members on the floor have a right, ordinarily, to present business to the assembly. The presiding officer, it is true, may lay before the assembly certain kinds of business, but this is always by virtue of some special rule. The presiding officer is under no obligation to present any communication sent to him by persons outside the body over which he presides. The only way in which a person, not a member, can reach the assembly is through a member.

If the proceedings of a deliberative assembly were confined to the making of propositions by the individual members and their acceptance or rejection by the votes of the assembly, parliamentary law would be indeed simple. But this is not the case. Members are not limited to giving an affirmative or negative to such questions as may be proposed. They may be unwilling to act upon them at all, they may desire to postpone their consideration to a future time, they may be willing to adopt them with certain modifications, or they may prefer to have them first considered in committee. These are but a few of the many preliminary or collateral steps which may be taken, and motions adapted to each have been invented, thus establishing numerous and intricate rules which effectually deprive parliamentary law of the right to be called simple.

16. The "floor"-How obtained. Whenever a member desires to introduce business he rises in his place and addresses the presiding officer by whatever his title in that particular assembly may be. The chair thereupon recognizes the member and says: "Mr. A has the floor," or simply "Mr. A.”

In legislative assemblies the presiding officer recognizes the member by the name of the community he represents and never by his own name. For instance, in Congress the speaker would say: "The gentleman from (naming his state)." In a state legislature he would say: "The gentleman from (naming the locality he represents)." If the name or constituency of the person asking for recognition is not remembered, the chairman may, and often does, say: "The gentleman on the right" or "left" or "in front of the chair," pointing at him with the gavel.

After the member thus rising has been recognized by the chair he "has the floor," by which something very different from merely standing thereon is intended. If two or more members rise and address the presiding officer at the same time he, theoretically, should always give the floor to the person whose voice he first heard, not the person whom he first saw. In practice he is generally able to train his ears to wait upon his will and so hears first the one whom he prefers to recognize; but the house has the ultimate decision in the matter and may overrule the chairman's recognition. When the house is appealed to the question should be taken first upon the name of the person recognized by the chair.

17. Making the motion. When a member has been recognized and so obtained the "floor," he states his proposition which, if in the nature of a resolution or motion, he must reduce to writing if so requested by the chair or any member. This applies only to the main question and to such motions as

are variable. The formal motions, which are always in substantially the same language, need never be written. Until the member "has the floor" the proposal of business by him is not in order, but the member may state his purpose in rising; if he demands the floor to introduce a privileged motion or any matter which has prior right, as, for instance, a point of order, he should be recognized at once. 18. Petitions.-Petitions stand in a class by themselves, and will here be considered parenthetically. A petition is a communication from persons not members of the body who, therefore, could not address the house directly. The member who presents it rises in his place and, when recognized, informs the assembly that he has a petition, stating briefly its object, which he desires to present. The usual form is: "Mr. Chairman (or Speaker), I beg leave to present the petition of relative

to "The presiding officer usually assumes that there is no objection to its reception and casts the burden of objecting, if any one desires to do so, upon the assembly. The petition, unless objection is successfully made, is brought to the table and there read by the clerk. It is then dealt with as its purpose requires and the assembly wishes.

19. Ordinary business, how introduced-Seconding. Whenever a member has a proposition of his own to make (as distinguished from a petition) he puts it into the form which he desires to have it bear, rises in his place, addresses the chair, obtains recognition, and moves that it be adopted as the resolution, order, or vote of the assembly.

After the motion has been thus made it must, theoretically, have the support of another member who rises in his place and says: "I second the motion." This requirement of a second is based on the idea that if a motion has no other friend than the mover it is useless for the assembly to spend any time upon it. If a motion be not seconded common parliamentary law does not, in strictness, require the presiding officer to take any notice of it, except in those few cases in which one member alone has the right to institute or direct a particular proceeding. On the other hand, special rules sometimes require certain motions to be seconded by more than one member. In actual practice the requirement of a second is less and less insisted upon. No motion is seconded in the National House of Representatives except (if demanded) a motion to suspend the rules, and in few states does one ever hear a second in these days. If the presiding officer entertains a motion that ought to be second enough, unless some member insists to the contrary.

20. Business-When in possession of the house. -When the motion has been stated to the assembly by the presiding officer or read at his direction by the clerk, it is said to be "in the possession of the house." Until that time no member has a right to make any motion in relation to it, or debate it, or to ask the floor for either purpose. On the other hand, until then the mover may modify or withdraw it, but not after that, except upon leave given by the assembly. This principle, however, is frequently and wisely abrogated by a special rule permitting the

mover to modify or withdraw his motion "at any time before decision or amendment."

21. Questions-How put.-The business thus in possession of the house is called "the main question." The presiding officer says: "Mr. A," or "the gentleman from B," or "the Senator from the -, moves so and so," or "offers the following resolution. Please to hear it read." After the motion has been stated or the resolution read he says: "The question is upon the adoption of the motion,' or "resolution," and adds: "Are you ready for the question?" Then, and not until then, is debate in order. A motion to "reject" a measure is improper. The question is always upon its passage and it is then rejected, if so desired, by voting no. If no member has anything to say or propose, the chairman puts the measure to vote as follows: "Those who favor the question will say Aye-those opposed No." After the vote he says: "The ayes (or noes, as the case may be) appear to have it. Is it doubted?" If no one, rising in his place, doubts the determination, he adds: "The ayes (or noes) have it. The motion is adopted (or lost)."

If there is no reasonable doubt of the accuracy of the determination the chairman, in the absence of a special rule, is under no obligation to try it again, but in such case he should not ask, "Is it doubted?" It is the duty of all who care to vote at all to vote the first time and, if they fail to do so, they must abide the result. If, however, there is room for a reasonable doubt the vote should be tried again by sound of voices, and if the result is