The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1890-11-29
The Political Revolution of Novem-
Der, 1890.
wrItten for The pemocratie advocate

cyOlt OF the people against the tyranny of party.
'ut they are getting enlightened as the results of
he campaign are daily disclosed.
When Congress met last December the country
vas at peace and reasonably prosperous. though the
.rcat agricultural interests were then as now strug
Cling hard under the burdens of ruiuous taxation.
The social. commercial and political relations be-
tween the people orthe North and the people of the
south were on the best footing, and the old causes
IF discord may be said to have substantially dsap |
pcared.
Hundreds of millions ofnortheru capital had been
invested in the South, yielding large returns from
various industries yet in the infancy of their deVcl
opment. and promising still grander results Cap
ital was turning asst from its former directions and
was seeking these fields of enterprise with well
justified confidence.
These peaceful and hopeful conditions were sud
denly and rudey changed, without the least sign of
popular demand approval, without petitions
without public meetings, without any call from the
representative press, and without particle of dis
turbance or Of threatened change TO excuse a new
partisan crusade against the South, intended 10 in
cite sectional strife and possible disorder.
The Republicans had a majority of seven in the
House Of Representatives when Congress met. The
Speaker knew this majority was insufficient under
the usual practice TO carry out the projected schemes
of his party After squandcring nearly three months
without rules. and governed by so called parliament
tary uSagcS, meaning thereby the will of an arbi-
trary Speaker, code of rules was finally adopted.
These atrociOus rules overthrow all the accepted
experience Of hundred years. under Dem Ocratic.
Wing aud Republican asceudancy. They clothed
the Speaker with absolute power TO control egisla-
ton to count quorum to do business as he has
often done with little more than third of the House
legally present, and with dangerous discretion 10
=. -. f. .1.. "a AZ -
rights of the minority.
Never before in the history Of government have
such extreme exhibitions of partisan malgnity
been witnessed in the Speakers chair as under the
rude dcSpotism Of the present incum bent. lie who
when in a minority was the loudest declaimer
against the slightest restriction of their alleged
rights has been and is the most audaciOus dcnier
of their most ordinary privileges They increased
the majority of seven TO twenty by the most dis
graceful methods of unSeating members fairly
elected by great majOrites in several cases running
from five to thirteen thousand Reed and his fellow
conspiratOrs were fully aware that without these
additional votes their wicked and corrupt designs
could not be carried through, and they did not
scrupc 10 steal the necessary seats by following the
example OF the leaders who stole the Presidency in
lS76.
1t is boosted by these managers that the House Of
/ Representatives, - no lbScl ANibtIhtlNN b''S
They cut OIL free speech and applied the gag to
every subject that might be damaged by fair con
sideration. Here are some of the examples Of this
infamous tyranny: The Mckinley Tariff bill, which
affects the personal and pecuniary interests Of every
nreside in the land consisted of Isl pages. 1t was
| driven through under whip aud spur when only IL
| pages had been read.
| The bill To change the whole judiciary system OF
| the United States was passed after three hours Of
socalled debate. Only ten pages of the bill to or
ganizc Oklahoma territory were read, and even that
concession was considered too liberal
| The bills to admit Idaho and Wyoming states
with four Senator'S two members of the House and
six new electoral votes passed by 100 recorded
votes out of $50 in the full House. by the Speaker
counting members who had declined to take part
| in the creation Of these rotten boroughs
The Force bill was ailroaded in o like manner
by the direction Of John !. Davenport, chief super
visor of New York its real author and by the power
of the Speaker. So, too, the great appropriation
bills. covering millions of extrayagant expendi
lures, were driven by brute force through the House
and sent to conferences without any proper eXami
nation.
! The great business OF the country was seriously
disturbed, and the financial panic threatened that
is upon us, by the proposed legislation OF this
Republican Congress, merely to carry ont its pro
jecS for continued mSrulc, and TO fulfil is Obiga
tons to the patriots who contributed the money 10
elect Harrison while shouting for pure elections.
The keynote Of this sectional crusade sounded
by Speaker Reed in a speech before the Americas
Club at PittSburg last April wherein he said: no
seems to me that the only wise course is 10 take "
Federal hands the Federal elections. Let US eli
loose from state elections, 90 our own regi>SS
our own counting and opa-awn ccrifcauons.
This is the basis Us has--l.aiis which was side
trackoI - ,nc senate until the ifeSt session, not
from any want of desire to pass it, utbccause the
manufacturers feared the delay in the tariff might
still further dcrange the Of trade and dim in
ish their expected profits Therefore they demanded
the pound of flesh first and let the Force bill slide
for the present. This is the true meaning Of the
postponemenl The infamous Force bill puts the
election of members of the House Of Representatives
entirely in the hands of partisan supervisors, mar
Shals and their deputies who wonld be paid SIS SD
SO and - a day for this service. There is limit
To the number Of deputies. The President of the
United States cannot appoint additional soldier
in the army a sailor in the navy without the
previous authority of Congress. But these super
visors and marshalS have unlimited power of ap-
pontment The bill says THE number of special
deputy marshalS who may under any provision OF
law be appointed for election purposes shall be de-
termined from time to time at conferences between
the marshal and the chief supervisor of elections.
@ 6 Such number of supervisors of election as the
chief supervisor shall believe to be sufficient"
Here is an organized army of irresponsible parti-
zans bilcted the treasury, with high pay. for no
other purpose than to control elections. \ half
million, or even million of them, can be called
into service, as supervisors and marshaS may de-
eide. The cost Of this iuiquitous scheme may he
twelve or fifteen millions of dollars, dependent on
to surround the polls and bulldozc voters as they
have done under the present law in New York, Gin
cinnati, Philadelphia and other large cities.
The manu- iacturers and protected corporations
that provided the fund for the Presidential election
ofISSs held high carnival Washington most of the
late session, pressing the bill of denominations con
cocled for their benefit by the committees of the
House and Senate. The farming interest represents
threc-fifths of the whole population, and yet not
single farmer, nor laboror was invited TO appear
before these Republican committees, though they
compose the main body of consumers,
Unjust taxation was the active cause of the revo-
luton that led to our independence as a nation.
The stamp tax of 1863 fired the hearts OF the colo
niss, and made resistance patriotic duty The
British Government soon found its error, and re-
pcalcd the offensive law in l7G6. But the intended
remedy came too late, though only year had
elapsed since its passage.
The taxes imposed by the tariff Of lSS3, and under
the Mckinley law, make the stamp tax of England
appear as a mere mite on the surface, which woud
hardly attract notice now, when compared with the
eXtortonS that have been imposed on the people
for thirty years to enrich preferred class They
have borne this gross injustice so long that patience
had nearly ceased to be virtue. If they were not
law abiding citizens, and hopeful of remedy this
legaized robbery would have led TO revolt long ago
In 1876 under Democratic administration,
Robert J. Walker prepared the tariff that bears his
name the average dd rdorrm, rate of which "a
per cent. 1t fulfilled all the promises and cxpecta-
tons ofits author and of his political friends and
was great relief to the burdens of the Wing tariff
of1SI2.
Such was the success of this great measure that in
1851 the Democrats reduced the TO 10 per cent
The country advanced with exceptional strides
under these wise and moderate tariffs
Agriculture, commerce and manufactures were
all in n healthy condition, and the wealth of the
country was distributed equally among the whole
people.