The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-03-20
A DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE.

In the language of the author of
Rasselas. in the opening chapter Of that
tale. " Ye who listen with credulity to
the whispers of fancy, and pursue with
eagerness the phantoms of hope; who
expect that" Democracy if letintopower
in the nation would cure the evils COM
planned of, attend to the history" of
the Pennsylvania House of Representa-
tives published below from the LEDGER
of Monday last:
THE 'HoUsE" AT HARRIsBURG.-The
first Legislature which assembled after the
passage of the new Constitution went to
Harrisburg, passed through its session and
then went away, without exciting any par
tcular emotion. Certainly there was little
or none of the usual dread and constant
apprehension which had previously prevail
ed whilst the Legislator was in session,
and when the adjournment came there was
no cause for the old time feeling of thank
fulness that it was all over and the public
would have season of rest from legsla-
tive harassment for the remainder of the
year But the present session has changed
all that. One has to 90 back to the period
of the 'buckshot war" to find anything
ike parallel to the tumult, confusion and
disgraceful disorder which characterize the
present House of Representatives,, and there
is nothing in the history of the old regime
which surpasses the obiectless senseless
movements of that body or the recklessness
of it's action. The floor of the House dur
ing the present session has been the thea
ter of many humiliating scenes, but those
of Friday night and Saturday morning
would have disgraced a rowdy bar room.
Order, law, Constitution and public decency
all seem to have been alike outraged. Men
of long experience in reporting the pro
ceedngs and action of the Legislature had
to abandon the effort to make An orderly
record of what was done. 1t is claimed
that in the midst of the tumult some bills
were passed and others were defeated bills
which, according to the reports, were not
read-acted upon by House when no
quorum voted. When such legislation gets
to the Governor he may well call a halt, for
every bill must be tread at length" and
on its final passage the names of the per-
sons voting for and against must be entered
on the journal, and before a bill can be
passed the names of u majority Of tile mem
bers elected to each House must be recorded
thereon as voting in its favor. How is it
possible that such record can have been
made in the midst of such tumult as the
reports of the proceedings show, and in a
House declared to have been without a
quorum?
Passing this let us now select one example
of the kind Of legislation that is attempted
through the medium of this extraordinary
House of Representatives. We have before
MS an official copy of " House bill No. 17S."
1t is a bill of nineteen pages, with a long
title, which it Is not worth while to quote,
because ii gives no idea of the contents of
the bill. 1t processes to create an Indus
trial Tribunal for the settlement of dis
putes between the owners of Iron Works
and Coal Mines and their employees. It's
title, however, ought to be " A bill for tue
contiscation of hon and Steel Works; to
destroy the iron, steel and coal trade of the
State, and to establish the reign of the
Paris Commune in the State of Pennsyl-
vania' 1t authorizes the selection by lot
terry of eleven men, three of whom are to
be laborers about the coal mines; three of
them workmen in the mines; three of them
laborers about iron and steel works; one Of
them an employing Goal OPERATOR" and
one of them an Iron Manufacturers These
eleven men mine employees aud tire employ
ers) are to be commissioned as the 50 In
dustrial Tribunal and any screen of them
are to have power to fix the wages to be
paid in all Iron and Steel Works and all
Coal Mines; to retore discharged workmen
to their places against the will of their
employers; to decide how much coal shall
be mined; and to fix and limit the amount
of profits the owners of the property shall
receive. These provisions will be admitted
to be to!eraby strong, but they are weak
compared VITA those which follow. After
the Industrial Tribunal" thus composed,
have issued their decree fixing wages, Limit
ing profits, putting back discharged work
men, or declaring that cork shall be st0Dped
arms itself with this further power: If
the coal mine owner, or the iron or steel
works owner does not obey the order within
few days, then the iron or steel works or
the coal mine is to be seized, taken out of
his possession, and placed in the hands of
another person, who is to carry it on accord
ing 10 the decree of the "Industrial Tri
bunai, distributing the proceeds according
to their scale of prices and profits; and if
the coal mine, or iron works, or steel works.
worked after this fashion shall fail to nav.
as it certainly would, then it is to be closed
until further order.
Such is brief summation of the crazy
scheme embraced in House bill No. 11S.
which has been pending in the Democratic
House of Representatives at Harrisburg
since the Goth of February. 1t is said to
have been defeated during the general melee
at the close of last week. Of course no
such Communistic project could ever &C
quire the force of law in this State if it
were passed by twenty Legislatures. 1t
bristles all over with such violations of
common right and fundamental law as
would turn it out of any civilized Court of
Justice. But that such a project could be
put forward, and be actually entertained
by the House Of Representatives, shows
the estimate put upon that Honse by the
pestilerous demagogues and "Destructives''
who affiict the working people and the
owners of iron and coal works in "a dozen
or so of the counties of this State
sT a merchant down town sells more OF
Rr1llfc Il,