November 25 Thursday – A tempest was brewing at the Austrian Reichsrath. Dolmetsch provides the prelude to the sensational ouster of Nov. 26:

After several more cacophonous, chaotic sessions, one of the conservative deputies, Count Franz Falkenhayn, introduced (almost inaudibly) a measure on November 25 to permit the use of force to maintain order. Amid the din and uproar this so-called Lex Falkenhayn was railroaded through without most members being aware of it. When the Socialists, hitherto neutral in the debate, discovered what had happened, they mounted a noisy protest, and the next day [Nov. 26] they overpowered the presiding officer and seized the rostrum [71]. Note: Sam later noted that Lex Falkenhayn gave the President power to suspend any deputy for three days who continued to be disorderly, and the House could suspend the same for 30 days [“Stirring Times in Austria”].

Sam’s notebook:

Nov. 25. Thanksgiving. Attended Reichsrath, 1 p.m. Saw a viva voce vote taken on changing Rules of the House so as to do away with roll-call on motions. Was told that the President declared the measure carried—a high-handed thing, if true. One could hear nothing, it was such a stormy time [Dolmetsch 75-6: NB 42 TS 48].

At 3 p.m. the Clemens family went to the American Embassy for a Thanksgiving dinner party, given for the American community in Vienna by Ambassador and Mrs. Charlemagne Tower [Dolmetsch 75].

The official publication date for the English version of FE, titled More Tramps Abroad,, published by Chatto & Windus [M. Johnson 66]. The ledger books of Chatto & Windus show that 3,000 additional copies of More Tramps Abroad (FE) were printed (totaling 13,000 to date) [Welland 238]. See Aug. 12, Nov. 10, Dec. 22, Mar. 8, 1898, Oct. 11, 1900, and Aug. 7, 1907 for other print run amounts, totaling 30,000.