The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-06-21
The Same Old Blunder.

to which you propose TO elect me. am, gem
tlemen, very truly yours, JAMES G. BLAINE.
The Same Old Blunder.
The protracted deadlock is broken.
For eight days the Democrats filibus-
tered to prevent discussion of election
cases. Now that they have been forced
to abandon this fatal contest of their
own choosing, it is q good time to look
back and consider just what it is they
have been about. Under the lead of
Mr.. Randall they have been repeating
once more blunder which has been so
often disastrous to them that one might
suppose they would have learned by this
time to avoid tiff indeed they can
learn anything from experience. They
have been once more bending all their
individual energies, using all the power
of the party organization and enforcing
it by the dictum of a caucus, to keep up
solid Democratic South. There is
no other explanation of the madness
which undertook by methods little less
than revolutionary to obstruct action in
the House upon contested election
case in which the proofs of fraud were
overwhelming. The excuses for the OBJ
structive tactics which have been re-
sorted to are the merest pretexts. They
deceive no intelligent person. The
statement issued by the Republican Con-
gressional Committee sets forth the
facts so clearly that there can be no
mistaking them, The case had been
fully heard by the Elections Committee
before the death of OConnor, who was
counted in over Mackey, the rightfully
elected member. There was no doubt
of Mackey's election The grounds
upon which votes enough were thrown
out to destroy his majority were so friv-
olous and so false that no impartial per-
son could raise question as the legality
and Justice of Mackey's right to the
seat occupied by OConnor. Upon the
whole testimony in the case the commit
tee awarded the seat to Mackey. OCon-
nor's death did not alter this state Of
facts. Nor did the circumstance that
the same party that recognized his
fraudulent claim and awarded him the
certificate ordered a new election to fill
the vacancy and undertook to perpetu-
ate the wrong by giving a certificate to
Dibble.
OConnor not having been elected
originally, his death left no vacancy,
and the election to fill an alleged va
cancy was null. Mackey having been
legally elected had no concern with
the farce of an election to fill a seat to
which a majority of the Election Com
mittee were ready to declare him legal
ly entitled Dibble came upon the
ground with no claim except under an
Inheritance of fraud, and there was
neither law, Justice, reason nor common
sense in his pretense that there was any
originality in it. His claim rested sole
ly on OConnor,s original right to his
seat. If the latter was honestly and
fairly elected, then this election to fill
the vacancy could not be disputed, for in
the form of an election which he went
through he was unopposed. If OCon-
nor was not elected, no technicality or
quibble could ever give Dibble any
standing, for there was no vacancy.
This is the nutshell in which the whole
case lay. As between Mackey and
OConnor the case had been fully heard
by the Elections COMMITTEES. The ad-
vent of Dibble into the case through the
form of pretended election did not
change at all the original aspects of the
case. The inquisition of the Committee
was as to the election of Mackey or
O'Connor. 1t resulted in decision that
Mackey had been elected. But what
the stage with his Inheritance of fraud?
Does he propose to take up man fashion
the case of OConnor, and proving the
latter's right to his seat vindicate his
own title as his legally elected success
sor? Not at all. He evades that direct
issue, and undertakes by guibbles and
evasions to delay action and enjoy as
long as possible his inheritance of fraud.
On the oath of January. the printed
record in the case having been made
up, Dibble filed a protest denying the
jurisdiction of the Committee to inquire
into the right by which he held his seat,
and alleging that the death of O'Connor
terminated the contest of Mackey Us.
O'Connor. Could there be a more pre-
posterous claimp Why. this being
granted, fraudulent holder of seat
had only to resign, and have his sup
porters in fraud order new election as
for filling a vacancy, to defeat the hon.
est claimants demand for justice and
establish the perpetuity of the fraud.
Obviously the protest was only pre-
text for delay. 1t was argued before
the subcommittee and decided against
Dibble on the 31st of January. On
February 3 it was reargued at his re-
quest before the full COMMITTEES; the
decision was reaffirmed and he was
granted twenty days to file his brief.
On the 7th of February he filed Sec
ond protest which, on the following
day, was denied, and he was again di-
rected to file his brief in twenty days.
On the 21st of February, seven DAYS
before the expiration of the time, he
repeated his protest, and for the first
time put in his allegations of forgery
and alterations in the testimony in the
original case of Mackey Us. O'Connor.
He was allowed ample time to furnish
evidence of the truth of his allegations,
and the case was accordingly delayed.
Upon the testimony submitted it ap-
peared that in the first place the alleged
alterations and forgeries did not essen
tally affect the case, and second, that
there was no proof to support any such
allegations. During all this time Dib-
BILE occupied seat and drew pay to
which he had not the ghost of title.
And it is upon his claim that the COM
mittee declined to hear what he assert
ed to be cumulative evidence upon the
points already made that the Democrats
in Congress have been obstructing pub
lie business.-M Y. Tri6stne.
The size of fans to be used at the
seaside this season is enormous, some
fans being as large as four feet in semi
circumference. The most beautiful
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