a proposal that debate be permitted on
final reading. Some members felt that this
should not be done. Other members felt it
should be limited to an hour. This, too, was
to be held over until September 12.
Finally, the rules are very easy, as they
are proposed, to amend or suspend, and
there should be no real problem in the way
of substantial improvement, modification of
the rules in early September if that is
desirable.
I do not mean to suggest by anything l
have said that important amendments, some
of which are already on the delegates'
desks, should not be considered today. There
may be others, I merely mean to suggest
that there may be some proposal for amend-
ments to the rules that could be held over
until September without doing any disad-
vantage to the rules as proposed and the
business of the Convention.
Having said that, I just want to touch
briefly on the chapters, I think Chapter l
speaks for itself. Chapter 11, Officers and
Employees: There was an amendment pro-
posed in the Committee that there be a
secret ballot for the office, I gather this is
now a suggested amendment and has been
distributed. The Committee, by a very sub-
stantial vote, rejected that amendment, not
being able to see any real reason why the
delegates should vote in secret for the men
whom they wish to have be their presi-
dent and vice-president, et cetera.
<
Now, in Rule 5, dealing with the ap-
pointive powers of the president, there is
one change from the original draft of the
rules. The Committee recommended unani-
mously that the vice-chairman of each
committee would be elected by the members
of that committee. The chairman and mem-
bers of the committee would be appointed
by the president. There was a motion made
in the meeting of the Rules Committee
that the president and the two vice-presi-
dents together as a triumvirate, as it were,
make the appointment to the committees,
and make the appointments to the chair-
manship of the committee. This was de-
feated in the Rules Committee by a vote of
20 to l, though I understand the matter is
here in the form of amendment and has
been distributed to the delegates.
I think the various duties of the officers
are set forth, and I hope you have read
them. I will not take up your time.
I would like to turn now to the question
of the committees. There are nine sub- |
stantive committees and three procedural
committees.
The Rules Committee was of the unani-
mous view that every delegate should be
entitled to serve if he wishes on at least
one substantive committee, and the Com-
mittee's recommendation in that respect is
found on the first full paragraph on page 8.
One of the matters that I am sure was
brought to the attention of the-public press
was the question of whether the committee
meetings should be open at all times. As
originally proposed and as the draft had
been recommended by the subcommittee of
the Constitutional Convention Commission,
all meetings were to be public, except if a
majority of the delegates at this Conven-
tion gave the approval to that particular
committee to hold an executive session.
That particular language was stricken by
a motion made and carried in the Friday
night meeting of the Rules Committee.
There was a fairly, I will not say close
division of the Committee, but it carried.
I think it was the universal feeling on the
part of the Committee that so far as pos-
sible all meetings of the committees at all
times should be public, but there might
come a time, for reasons of protecting a
man's reputation or for reasons of getting
candid testimony that might not be other-
wise forthcoming, that there might come
a time when it would be permissible to
have an executive session, a prerogative of
all legislative bodies in the Anglo-Saxon
world, but the problem was in capturing
that idea in language. We thought that the
way that was originally recommended was
all right, bill we felt that that was too
strict a prohibition. The rules now say
nothing about it, and I gather there is at
least one proposal that has been distrib-
uted to delegates that would deal with this
matter in the form of an amendment to
the Committee's report.
Rule 30 [32] is an important one, the
discharge rule, which would make it im-
possible for committees to bottle up pro-
posals or resolutions or motions of the
delegates if it is a significant rule. Again, .
the Committee felt strongly about it. We
have not said anything specific about the
limitation of debate but left that language
open for insertion with language that
would satisfy everyone.
I think an important recommendation,
something that was not in the proposed
recommendations, is Rule 29 [31]. It may
be that there would come a time, when
tempers were short, people were tired, when
there would be an attempt to adjourn the |
