Committee meeting

“ At the public meeting the plan of association was adopted; the committee then became "the Committee of Association," and Fox was again elected chairman. Contact with popular feeling seems to have strengthened the tone of the committee, and enlisted its energies more definitely on behalf of Parliamentary reform; for a sub-committee was appointed, which reported to a meeting on the 27th of June. ”

“ Committee to draft Resolutions. If it is preferred to appoint a committee to draft resolutions, a member, after he has addressed the Chair and been recognized, says: “I move that a committee be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting on,” etc., adding the subject for which the meeting was called. This motion being seconded, the Chairman states the question [§ 65] and asks: “Are you ready for the question?” If no one rises he puts the question, and announces the result; and if it is carried, he asks: “Of how many shall the committee consist?” ”

“ It is the duty of the chairman to call the committee together, but, if he is absent, or neglects or declines to call a meeting of the committee, it is the duty of the committee to meet on the call of any two of its members. ”

“ Standing committees, as of privileges and elections, etc., are usually appointed at the first meeting, to continue through the session. The person first named is generally permitted to act as chairman. But this is a matter of courtesy; every committee having a right to elect their own chairman, who presides over them, puts questions, and reports their proceedings to the House. ”

“ Thus the public meeting is arranged and a committee formed to take charge of it. Each committee of this kind is composed of two elements, the energetic and the unscrupulous schemers who are working for some personal advantage of a moral or material nature, and the consequential narrow-minded blockheads, solemnly in earnest, who are taken on board by the former for ballast. Others can become members of the committee if they choose, even if they are not invited to join. All that is necessary is to speak loudly and fervently in the meeting and thus attract the attention of the crowd. ”

“ When a standing committee considers it necessary to meet with another standing committee to consider a matter, a meeting shall be held, comprising representatives of the committees, in the manner agreed upon by the committees. ”

“ The chair will be glad to entertain a motion that the committee report tomorrow on it.
Mr. Potter: I make a motion that the matter be referred to the committee on nomenclature and that they be ordered to report tomorrow.
The President: Do I hear a second?
A Member: I second the motion.
C. A. Reed: I am the chairman of that committee and I could not report tomorrow so I will ask that if it is to be taken up by committee that a special committee be appointed.
The President: It is Mr. W. C. Reed who is the chairman of that committee, to which committee was added C. A. Reed and R. L. McCoy. ”

“ In this way each member of said committee becomes chairman in turn, serves at three committee meetings, and those who have never done such work have the advantage of seeing how others do before their turn comes. ”

“ The old chairman will retain his seat until the new one is elected. When it is intended to have performances of different kinds, as essays, orations, debates, etc., it is well to appoint a committee to draw up a regular order in which these will be called for. The society being now organized, may proceed to business, or fix the time for next meeting and adjourn.
WARD, DISTRICT, OR TOWNSHIP MEETINGS. When one or more persons desire to call a meeting for any purpose, there is often great confusion and uncertainty as to the mode of procedure. ”

“ Committee shall be elected annually. Their election shall take place at the Annual General Meeting, and be by ballot. Only Members of the Association shall be eligible to hold office. Nominations shall be sent in to the Secretary, seven days prior to the Meeting, of gentlemen whom it may be deemed desirable to elect; and Members of the retiring Committee shall be eligible for re-election without nomination.
A Member shall not give more than one vote for any one candidate, and must vote for the full number of vacancies. ”

“ The standing committees of the board shall be a finance committee, a book committee, and a committee on building and grounds, each to consist of three members, to be named by the president at the regular meeting in February of each year.
Sec. 2. The finance committee shall certify to the correctness of all bills and pay-rolls before their presentation to the board; require a voucher for all expenses; see that the accounts are properly kept; aid the president in making up his annual estimates; verify the fiscal reports of the secretary and librarian ”

“ The whole purpose of the meeting was, that a Reform League be formed and fully organised to carry out the clearance of all our grievances, on the old style of the Corn Law League in Great Britain.
Next Sunday, we leaguers— ( I took out a ticket of membership from Reynolds, one of the treasurers, and paid my 2s. 6d. on that very day, November 29th, precisely, on the platform of the meeting) —have a meeting at two o'clock at the Adelphi to organise the people and appoint a responsible executive committee. I am the old delegate to it, and therefore I shall be able to give you, Mr. ”

“ From this moment she exists chiefly as a Member or President of innumerable Committees. No sooner does the shadow of a political idea flit through her brain, than she forms a Committee to promote its development. ”

“ No select committee can proceed to business in the absence of any of its members, unless a quorum has been fixed, and if I had desired, as had been shamefully alleged, to thwart the Government I had only to hold my tongue, and all the committees appointed would be paralysed until a complete attendance was obtained, but I crossed the floor, and mentioned the difficulty and its remedy to the leader of the House, and to no other person whatever. ”

“ Usually the formality of a vote on the reception of a report of a committee is dispensed with, the time being settled by general consent. Should any one object, a formal motion becomes necessary. When the time arrives for the assembly to receive the report, the chairman of the committee reads it in his place, and then delivers it to the clerk, when it lies on the table till the assembly sees fit to consider it. ”

“ These resolutions, after being reported and confirmed by the House, are then referred to one or more select committees, where they are reduced into the form of bills or joint resolutions. It is found that the sense of the House is better learned in committee, because in all committees everyone speaks as often as he pleases. ”

“ When the committee is one for deliberation, or investigation, it should be larger and represent all parties, so that the fullest debate may be had in committee, and its opinion and recommendations, as contained in its report, carry as great weight as possible, because if any important faction is not represented the usefulness of the committee may be greatly impaired, and the chance of unpleasant debate in the assembly increased. In either case it is well to have a committee consist of an uneven number, in order to avoid a tie vote. ”

“ The Executive Committee thinks it's going to do all the work, but it's got to report to the General Committee, and it it'll be a great piece of luck if the General Committee doesn't insist on asserting itself by upsetting all the decisions of the Executive Committee. ”

“ A special committee to investigate and report upon a subject should consist of representative members on both sides of the question, so that both parties in the assembly may have confidence in the report, or reports in case there is disagreement and a minority report is submitted. By care in selecting committees in ordinary assemblies, debates upon delicate and troublesome questions can be mostly confined to the committees. ”

“ Only the Committees are enlightened. There is a conclusive objection to the publication of the proceedings of the Committees, which is recognized as of course by all parliamentary lawyers, namely, that those proceedings are of no force till confirmed by the House. A Committee is commissioned, not to instruct the public, but to instruct and guide the House. ”

“ The work of Congress is largely done through committees. The House of Representatives, as constituted to-day, is an unwieldy body. It is obvious that four hundred and thirty-five men is too large a number to work effectively as a whole. Every bill, even a recommendation from the President, is referred to an appropriate committee. It is only because of these many committees that it is possible to transact the very large amount of business that comes before Congress every year. ”

“ It must, therefore, invariably happen that the Committee holding the floor at any particular time is the Committee whose proposals the majority wish to dispose of as summarily as circumstances will allow, in order that the rest of the forty-two unprivileged Committees to which the majority belong may gain the earlier and the fairer chance of a hearing. ”

“ The procedure followed in referring bills to committees and in considering them when they are reported back is determined by a complexity of rules that are confusing to the outsider and that cannot be explained in detail here. But their declared purpose is to save time and to enable the legislative business to move smoothly. The small committees can work to better advantage than the large body of men in either chamber. The work is divided up so that the few members of each committee can concentrate their attention upon a few subjects and gain experience in handling special kinds of problems. ”

“ Committee is the Providence that shapes the ends of Bills, rough hew them how we may in the draughtsman's hands or on the second reading. For all practical purposes second-reading debate might be concluded at to-night's sitting. It extended over seven clear hours. Given twenty minutes per speech, the maximum length for useful purposes, twenty-one members, more than the House cares to hear, might have spoken. The time saved, if necessary, added on to opportunity in Committee.
That, however, not the way we do business here. Disestablishment Bill a measure of first importance ”

“ The work is parceled out, most of it to the forty-seven Standing Committees which constitute the regular organization of the House, some of it to select committees appointed for special and temporary purposes. Each of the almost numberless bills that come pouring in on Mondays is “read a first and second time,”—simply perfunctorily read, that is, by its title, by the clerk, and passed by silent assent through its first formal courses, for the purpose of bringing it to the proper stage for commitment,—and referred without debate to the appropriate Standing Committee. ”

“ The central committee shall have power to appoint from its own members an executive committee of seven persons, five of whom shall be a quorum, who, when the central committee is not in session, shall have and exercise all the powers of the central committee. ”

“ Unless the assembly has appointed a chairman, either directly or through its presiding officer, the first named on a committee, and in his absence the next named member, becomes chairman, and so on and should act as such unless the committee by a majority of its number elects a chairman, which it has the right to do if the assembly has not appointed one, and which a standing committee usually does. ”

“ The methods of the committee do not impress an observer as having been the result of much consultation or careful preparation for their work. There is an apparent indifference on the part of some of its members to reaching results, or to remaining steadily in the pursuit of the purposes for which it was organized. ”