The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-08-10
s,nyrY AND THE ooNoRnssmEN

Ke>RNEY AND THE CONGREsSMES.
The quarters of the great cities where the
ronrLs and hoodlum elements congr"gate,
ana particularly for political purposes, are
supposed to be the places where The cholc-
est specimens OF stump invectiyc are 10 DE
heard. The red-not characters who are ue'
pended upon to harrapgue and manage inns
element are never fastidious in the selec-
ton of language, nor at all cautious as to
the kind OF epithets they apply to TER OPP
poneuts. 1t is on such occasions that the
kings English is supreme, and 1t
has come to be, or has hereto
fore been, regarded as the occasion
exclusively entitled to such broad ana
vulgar language, every refined or inteiIl-
gent man expecting in all other gatherings
or political assemblies, more refined ana
courteous speech. Congress, organized
and conducted upon parliamentary rules
and principles, is supposed to be the very
fountain head OF gracious speech, "here
no personalities are allowed, no question:
able expressions. not even the name oil the
member referred to being used. That afch
agitator, DENNIS KEARNEY, with his sand
lot meetings, has made himself, in the
last year or two, equally conspicuous
q, the leader of the opposite style oil debate
and he has met with the most mercl'ess
treatment at the hands of the press and
people generally. But time sets all thihgs
right at last, and vulgarly speaking, gives
every dog his day" DENNIS has come, ana
he is shrewd enough to take advantage oil
it. He has an opportunity 10 COM
pare his public utterances with those
of the congressman of the land, and
benefit by the comparison, and he does so.
An exchange quotes him as saying Let
me call your attention to those con-
gressmen in Washington who pilfered
the savings of the sand-lot to SUR
each other with-thief, robber, perJurer,
liar These are the choice epithets
used by congressman toward one an
other on the floors of congress. l knew 1t
would come to this, and now that congress
men have stolen the phraseology of the
sand-lot TO hurl at each other; we must IN
vent some more new phrases so as to keep
UP the home supply. When the nobility
of Boston was treated to a dose Of sand-lot
rhetoric before breakfast the morning aiter
held forth in Faneuil hail they held their
breaths and wondered what next. The res
ilents OF Murray Hill, New York, trembled
and turned pale while reading the speech
hthat | delivered in Union square 10 s0,OCO
people.. How must they feel now when
reading tile proceedings of the house OF rep
resentatiyes every day? Even on one &C.
,casion the language used was unit ior
publication. Surely the sand-lot must get
the credit of persuadihg congressman to
call each other by their right names. The
upliest feature about the criticism is It's
truth, and It does seem that the most pu'
initiating outcome of the present session Of
congress is the fact that DENNIS KEARNEY
can call it to account for its indecent Ian
ruage, want of dignity and failure of duty
in not Furnishing single member for a stu
gle utterance, even though some of them
were unfit for publication. 1t is disgrace
full commentary on the times, and particu
larry the politics OF the country
that it is possible 20 see congress any day
wrangilng In manner ard INDUCING in
style OF debate which the ireqnenters OF
the sand.lots declare, lay their operations
sin the shade" The parliamentarians who
have successfully evolved from experience
the various rule for the Observation-Disclosures
tive assemblies well knew that intelligent
and comp extensive discussions were entire
ly incompatible with prejudice and person
alities and that little business could be
done where men, losing all sense OF the
place or of their own dignity, gave
themselves over each TO some per-
sonal Job or a total indifference TO every
thing around them. And yet such is the
usual spectacle presented by our various
state and national legislative bodies, and
the results are such as might be expected.
Dnt the hardest knock the present congress
has vet received is this criticism from the
mosui Of the sand-lots, who declares that a
new supply of dirty phrases aud epithets
must be invented, else both the congress
ional and sand-lot eloquence will suffer.
The people ought TO see to it that the next
rongress Is filed with men who appreciate
their position and will discharge their Gu
ties promptly.