unfinished business shall be resumed whenever the class of business to which it belongs shall be in order under the rules.

4. After the unfinished business has been disposed of, the Speaker shall call each standing committee in regular order, and then select committees, and each committee when named may call up for consideration any bill reported by it on a previous day and on the House Calendar, and if the Speaker shall not complete the call of the committees before the House passes to other business, he shall resume the next call where he left off, giving preference to the last bill under consideration: Provided, That whenever any committee shall have occupied the morning hour on two days, it shall not be in order to call up any other bill until the other committees have been called in their turn.

5. After one hour shall have been devoted to the consideration of bills called up by committees, it shall be in order, pending consideration or discussion thereof, to entertain a motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, or, when authorized by a committee, to go into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to consider a particular bill, to which motion one amendment only, designating another bill, may be made; and if either motion be determined in the negative, it shall not be in order to make either motion again until the disposal of the matter under consideration or discussion.

6. On Friday of each week, after the unfinished business has been disposed of, it shall be in order to entertain a motion that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House to consider business on the Private Calendar; and if this motion fails, then public business shall be in order as on other days.

RULE XXV.

PRIORITY OF BUSINESS.

All questions relating to the priority of business shall be decided by a majority without debate.

RULE XXVI.

PRIVATE AND DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BUSINESS.

1. Friday in every week shall be set apart for the consideration of private business, unless otherwise determined by the House.

2. The House shall on each Friday at 5 o'clock p. m. take a recess until 8 o'clock, at which evening session private pension bills, bills for the removel of political disabilities, and bills removing charges of desertion only shall be considered; said evening session not to extend beyond 10 o'clock and 30 minutes.

3. The second and fourth Mondays in each month, after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, shall, when claimed by the Committee on the District of Columbia, be set apart for the consideration of such business as may be presented by said committe.

RULE XXVII.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF THE SESSION.

All business before committees of the House at the end of one session shall be resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress in the same manner as if no adjournment had taken place.

RULE XXVIII.

CHANGE OR SUSPENSION OF RULES.

1. No rule shall be suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of the members voting, a quorum being present; nor shall the Speaker entertain a motion to suspend the rules except on the first and third Mondays of each month, preference being given on the first Monday to individuals and on the third Monday to committees, and during the last six days of a session.

2. All motions to suspend the rules shall, before being submitted to the House, be seconded by a majority by tellers, if demanded.

3. When a motion to suspend the rules has been seconded, it shall be in order, before the final vote is taken thereon, to debate the proposition to be voted upon for forty minutes, one-half of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate in opposition to, such proposition, and the same right of debate shall be allowed whenever the previous question has been ordered on any proposition on which there has been no debate.

RULE XXIX.

CONFERENCE REPORTS.

The presentation of reports of committees of conference shall always be in order, except when the Journal is being read, while the roll is being called, or the House is dividing on any proposition. And there shall accompany every such report a detailed statement sufficiently explicit to inform the House what effect such amendments or propositions will have upon the measures to which they relate.

RULE XXX.

SECRET SESSION.

Whenever confidential communications are received from the

President of the United States, or whenever the Speaker or any member shall inform the House that he has communications which he believes ought to be kept secret for the present, the House shall be cleared of all persons except the members and officers thereof, and so continue during the reading of such communications, the debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise ordered by the House.

RULE XXXI.

READING OF PAPERS.

When the reading of a paper other than one upon which the House is called to give a final vote is demanded, and the same is objected to by any member, it shall be determined without debate by a vote of the House.

RULE XXXII.

DRAWING OF SEATS.

1. At the commencement of each Congress, immediately after the Members and Delegates are sworn in, the Clerk shall place in a box, prepared for that purpose, a number of small balls, of marble or other material, equal to the number of Members and Delegates, which balls shall be consecutively numbered and thoroughly intermingled, and at such hour as shall be fixed by the House for that purpose, by the hands of a page, draw said balls one by one from the box and announce the number as it is drawn, upon which announcement the Member or Delegate whose name on a numbered alphabetical list shall correspond with the number on the ball shall advance and choose his seat for the term for which he is elected.

2. Before said drawing shall commence each seat shall be vacated and so remain until selected under this rule, and any seat having been selected shall be deemed forfeited if left unoccupied before the call of the roll is finished, and whenever the seats of Members and Delegates shall have been drawn, no proposition for a second drawing shall be in order during that Congress.

RULE XXXIII.

HALL OF THE HOUSE.

The hall of the House shall be used only for the legislative business of the House and for the caucus meetings of its members, except upon occasions where the House by resolution agree to take part in any ceremonies to be observed therein; and the Speaker shall not entertain a motion for the suspension of this rule.

RULE XXXIV.

OF ADMISSION TO THE FLOOR.

The persons hereinafter named, and none other, shall be admitted to the hall of the House or rooms leading thereto, viz: The President and Vice-President of the United States and their private Secretaries, Judges of the Supreme Court, Members of Congress and Members-elect, contestants in election cases during the pendency of their cases in the House, the Secretary and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, head of Departments, Foreign Ministers, Governors of States, the Architect of the Capitol, the Librarian of Congress and his assistant in charge of the Law Library, such persons as have, by name, received the thanks of Congress, ex-members of the House of Representatives who are not interested in any claim or directly in any bill pending before Congress, and clerks of committees when business from their committee is under consideration; and it shall not be in order for the Speaker to entertain a request for the suspension of this rule or to present from the chair the request of any member for unanimous consent.

RULE XXXV.

OF ADMISSION TO THE GALLERIES.

The Speaker shall set aside a portion of the west gallery for the use of the President of the United States, the members of his Cabinet, Justices of the Supreme Court, Foreign Ministers and suits, and the members of their respective families, and shall also set aside another portion of the same gallery for the accommodation of persons to be admitted on the card of members. The southerly half of the east gallery shall be assigned exclusively for the use of the families of members of Congress, in which the Speaker shall control one bench, and on request of a member the Speaker shall issue a card of admission to his family, which shall include their visitors, and no other person shall be admitted to this section.

RULE XXXVI.

OFFICIAL AND OTHER REPORTS.

1. The appointment and removal, for cause, of the official reporters of the House, including stenographers of committees and the manner of the execution of their duties, shall be vested in the Speaker.

2. Stenographers and reporters, other than the official reporters of the House, wishing to take down the debates and proceedings, may be admitted by the Speaker to the reporters' gallery over the Speaker's chair, under such regulations as he may,

from time to time, prescribe; and he may assign one seat on the floor to Associated Press reporters, and one to The United Press reporters, and regulate the occupation of the same. And the Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may prescribe, one additional representative of each press association. RULE XXXVII.

PAY OF WITNESSES.

The rule for paying witnesses subpoenaed to appear before the House or either of its committees, shall be as follows: For each day a witness shall attend, the sum of two dollars; for each mile he shall travel in coming to or going from the place of examination, the sum of five cents each way; but nothing shall be paid for travelling when the witness has been summoned at the place of trial.

RULE XXXVIII.

PAPERS.

I. The clerks of the several committtees of the House shall within three days after the final adjournment of a Congress, deliver to the Clerk of the House all bills, joint resolutions, petitions, and other papers referred to the committee, together with all evidence taken by such committee under the order of the House during the said Congress and not reported to the House; and in the event of the failure or neglect of any clerk of a committee to comply with this rule the Clerk of the House shall, within three days thereafter, take into his keeping all such papers and testimony.

RULE XXXIX.

WITHDRAWAL OF PAPERS.

No memorial or other paper presented to the House shall be withdrawn from its files without its leave, and if withdrawn therefrom certified copies thereof shall be left in the office of the Clerk; but when an act may pass for the settlement of a claim, the Clerk is authorized to transmit to the officer in charge with the settlement thereof the papers on file in his office relating to such claim, or may loan temporarily to any officer or bureau of the Executive Departments any papers on file in his office relating to any matter pending before such officer or bureau, taking proper receipt therefor.

RULE XL.
BALLOT.

In all other cases of ballot than for committees a majority of the votes given shall be necessary to an election, and where there shall not be such a majority on the first ballot the ballots shall be repeated until a majority be obtained; and in all balloting