Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-04-01

a thousand persons have been thrown
out of employment at the Government
Pri. ing Office.
The Confederate Congress refuses
to pass this appropriation without the
political rider" which will give them
the appointment of the Public Printer,
so that they may use the patronage eli
his Office to furnish funds for the com
ing Presidential Campaign.
The working men should remember
that the present Confedro Democratic
Congress does not care how much suf-
fering it brings upsn iaboring people,
if any political advantage can be de-
rived thereby.
Gen. Garfield yesterday made one of
the best speeches of his life against
political riders on an appropriation bill,
and the refusal Of Congress to make
appropriations to pay .. S. Marshalls.
The speech will soon be issued by the
Republican Congressional Committe g
as campaign document 1t should
be most thoroughly distributed.
give extracts from it.
Mr.. Chairman, when [ took my seat
as Member of this House. | took it
with all the responsibilities which the
place brought upon me. and among
others Was my duty to keep the obli-
cations of the law. Where tue law
speaks in mandatory terms to every
body else and then to me, | shonld
deem it cowardly and dishonorable if |
should skulk behind my legislative
privileges for the purpose of disobey
ing and breaking the supreme law Of
the land. [ Applause.
The issue now made is somewhat
different from that of the last session,
but. in my judgment, it is not less
significant and dangerous. [ would
gladly waive any party advantage
which this controversy might give for
the sake OF that calm and settled peace
which would reign in this hall if we all
obeysd tie law. But if the leaders on
the other side are still determined to
rush upon their fate by forcing upon
the country this last issae-that be-
cause the Democratic party happen
not to like law they will not obey
it-because they Happen not to ap-
prove Of the spirit and character of
law they will not let it be executed
[ say to gentlemen on the other side,
If you are determined to make such an
issue, it is high time that the Ameri-
can people should know it.
Here is the volume of our laws.
More sacred than the twelve tables of
Rome, this rock Of the law rises in
monumental grandeur alike above the
people and the President, above the
courts, above Congress, commanding
everywhere reverence and obedience
to It's supreme authority. Yet the
dominant party in this House virtually
declares THAT any part of this volume
that we do not like and cannot repeal.
we will disobey. We have tried to re-
peal these election laws; we have fail
ed because we had not the constitu-A
tional power to destroy them; the
Constitution says they shall stand in
their authority and power; but We, the
Democratic party, in defiance of the
Constitution, declare that if we cannot
destroy them outright by repeal, they
shall be left to crumble into ruin by
wnnton and lawless neglect.
Mr.. Chairman, | ask gentlemen on
the other side, whether they wish to
maintain this attitude in regard 10 the
legislation of the country Are they
willing to start on hunt through the
statutes and determine for themselves
what they will obey and what they
will disobey? That is the meaning of
my colleagues speech, If it means
anything it means that He is not an
old Branchbursh elector, but an cleo
tor in this novel and modern sense,
that he will elect what laws he will
obey and what he will disobey, and in
so far as his power can go, he will in
feet with his spirit of disobedience sll
the good people of this country who
trust him
| ask, gentlemed, whether this is a
time when it is safe to disregard and
weaken Of law. In all quarters the
civil society of this country is becom-
ing honeycombed through and through
by 6isintegrating forces in some
States by the violation of contracts
and the Reputation Uf debts; in others
by open resistance and defiance; in
still others by the reckless overturning
of constitutions and letting ''the red
fool-fury of the Seine" run riot among
our people and build its blazing affairs
tie the strange gods Of ruin and misrule.
All these things are shaking the good
order of society and threatening tie
foundation Of our Government and our
peace. In time like this, more than
ever before, this country needs body
of law givers clothed and in their right
minds, who have laid their hands up
on the altar of the law as its defend
ers, not its destroyers, and yet now in
the name of party, for some supposed
! party advantage, my colleague from
Ohio announces, and no one on his
side has said him nav that thew not