Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-31
DEMOCRATIC DENIAL
OF the Charge That the Party Has
Obstructed Business in
the Senate.
MUCH GREATER PROGRESS THERE
Than Under the Rules Devised and Operated
by Speaker Reed in the House
Of Representatives.
MUCH GREATER PROGRESS THERE
MORRILL, SPEAKS UPON THE TARIFF.
BE Accuses the Opposition Of Endeavuripg to Reduce
American Wages


Mr.. Sherman, fixing the daily hour of meet
ing at 10 A. M, was taken up. Mr.. Cockrell
said that he would support the resolution,
and wanted to give few reasons why Some
taunts had been made recently BY the Sena-
tors from Rhode Island and Maine (Aldrich
and Frye) about delay in the part of the
Democratic minority, and the Senator from
from Maine had said something about hav-
ing the previous question introduced in the
Senate. he wanted those Senators to see
the relative amount of work done in the two
Houses.
The Senate had, up to the 2eth Of July,
passed 946 bills, and 499 other bills had been
acted on by committees and been indefinitely
postponed-making the whole number of
Senate bills actually disposed of 1,445.
That was considerably more than one-third
Of all the bills introduced in the Senate. No
such record had ever been made before.
SOME COMPARATIVE FIGURES.
The House, out of over 10, 900 bills intro
duced there, had passed S65, a mere fraction
OF the whole. Out of all the Senate bills
passed, the House had only passed 2S1,
while Of the House bills the Senate had
passed 618. On the House calendar of bills,
pending in committee of the whole, there
were 3s1, of which 1O3 were Senate bills,
while there were pending in the House
LIS public bills, including % Senate bills,
and 967 private bills, including 1S7 Senate
bills.
Then there were on the calendar of uu-
finished business 9S cases pending, of which
81 were Senate bills. That made g. 167 cases
pending before the House, of which 344
were Senate bills.
On the Senate calendar there were but 3O9
cases all told, of which only 81 were House
bills. There were 344 Senate bills acted on
by House committees now on the House
calendar, with the iron heel of the one-man
power securely resting on that calendar.
A PERTINENT QUESTION
How, he asked, had so much work been
done in the Senate? Had the minority been
wasting time by interposlng objections or
by unnecessary discussion7 Had the min
ority consumed time Gas the majority had
done under the last administrator in criti-
\cising the Executive or in pleading the
civil service law to prevent the removal OF
Democratic officials before the end of terms
of office? Nothing OF the kind. Had not
the bills for the admission of Idaho and
Wyoming as States been allowed by the
minority to pass although everyone knew
that neither Of them had sufficient popula-
ton tn entitle it to Representative in the
House2
Those bills had passed only through the
inconceivsble forbearance and conservatism
of the Democratic minority. And vet
Democrats were criticised the moment they
waited little explanation and little light
on the tariff bill. If there was Demo-
cratic majority in the Senate and it made
an attempt to pass the bills for the admis-
sion OF New Mexico and Arizona as States,
the Senator from Maine Mr.. Frye), would
have pranced up and down the center aisle,
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Ed
munds), would have raised his voice. They
would have roared like Gagged lions and
screamed like chained hyenas Qaughter)
against the action of the Democratic ma
jority.
THE REASON FOR IT.
Why, be asked, had not the House dis
posed of more bills than it had disposed of?
The reason was that it ignored, in its or
ganization and in its changed rules, the
fundamental principles of parliamentary
discussion. He quoted from a letter writ |
ten by Mr.. Thomas B. Reed in June, 1886, |
and published in the Chdutdu9adn. 1t |
would be remembered Che said) that Mr.. |
Reed was once a member of the House of |
Representatives One of the sentences in |
that remarkable production" was in these |
words: "A full, free, frank discussion is the |
very life of intelligent action"
Another sentence was: Needless sup
preston of discussion is tyrannical, whether
done by q King or a majority. he chal-
lenged any Republican Senator to show an |
instance where the Democratic minority |
had attempted any unnecessary delay. 1
Democratic Senators had been in their seats |
when the Senator from Maine (Mr. Frye) |
was enjoying the refreshing breezes Of the |
lakes of his native State, and when the Sena- |
tor from Vermont Mr.. Edmunds) was rus |
ticsting.
RIGHT WITH THEM.
The Senator from New York (Mr. His |
cock) had stated yesterday that the Repub- |
licans had captured the Democrats. If the |
Democrats were captives they would stick |
the closer to their captors. They would come |
to the chamber at 10 in the morning, but |
they would expect Republican Senators to |
come. too, and they would stay till in the |
evening, aud facilitate the transaction of |
business, If they were treated as decent |
respectable minority ought to be.
The resolution was then agreed to, the |
tariff bill was taken up and Mr.. Morrill, ad- |
dressed the Senate. He said that the i'll |
nsturej deuunciations of American manu-
facturers by oratorical free traders indicated |
that they preferred the prosperity of the |
foreign manufacturer to that of their own
countrymen, and that they would compel |
the latter to manufacture as cheaply as any
foreigner, pay no higher wages or abandon
their business. The real purpose was finally i
to break down and degrade the present scale |
Of wages of American workmen.
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.
Coming to the question of agricultural de-
preston Mr.. Morrill, said that there was glut /
Of misinformation disseminated on that sub |
3eet and a concealment of the fact that |
prices of farm products are depressed |
throughout the world. The only possible |
remedy within reach of the American farm |
er was positive protection against foreign |
competition, and such encouragement to |
other avocations as would increase the con- |
sumers Of theidproducts. He asserted thar |
in 1888 had il not been for the duty of 20 |
cents q bushel on wheat, the wheat of India |
would have snatched the market of New |
York from the State of Wisconsin, as we'll |
as from all other Western States. |
Mr.. Morrill, went on to say that farm |
mortgage indebtedness had been grossly ex-
Rggerated, and be understood that the census
reports would show that farm mortgages In
Kansas and Maine were less than one-quar-
ter the amount which had been represented. |
The charge that American farmers were
hugely in debt, or more so than the farmers
of any other country. was gross calumny,
and the farmers would treat with contempt |
the crocodile tears Of pity shed in their be-
half by revenue reformers who peddled out |
such deiamatory tales.