The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-03-28
NUMBER %.
The pemecratic1 Fillbustering.


The Democratic Filibustering.
The Democratic filibustering which
consumed the closing hours OF. Con-
gress and prevented the tinal passage
of several important measures was an
other illustration of the theory that the
ruling passion is strong in death The
ruling passion in this Instance is the
Democratic hatred of the ..nlgger in
politics. The pending proposit. on was
to seat Lee, the colored contestant for
the seat whi b has been traudulently
occupied by Richardson. white Bour-
hon from the First South srolina Dis
trict. The House had already onf-med
4 ee's title by vote of 124 to Ito, but
tie Democrats were dete mined that
Lee should not be sworn in, because,
that would .entitle him to pay for the
term ior which he had been elected.
Their own man had already drawn his
pay regularly once a month, though
the House subsequently declared that
he had hold the seat unlawfully: but
the emoc ats could not toserate the
idea that colored man should receive
pay 70 which the House had declared he
was entitled. They were prepared to,
resist any such :. outrage" to the Last,
and they did so.
Lee, the colored man, who was un-
doubtedly elected to Congress. repre-
sented in race and political sentiment
two thi DIS of the populat. on of South
Carolina and nine -tenths of the work.
ing-people who are engaged in the pro-
ductive and industrial interests of that
State. But he was negro Hence he
was not only kept out of his seat in
violation of, every principle OF political
Justice, but, q ter the seat had been
la1 -ha- of the
ay sttached to it in violation of the
uni rorm practice of ongress, which
always pays the contestant who is final
" admitted as well as the man who
has held the eat previously. Had Lee
been white man, even though Re-
publican, there is no doubt he would
have been sworn in and received his
pay. But his crime was in the color of
his skin. and that the Democrats could
not orgive.
If the Democratic fibustering has
produced no other result than the
sw ndling of d ,rkey, thereby demon
strating the superiority of race to
which the Bon bons of the South lay
claim, obstruction in so ignoble cause
would merit the condemnation of
decent men, white and lack, from both
orth and South. But this same OBJ
struction also imposed upon the Ameri-
can people by ,defea ing legislation of
general Importance which could easily
have been passed during the last twelve
hours of the session. There were acts
which had been agreed upon by the
enate, had been sufficiently discussed
to secure the approval o both Republic
ans and Democrats. and needed only
a vote in the House to become laws.
| But the Democrats preferred that these
| ~ oh toll har-
than pay negro what was law
fully due m. rom this point of
view the Democrats did an in ustice not
not only to Lee and to common decency.
but to the entire people.
Among the important measures thus
defeated by Democratic obstruction
were the following: The shipping bill,
designed to ! romote American COM
me ce on the high seas by more liberal
Navigation laws; the bill which lodged
the Presidential succession in the mem-
bers of the Cab net according to rank in
case of the death or ina hiliIy of both Fres-
ident and Vice-Pres dent; the bill provid-
ing for proof in the French spoliation
claims. the non- pa ment OF which is q
disgrace to the American Government;
bills establishing postal-savings deposit
tories. autho izing the issue OF gold GER
tIhcates. making a treaty with Ger
1 many, providing National Bankruptcy
;ct. and manv others of Ike import
ance. The bills which had come over
from the Senate and remained unacted
upon by the House numbered one
hundred and twenty-six in all.
The Democratic tilibustering against
paving a .'niggern his due caused the
de eat of the oaded-W hisky bill; hut
in doing this the democrats antagoni ed
some or their best friends and sacrificed
one of their pet measures. Perhaps
this circumsta ce shows most clear
" how dee o-rooted the 4 emocratic
race predudice really is. The public
can forgive the failure to pass the Fit.-
ohm Porter bill, as a result of the
Democratic flibustering against Lee,
but it will not condone so ready the
Democratic willingness to sacrifice all
legislation in order to crafty their
partisan malice. In this resp ct they
exhibited their customary Indifference
to public sentiment and their character
istic def iency in the sense o. public re-
sponsibility. They will find that their
obstruction tactics in the closing hours
of ongress will come back to plague
them in the next campaign, not only on
account of the unworthy purpose which
prompted them. but also on account
of the resulting failure OF urgent legis-
lation. Thinking people will n turally
ask themselves whether such party
nav be safely intrusted with the ad-
ministration of National affair B.
4 Chicago I1ibaIy7e. 81 Lv