The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-03-28

country at bay. The doctrine OF the
''rights of the minority" seemed to have
eliminated at that moment.
But the trying time for all ill-doing
is the summit of prosperity. When Mr..
Tweed wanted to know what you were
going to do about it, !" he had challenged
both the ingenuity and the courage of
mankind; and from that time it was
Tweed against .ae world, and the result
not doubtful. Had filibustering con-
fined itself to the House of Representa-
tives or held itself within bounds OF
reason it might have flourished long and
had many defenders. 1t was con-
venient method of demanding debate,
of calling the attention of the country
to violent political measures, and de-
served many a the commentators it
then received. But when in 1889 1t
commenced to be the common method OF
preventing decision of election cases,
and finally in 1889 re-established the
liberum veto of the old Polish Diet,
whereby single member became the
arbiter of destiny. every man Of sense
recognized the fact that the practice
was doomed.
Moreover, filibustering went on grow
ing in the direction of another disaster.
1t reached the State Legislatures, where
the people could see it face to face. 1t
came down to municipalities and school
boards. II invaded even the assemblies
of the churches, and rule Is among the
rules for judicatories adopted by the
Presbyterian General Assembly of Penn
sylvania bears witness alike of the evil
and its suppression when it declares
that silent members" must be consid-
cred as acquiescing with the majority"
1t is no wonder that the scheme OF OPP
position by not voting spread SO rapid
". 1t is so much easier to sit still than
to argue, SO much more restful to use
the attraction of gravitation than to eX-
haust nervous energy, that 1t was notin
human nature to refrain from the use OF
this power. which had the high sane
ton of Congress and ''the presidents OF
of a hundred years" But men never
remain reasonably bad; they almost al
ways carry badness to excess, and there
fore to correction. And thus this scheme
of silence, which worked so well in the
distant atmosphere Of the National cap
ital, soon met its death when it got
down to the regions of business. Wash
ington is far away and only little under
stood, but a man whose contract may be
adiudged void and his business career
ruined by this doctrine of corporal
presence and parliamentary absence
soon begins to understand one place
where the rights of minorities ought to
leave off. Hence when municipal
bodies began to initiate their superiors
and tried to break contracts as well as
quorums, the gladstone light of juris-
prudence was soon shed upon them, and
the parliamentary fiction that a man
present could truthfully declare himself
absent disappeared from every place
except the capitol at Washington.
1t is useless to cite the debates of the
that they would remove any shade of
doubt, if we had any, but the language
of the constitution leaves no room for
question. If by any chance there is not
a quorum, the constitution provides
way to get one. 1t Is not by recording
those present as voting either yea or
nay, but by making the absent present
1t provides for the supply Of what is
lacking. That which was lacking was
a quorum. 1t supplies that lack by ''at-
tendance" Attendance alone was and
is necessary. Is it inconceivable that
cur ancestors should have tried to sup
ply by attendance" lack Of q quorum
If they knew that attendance" would
not supply the lack? Why send for
men if that was not the remedy?
Along with this doctrine of the in
visibility of the visible have come some
specious arguments which, by dint of
frequent repetition, have taken on the
importance Of formulas or accepted
facts. Among these is the alleged duty
Of the majority to furnish quorum.
Why should good Democrats, washing
their hands. like Pontius PLATE, Of this
matter. and desiring only the quiet and
convenient seclusion of their own
seats, be compelled to submit to the
outrage of being noticed in order en-
able legislation to march? Let the ma
, jority have their men here. Let every
Republican be IN his seat where he be-
longs, and there would be no trouble.
Another specious form which this ar
gument sometimes takes is the DECLARE
ton that there are great and solemn &C.
casions when the minority should have
the right to demand majority vote of
all those elected to membership. Who
is to Judge of these solemn occasions?
Why, the very gentlemen whom our
Government by majorities conclusively
presume to be wrong-the minority?
Why, said Mr.. Mills, Of Texas, this is in
the constitution of this State. that State
and the other State, and therefore is
right 1t would seem TO an ordinary
constitutional lawyer as if the fact that
it had to be put into other constitutions,
and had not been put into ours, was con-
! elusive that it was not there either by
implication or design. 1t is to be hoped
that the time is far distant when any
body will even propose to put into the
constitution OK the United States the
| crude expressions Of distrust in the rep
resentatives of the people which disfig-
ure many of our State constitutions.
When men learn that the truest foun-
! dation on which to build, perpetuate and
maintain republic is confidence in the
wisdom of the plain people, they will
; cease to deprive them Of power in order
/ to lodge it in the hands Of the few whose
only claim to wisdom and virtue is their
paucity of numbers. When the world
reaches real belief in government by
the people, we shall find it the surest
safeguard of liberty and property; we
shall find States better ruled and cities
better governed than by any of those de-
vices which are based on the false idea