Committee of the Whole, be disposed of in the same manner on motion directed to be made by such committee.

3. The consideration of the unfinished business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment, except business in the morning hour, shall be resumed as soon as the business on the Speaker's table is finished, and at the same time each day thereafter until disposed of, and the consideration of all other 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 removal of political disabilities, † and bills removing charges of desertion only shall be considered; said

* On March 14, 1900, the House adopted the following order:

Resolved, That on all Fridays for the remainder of this Congress, except the second and fourth of each month, it shall be the order, the House having proceeded to the consideration of private business according to the provisions of section 6 of Rule XXIV and section 1 of Rule XXVI, to take up, in the Committee of the Whole House, bills on the Private Calendar under the following conditions: On the next Friday which the House may devote to private business, and on every alternate Friday thereafter which may be devoted to private business, bills reported from the Committee on Claims shall have priority over those reported from the Committee on War Claims; and on the remaining alternate Fridays devoted to private bills, those reported from the Committee on War Claims shall have priority over those from the Committee on Claims.

On December 4, 1905, this order was readopted for the Fifty-ninth Congress.

† Political disabilities arising from the civil war have been removed by a general law. (30 Stat. L., p. 432.)

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 committee.

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.

* On March 8, 1900, the House adopted the following order: Resolved, That during the remainder of this Congress the second and fourth Fridays in each month, after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, shall be set apart for the consideration of private pension bills, bills for the removal of political disabilities, and bills removing charges of desertion. The provision herein made shall be in lieu of the evening session provided for by section 2 of Rule XXVI, and section 6 of Rule XXIV and section 1 of Rule XXVI are hereby modified to conform herewith."

On December 4, 1905, this order was readopted for the Fifty-ninth Congress.

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.

1. 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.

2. It shall not be in order to consider the report of a committee of conference until such report and the accompanying statement shall have been printed in the Record, except on either of the six days preceding the end of a session.

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.

H. Doc. 87, 59-1—19

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