Show CZAR BEE IS L THE SPEAKER Usual Scenes Attendant Upon the Opening of Congress MEMBERS ARE SWORN IN Both Houses Thronged With Sightseers treat Day for the Florists of the Capital Royal Reception Is Given to Reed and He Gracefully Responds Re-sponds ii a Abort Speech It Vas Very Agreeable for Him to Stand in the Place He Had Vacated Four Years Ago WASHINGTON Dec Nothing iiapncd in the senate today that had not been anticipated The body was called to order by Vice President Stevenson Stev-enson The new senators and those who had been reelected were sworn in A committee was appointed to notify the president and the usual resolutions incident to the beginning of a session were introduced The senate took a recess of an hour at 1228 and at 130 n Ijourned after an absolutely uneventfUL unevent-fUL session The new senators and those reelected were sworn in groups In the first group were Messrs Bacon Ba-con Baker Berry and Butler Then fame Messrs Caffrey Carter Chandler Chand-ler and Chilton Following them were ISlkins Frye Cullom Grear and after af-ter them Harris Hoar Lindsay Mc 17 Me McMillan Burrows Martin M > rgan Nelson Pettigrew Sewell Shoup Thurston Tillman Walthall Warren and Wetmore The last group attracted special at tr > ntion being led by exGovernor Till man of South Carolina dispensary lame arm in arm with Mr George of Mississippi behind whom came Mr Walthall of Mississippi on the arm of Mr Blackburn of Kentucky Mr Wolcotts name was called but he was not present The Proceedings Exactly at 12 oclock the vice presi fjjff ascended to the presiding officers crair and rapping once called the senate sen-ate to order In impressive tones the blind chaplain chap-lain of the senate invoked divine blessing bless-ing on the chamber referring eloquently elo-quently to the affliction in the family of exSenator Wilson of Iowa and to the absence of Isaac Bassettthe veteran vete-ran doorkeeper who is now danger ouply ill The first business transacted was the swearing in of new senators and of those re electEd They proceeded to the clerks desk in groups of three and four accompanied by their state colleagues col-leagues and with uplifted hands took the oath as it was read by the vice president The usual formal resolutions were quickly adopted That of 11 Cockrell Dem of Missouri provided for senate sen-ate sessions beginning at 12 noon daily that of Mr Sherman Rep of Ohio notified the house that a quorum of the sfijvte was present and ready ito proceed pro-ceed to business that of 11 Vilas mom of Wisconsin provided for a committee of two senators and two representatives to wait upon the president presi-dent and notify him that congress awaited any communication the executive exe-cutive branch desired to present The presiding officer designated Messrs Vilas and Allison for the committee com-mittee to wait on the president At 1230 a recess of an hour was taken ta-ken At 130 when the senate reconvened Mr Pruden of the White house staff was in the chamber with word that the presidents message would not be submitted sub-mitted today and at 130 oclock on motion of CVr Sherman the senate adjourned ad-journed until tomorrow THE HOUSE It Was Thronged With Sightseers d and Place Hunters WASHINGTON Dec 2The House of Representatives passed today into the control of the Republicans and Thomas Brackott Reed of Maine nn triumphantly assumed tne speak Hi gavel ihe opening session was as is usual an animated and brilliant occasion set off with crowded galleries in holiday holi-day attire intoxicated with the perfume per-fume of hundreds of floral tributes to popular members and pervaded with a spirit of jubilation and good nature Old familiar faces were absent but there were plenty of new ones to take their places Still the proceedings themselves as usual with opening sessions ses-sions were of a routine character and devoid of sensational features The House simply organized adopted the usual resolutions to notify the president presi-dent and the Senate that the House a ready fo business and wound up by indulging in the biennial lottery of the seat drawing contest Speaker Reed was beyond question the star of theo the-o sion His appearance was the signal for a most flattering and enthusiastic enthu-siastic demonstration His inaugural was modest and full of good feeling but noncommittal a to policies How eer it was not expected that the speaker would ttouch upon questions to be dealt with by the House ExSpeaker Crisp assumed the > leadership ership of the minority and it was significant sig-nificant that Mr Payne of New York mage the motion which usually de raves upon the leader of the majority Tnis is taken to mean that he is t be chairman of the Ways and Means committee and the recognized leader of the Republicans on the floor The Proceedings By 10 oclock the marole corridors of the hal of representatives were thronged wIt sight seers and place hunters and before 1 oclock the galleries gal-leries public and private were packed to the doors From the galleries the visitors looked down upon an animated but confused scene New members old members exmembers and place seekers seek-ers chatted in groups and filled the hall with a roar of voices On the speakers desk were great bunches of American Beauty roses tied with streamers of red vhite and blue and other floral pieces Flowers were con Slricuous on the desks of various memBers mem-Bers iia the hands of the clock opposite rA 4a I the speakers desk pointed 12 Clerk Kerr called the Fiftyfourth House of I Representatives to order Rev Bagby of this city chaplain of the House offered the invocation offer Under the direction of Mr Kerr the roll of mebers elected to tire Fifty fourth House was called Mr Reed for whom every one was inquiring had not made his appearance appear-ance Mr Kerr announced that 341 of the 356 members of the House were present and that credentials had not been received re-ceived from the Tenth New York and the First Nevada districts Mr Kerr then called for nominations for speaker No nominating speeches were made Mr Grosvenor Rep of Ohio chairman chair-man of the Republican caucus placed in nomination Thomas B Reed of Maine Mr Sayres Dem of Texas the name of Charles S Crisp of Georgia and Mr Kern Pop of Nebraska Ne-braska John C Bell of Colorado The result of the vote was Reed 234 Crisp 95 Bell 6 Culberson 1 Messrs Crisp Grosvenor and Bell were appointed a committee t conduct the speaker to the hair and soon appeared ap-peared at the main entrance Mr Reed leaning on the arm of exSpeaker Crisp and Messrs Grosvenor and Bell arm in arm ar cells Reception As Mr Reed ascended the rostrum the roar swelled until it was deafening Above this volume of sound came like pistol shots cries of Reed Reed Reed The Republicans cheered many of them wildly and the ladies in the gallery waved handkerchiefs For over a minute the demonstration continued Mr Reed arrayed in a long frock cat and wearing a dark fourinhand tie stood calmly and serenely with his haoids clasped in characteristic fashion behind his back until the House was I quiet S Mr Harmer Republican of Pennsylvania I Penn-sylvania the oldest member in continuous contin-uous service present came forward and I administered the ouith of office to the speaker The latter then turned to the house Looking into the sea of upturned faces he delivered his inaugural in-augural Slowly and distinctly the words fell from his lips At many places his brief speech was punctuated with applause His Speech l will not be unbecoming in me I hope if I acknowledge t this assembly that it is very agreeable to me to stand I once more in the Pace I left four years ago Of the past however I shall not I speak for the past speak for itself in terms more fitting and appropriate than any words which could come from I my lips Nor shall I speak of the future fu-ture for we are not putting off the harness but putting it on Yet I think I may venture to say of the future in the light of the past that if we do something which for the moment seems inadequate it may be that time which has justified itself for ha just1ed us on so many occasions may do so again I Those who have acted with wisdom heretofore may be fairly expected to act with wisdom hereafter I SI am sorry to say the pleasure associated as-sociated with the honor you have bestowed be-stowed upon me am honor nO American Ameri-can citizen can fail to appreciate and for which I give thanks is but for a moment mo-ment or so while the cares and responsibilities respon-sibilities extend over many days So far a the performance of my duties affects the whole people o the United States I invoke their considerate judgment judg-ment So far a it affects the members of this House I ask from bothsides of the chamber that cordial cordil cooperation I coopera-tion without which I cannot hope to succeed assuring them that no effort on my part will be spared to aid them in the performance of their duties by that entire impartiality which is their just due At the conclusion of his speech the members came forward in squads a their names were called and with up liftsd arms swore to support and defend de-fend the constitution against all enemies ene-mies foreign and domestic and faithfully faith-fully discharge the duties of their office of-fice This proceeding occupied over half an hour Unanimous consent was given that Mr Newlands of Nevada and Amos Cummings of Tew York whose credentials cre-dentials had not arrived be sworn in Accordingly Speaker Reed administered administer-ed the oath to those gentlemen Without roll call the officers of the House nominated by the Republicans in caucus Saturday were then formally elected the Democrats presenting the names of the officers of the last House Subordinate Officers The swearing in of the subordinate officers of the House followed Alexander Alex-ander B McDowell of Pennsylvania as clerk B F Russell of Missouri as sergeantatarms William B Glenn of New York as doorkeeper Joseph B McElroy of Ohio as postmaster and Henry B Cowden of Michigan as chaplain The customary resolutions were then adopted notifying the president and the Senate of the election of Mr Reed and Mr McDowell as speaker and clerk respectively and on motion of Mr Payne Rep of New York a committee com-mittee consisting of Messrs Payne Cannon Rep of Illinois and Crisp Dem of Georgia was appointed by the speaker to join a similar committee commit-tee from the Senate to notify the president pres-ident that the House had organized and was ready to receive any communication commu-nication he had to make At this point the first political clash occurred Mr Cannon and Crisp crossed swords on the formers motion that the rules of the Fiftyfirst Congress be adopted for the guidance of the Hyase Mr Cannon and Mr Dingley explained explain-ed that the House was without rules and that the adoption of the proffered motion would furnish only temporary rules for the guidance of the House I until the committee on rules reported Mr Crisp withdrew his opposition I and the motion was carried Biennial Lottery I The biennial lottery or seat drawing draw-ing was then begun An arrangement was entered into by which the Republicans Repub-licans should have the first tier of seats on the Democratic side and also the two last tiers 366 names were placed in a box and shaken up A blindfolded page drew out the ballots and the members selected their seats as their names were drawn According Accord-ing to the usual custom the House granted the exspeakers Mr Crisp of Georgia and Mr Grow of Pennsylvania Pennsylva-nia the privilege of selecting their seals without drawing Mr Crisp selected a seat in the heart of the Democratic minority and Mr Grow took a seat near the center of the Republican side The name of Mr McClure Rep of Ohio was the first drawn from the box Mr Owens Dem of Kentucky the successor of Mr Breckinridge was the second and Mr Perkins Rep of Iowa the third The popular members were applauded ap-plauded as they came forward and selected se-lected their places and the page boys scooted from desk to desk conveying floral pieces sent by admiring friends Before the drawing was half I hal completed com-pleted the array of desks was transformed trans-formed into a bower of roses Some of the oldest and most prominent promi-nent members of both sides were very unlucky in the juttery Mr Hit of Illinois who will be Continued on Page 2 a |