the closing hours of the second session of the Thirty eighth Congress, Mr. Cox reported from the Committee on Rules a resolution for the establishment in the following Congress of three new committees, to be called, respectively, the Committee on Appropriations, Banking and Currency, and on Pacific Railroads.

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 questionJournal, 2, 29, p. 241; and all incidental questions fall with such withdrawal.-Journal, 1, 26, p. 57.

See, also, ruling of Speaker Reed.-Journal, 1, 51, pp. 550,

551.

It has been held and acquiesced in by the House that a motion (or proposition) can not be withdrawn after the previous question is ordered, that being held to be a "decision"

that the House desires to vote thereon. It has also been held that a motion to suspend the rules can not be modified or withdrawn after said motion has been seconded, as required by clause 2, RULE XXVIII.

The report of a committee, when made, is in the possession of the House (see clause 2, RULE XVI) and can only be with. drawn by unanimous consent.-Journal, 1, 49, p. 442.

An appeal can not be withdrawn after the yeas and nays have been ordered thereon.-Journal, 1, 51, p. 771.

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS.
(See RULE XXXIX.)
(See PAPERS.)

WITNESSES.

(See also SUBPOENAS.

Witnesses are summoned in pursuance of an order of the House, usually by virtue of its 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 ary committee of either house, is empowered to administer oaths to witnesses in any case under their examination.-R. S., sec. 101. Payment of.-BULE XXXVII.

By the act of May 3, 1876 (Sess. Laws, 1, 44, p. 44), it is provided that witnesses residing in the District of Columbia, and not in the service of the government of said District or of the United States, who shall be summoned to give testimony before any committee of the House of Representatives, shall not be allowed exceeding two dollars for each day's attendance before said committee.

The failure or refusal of a witness to appear, or refusal to testify, is a breach of the privileges of the House, and has been punished by commitment to the custody of the Sergeant-atArms, by expulsion from the floor as a reporter, and by commitment to the common jail of the District of Columbia.-Jour. nals, 1, 12, pp. 276, 277; 2, 33, pp. 315, 318; 2, 34, pp. 269, 277, 281, 384, 567; 1, 35, pp. 371, 387 to 389, 535 to 539; 3, 42, pp. 269, 272, 277, 319, 323, 362, 518. (See also case Richard B. Irwin, Journal, 2, 43, passim.)

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.

WRITING, MOTIONS MUST BE IN.

(See RULE XVI, clause 1.)

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 cases" (on the passage of a vetoed bill) "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. The yeas and nays may be called for while a vote on a division by teller is being taken-Cong. Globe 2, 28, p. 121—or while the Speaker is announcing the result of such vote-1 bid., 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, 22, p. 254.