Daily Republican., 1881-04-11
DELAW ARES DISGRACE.
RAsCALITY AND CRIME or THE
LEGIsLATUREO OF 81.
A Review Of the BoarbOn Infamy
of the session Just Concluded
Voting at all Times for Party
and Against the Public
WeIfarc-A DisGracefaI
Policy that the Peo.
pie Will Not For
get In Future.
Special Correspondence of the REPUBLICAN.

% j
this afternoon. The whole proceeding
had funeral aspect. The closing ad
dress of Speaker Williams was for al
the world like Il funeral oration, If no
the Grafton of the Democratic party a
large it at least was that of the iIuus
of Representatives. 1t wLs surely th
funeral oration Of the parliamcntar.
Noophyte, the stupid partiHan, who pro
nounct,d it. And il was also of the sen
sitive McNeal, who always voted til
way a certain other member did: OF III
ancient Jones, whose high aim has beel
10 "reprobate fraud" and rrSolutioniz
Tilden of the pious Register, father q
the Sunday excursion law and ScIt-Con
stituted Democratic rcpreScntativ" o
New Castle; Of Robinson, Of IndiaI
River, foe of the reporters, patron -Sain
of Derrick Morris, and sworn enemy o
education Of Cahall, who declared h
did not mean for New Castle 10 haV'
lust representation and has been th'
automaton of the ragtag and boh-taiI .
Wilmington Democracy, and of Van
Burkalow, Moore and the rest Of thu
Democratic side, as we'll
If the Democrats at the session just
clOSd had become noted only tOr the stu
pidity, thoroughly assiniuc in its natur"
which has characterized their policy, j
would be bad enough. But. us nucl
as this Is calculated to iniurc them po
litically, it becomes a small ron>id"ra
tion when taken in connection Will
their other actions. Throughout tn,
L.. 81,
Gratis in both houses has been intiu
enced by party. Not measure has
been considered except from political
standpoint. On every subject politics
was brought in, and when the public
veal was pitted against political ad.
vantage they have always been found
solidly arrayed in favor Of the latter
This went on all session and il has be,
come prOverbial. Democrats as well aS
Republicans will admit that the whol'
course of the Democratic delegation has
been stamped with the most reckless
disregard Of the wishes of the people
and Of the requirements Of their sworn
duty, and with the most astonishing
narrowmindcdneSS and utter untitnrSS
ever before witnessed even i'll Della
wares Legislatures, infamous us some
of them have been. A partiHan spirit,
criminal in the extent to which it car
rcd them, and ignorance and incapacity,
to the party which sent
them here have been the distinguishing
characteristics Of the Democratic mem
bprs of the present Legislature.
THOSE WHO CONTROLLED DrHELEGISLA-
TURE.
When the Legislature went into ses-
sion on the first Tuesday in January it
found u lobby here which proved TO be
the most disrcputable Dover ever saw,
The more prominent figures were the
salisbury ring and the leader Of this
was the eX-Clcrk of the House. II lob
these people made it such this session
with a vengeance. No matter what the
was money WAS only necessary
to secure for it their most earnest sup
port. Their greed was diguSting. No
one come to Dover with measure with
out being solicited to employ Counsel" +"
and on disregarding this, the implied
threat, smacking strongly otblackmail,
would be made that unless he did EN-
ploy counsel the bill would be defeated.
means were used to in
huence legislation. Political means
would be urged. Relatives Of members
would be employed at an enormous
figure. The use Of money in even more
iirect and dishonest ways has been the
common talk. The lobbyists were lis
,ened to and received by the majority
~ advisers Of weight and their words
were continually needed. Later in the
session the most active Of Will
nington Democrats, headed by VIII
lam Fl. Lee, came here with their poll
ical measures, and 50 well did they
Dlay their cards that the Democratic
'ide voted solidly for every job they set
lp.
With such a class Of law makers and
'uCh Il lobby what wonder is it that the
legislature acted as it did ? The only
wonder is that they did not 60 further
II their remarkable course.
SPEAKER WILLIAMS.
The accident which made Mr.. Rey-
lOuse was an unfortunate thing for the
Democrats. For ii time Williams did
veil. He appointed the committees, fairly
md was very pleasant. But he was not
rec from that peculiar weakness Of men
AIKEN from the unconsidcred walks Of
private business and raised to a position
# dignity. His untitneSs for the posi-.
ion of speaker soon began to appear,
md it was not long before he began to
'rostitutc his position. When the rail
Dad bill was up, he was one Of its most
arnest opponents. '"The House." he
would, say, "must not pass this bill.
larry McComb will sell the charter and
he Pennsylvania will buy the =. W.
b. and then where are we-wherc .
re we politically. If by "we," Mr..
Williams meant himself and colleagues,
IL supertfuous to remark that "we'
are dead, and it was not the
Railroad that killed eve"
ither. Close following his vote upon
he Railroad bill and his remarkable
iscourtesy to Mr.. Bradford of Will
lington, came the most surprising
hing the House had seen up to that
me. The speaker deliberately lodged
he vote upon the Local Option bill
The bill had been pending for long
me and there was not n member who
id not know all the provisions Of the
act, and Speaker Williams sat
l his chair and refused to vote although
le House demanded it, claiming that
{ did not know what the bill meant
ossibly he did not. If the extent of
is knowledge is to be gagged by what
e knows of parliamentary practice his
leas of the local option bill and all
her measures must have been very
mited, indeed. If his spirit of fair
ess and courtesy is used as the rule
ith which to measure his knowledge,
len he certainly did not know what
le bill meant. Guilty of other short
,mings until the correspondents had to
enounce him, Speaker Williams de-
oted the rest of the session to secure
le expulsion of the reporters, and If
Is influence over the House is to be ;
ldged by the result of his labor he pos
'ssed just enough to make Peter Rob