The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-08-29
FRIDAY. AUGUST %. 1890.
PLANTATION VERSUS DARKROOM

u,h.haters have always welcome"
soo,.s in the lower house OF congress
which would give them the oppor'uhi', "
discourse upon what they styled pi"h'"''o"
,nan,ers The conduct Of the representa-
ices ~ south-haters on Wednesday has not
only given an example OF the lowest mouse
ever belonging to Congress- but challenges
tho pcople OF the United States TO deciue W
tween plantation manners ana o''-,o'"
,,a,ncrs. The newspapers OF every shaue
az politics in the country unite in denouhc-
ing the profanity and 'ulgarity wn'en
cbarsc,erized the alteration OF the hauic"s
ON the floor Of the House.
No matter how warm ana eA0i'e"
former personal debates have been Ill
Tho Uouse. when plantation manners
have prevailed, it was never Deioie
necessary to demand that the galleries
be cleared of spectators, including man!
women. Never before was such language
,,sad ON the floor as fell from the foul lips
Of Cannon-and it is likely that had MI
Cannon used them when plantation man.
,ers nreyailed, il would not have been ne
cessary for Reed to keep them from 'he
record in order that he should have
met the full responsibility attached
bv gentlemen to such atterances. But per
hans he was drunk, a. few men wheh sooer
ever dare to address such epithets 10 Others
NJ he was drunk he should have renamed
in tho bar.room. where his language would
have suited his surroundings. lie ma!
anolocize when be becomes sober, but the
House by the cowardy conduct oil Reed Is
ureyented from taking any cognlzance OIL
the occurrence.
such disgraceful scene was but the
logical outcome of the arbitrary methods
employed by Reed in ruling. with his iron
hand a deliberatiye body. Upon hiu rests
the ultimate responsibility before the
country of Cannon's obscenity. His whole
course has been TO exercise tyrannical
authority in furthering the basest partisan
schemes. The men who have assisted him
in his unconstitutional, Radical career,
have naturally become more contami-
mated by corruption than thew were
when they consented to represent the
Radical party in Congress. When men are
flushed with the conviction that they are too
strong 10 be opposed, their tendency IS TO
initiate the power which has welded them.
limitations of Reed, who has hesltated at
nothing to carry his point, led to tyrannlcal
indiyidualism In his henchmen. Tyranny
means inconsistency and irrespOnsibility
TO say nothing of a loss of seli-respect and
dignity.
When, therefore, radicals encountered a
measure upon which all true Democrats
would oppose them, the pretextwas given for
an outbreak of violence among themselves.
Their trucking 10 Reed had deprived them
of a sense Of honor and manhood, and so
giving full vent TO their animal passions.
which had not been brought under the sub
DUNG influence of plantation, they turned
the House of Representatives into the semb-
lance Of a bar-room, and had not they been
protected by the fact that they were men,
bers Of Congress somebody would have
called the police, and the offenders, after
cooling off in Jail over night, would have
been fined two dollars and costs for being
drunk and disorderly.
The conduct of the brawlers may be soft
ened by calling it an exhibition of planta-
ton manners. But those manners are more
of the quarters than Of the great house. The
country, though, if given the choice between
the plantation manners of the South and
the bar-room manners of the North on the
floor Of Congress, would choose the former
without hesitation.