National Republican., 1883-01-13
DEMOCRATIC DEVICES,
The Shrewder Members Of the Party Are
Anxious to Avoid Special Session.
As They Are Not Seeking Unnecessary
Opportunities to Make Mistakes
All Present Canvass for the Speakershp is Therefore
IOvos Labor Lost
A Calculation OF the Chances of Present
Candidates.

do not mean to have special session of con-
gress after the fourth of March, if they can
do anything to prevent it. They are not in
sympathy with the obstruction element and
the jobbers who are trying to block logisla.
tion in the expectation that they will be able
to omnibus their plundering schemes through
at the last moment under pressure. Said one
of the leaders Of the southern wing of the
rarty in congress TO friend from northern
state day or two ago, What do we
want special session for2 The democrats in
congress could not make q better record for
themselves and for their party than to turn
in and assist in pushing needed legislation,
and showing to the country their sincerity
and the honesty of their motives. There is
absolutely nothing to be gained by defeating
tariff and revenue reform this session, and
there may be much to lose. If congress could
adjourn on the fourth of March for two years
IL
WOULD DO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NO HARM.
The less tinkefing congress does with the
laws as they stand, and the less claim and col
lection agency business 1t performs the better
il will be for the dominant party. There
fore, say, the best thought of the democratic
partyin congress is against special session,
aud against unnecessary delay or captious OPP
position to pending measures of Importance.
"There was disposition on the part of q
tariff and other necessary legislation in order
20 give to the democracy the glory of doing
the work next session, but they have been sup
pressed to a very considerable extent oflate and
are less turbulent. They begin to see that
democratic house cannot do much in the re-
form line without the assistance of republi-
can senate, which will neutraize the glory by
dividing it up among both parties. They also
see that democratic house which Is not in
session cannot commit blunders and disgust
the people. The republicans would not se-
riously object to n special session, even at the
expense of defeated legislation this winter,
provided they could make it appear that the
wheels were blocked by democrats, as
this would give them something to
talk about, and supply them with big stock
OF campaign thunder for 1884. Inasmuch as
a special session would involve reorganiza-
tion of the house, and the throwing out Of
employment of q large force Of republican
employees, members of that party, are not doing
much to encourage the special session idea,
however. On the whole am constrained to be-
lieve that congress will get through its inn
portant business this session, and quietly
adjourn for the season. The senate will have
to organize as q matter of course, but il will
hardly reorganize its working force, for fear
of moving the house TO the adoption of
retaliatory measures"
The argumentative survey of the field as
given tabove very correctly represents the
viewsE of large number of active, ruling
democratic spirits in congress, 1t is very
probable, therefore, that unless the whisky,
Fitz-John Porter, and tariff lobbies assisted
by lobbies of lesser individual magnitude,
but of equal aggregate importance and power,
undertake, by combined action, to put stop
to all legislation unless they get what they
want, there will be no necessity for a special
session on the heels Of the forty-seventh con-
grGss.
Such being the case the chances are that the
gentlemen who are
WORKING UP sPEAKERsHIP BooMs,
in anticipation of a special session, are simply
wasting their energies and fighting a battle
which will have to be fought over again next
fall. Very little that does not come under
the title of crude speculation has been said or
written about the speakership thus far There
has been nothing like a canvass of the house
for spealership, and anything like an intelli-
gent canvass is an .mpossibility. Nearly one
half of the members of the present house will
retro in March, and of the democrats
who remain very few have expressed decided
preferences 1t is hard enough for the cam
didates and their immediate followers to get
anything definite from old members who have
been reelected, and 1t is infinitely more diff
cult for them to ascertain the standing of the
new members elect Very few Of them have
shown up in Washington yet.
The candidate who has
THE MOST POSITIVE STRENGTH
at this stage is Mr.. Randall. His backing is
of the "306", order, stalwart in the extreme.
As described by one of his colleagues, who is
not unfriendly to his candidacy, it consists of
the high protective tariff interest in the
party to begin with, and around that as Il
nucleus will gather the votes which are con-
trOlled by monOpOlistic and railway influence.
Mr.. Randall has been tried by railway and
industrial diplomats, and found not wanting,
N.l
in his old position, which carries with 1t the
committee creative power Mr., Randall has
been consistent high protective tariff
man, and the only square-toed, honest
support he will have will be from
democrats who represent manufacturing dis
tricts. These men will support him from
principle and because they believe he will
carry out the wishes of their constituents bet
ter than any one yet named in connection
with the Office. The assistance tho railways
and other corporations will give him will be
selfish, and they will move heaven andearth to
elect him. They know full we'll that the
people will demand and expect legislation in
the near future for the regulation of passen-
ger and freight rates on railways and for the
forfeiture of unearnGd land grants, and they
will do all that lies in their power TO head il
OFF. They have succeeded in strangling hos
tile legislation for long years, and they will
keep right on. The election of Sam Randall
W llG hptuhGInulp VIII LAthH u ppolpOuNlHtul
and possibly the ultimate defeat of the relief
measures the people are clamoring for. In
my opinion the contest will narrow down to
Randall against the field, Randall represent
ing the selfish money power and the field the
people"
Assuming this to be true in part, Randall
can count ON between so and 20 votes out of
101 as certain, a stronger following than either
Mossrs. Carlisle Blackburn, or Springer can
well hope to have. The Randall opposition
will, in all human possibility, consolidate on
n western or southern man, although IL Is by
means certain they will take up with any of
the gentlemen who are now most prominent.
The only contingency which may urise to de-
feat such a combination would be an outright
and patent sell out ofGufstate and Mississippi
river delegations to Randall and his crowd in
consideration Of S30,O0O,OOO of public money
for alleged river improvements, and twice as
much more for other subsidies. The bed of
the Mississippi below Cairo is now higher than
the land on either side and the expenditure
of $50 O0O0 900 in Strengthening" the stream
by dylling il will give il a further boost cloud
ward. The river can then be converted into
an aqueduct with brOwn-sugar banks and n
quick sand bed, Mt an additional triling ex-
pense of Sl00,0OO000. Delta statesmen having
these improvements in view might be in
duced TO vote for Randall.
One feature in the composition Of the forty
eighth congress, which leads many to believe
that the fight for speallershp will be between
EASTERN AND WESTERN DEMOCRATS,
is the fact that northern and western demo-