The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-08-29
STARTLED STATESMEN.
THE ALLIANCE BLIZZARD BLOWING
THROUGH THE HALLS.

THE ALLIANCE BLIZZARD BLOWING
THROUGH THE HALLS.
Many Members Hurrying Home to Look
After their Fences--The Sections Struck
and the Men Threatened-The House
Demoralized and Distempered.
WASHINGTON, d. c., Aug. 2O.-To.
ward the end of July full half the men,
bers of the House of Representatives
were absent from their duties. Storm
clouds had unexpectedly appeared in
nearly every Congressional District in
agricultural sections of the country,
South and West. The political sky was
ablaze with suggestive premonitions.
tEarmers'S1l liance wl kefx. In a
few districts It had roared like torna-
do, overwhelming representatives seek
ing reelection. Republicans and
Democrats had been served alike. In
other districts it resembled a flood
sweeping over river bottoms and carry
ing everything before it There were
astounding reports from Kansas and
reports equally alarming from North
Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and the
Gulf States. Senators as distinguished
| as ingalls, and Vance were threatened
| There were anxious faces in the House.
| Experienced veterans heard the whist
ling of the storm and knew they were
in danger. They paired with men of
opposite political faith in equal peril,
and sped to their districts to look after
their political households. In some
cases they were too late to save them
selves. In others they are still strug-
Cling.
The rising Of the farmers might aptly
be compared to the rising in the de-
partmentS of France at the time of the
French revolution. Honest legislators,
who had never failed in devotion to the
agricultural interests of the country,
struggled for their political existence.
In Georgia there was a violent gale.
James III. Blount, of Macon, serving his
eighteenth consecutive year in the
House, was forced to raise his umbrella.
Judge John ID. Stewert was over
whelmed. Tom Grimes and Judge
Barnes also went under. There were
alarming reports concerning the politi-
Cal future of that prince of Confeder-
ate soldiers, Gov. John b. Gordon.
The farmers were making the fight for
the Legislature with the intention of
putting one of their own number in the
United States Senate in the place of
Gov. Joe. Brown. Governor Gordon
had thrown himself into their ranks in
the hopes of securing the prize.
Such were some Of the reports that
reached the House. In Mississippi such
tried veterans as General Hooker,
James Bright Morgan, General Catch
| lngs and Thomas II. Stockdale were en-
| dangereds, Brilliant John, ,M-Allen re-
/ ccssyss.. .ssss TatT0n before the
stSlm had fairly uurst. In Alabama
Gen. William III. Forney was seriously
threatened. His loss would have been
q national loss. He well fills Samuel
j. RandalPs place in the Committee on
Appropriations.
In Kansas, Iowa and Illinois eyery-
thing Is at sea. The political life of
the Rev. John A. Anderson, rough-and
ready Perkins, and of pertinacious Fun.
ston is at stake. Anderson Is q born
fighter. His assault upon the Pacific
railroads alone ought to endear him to
the farmers. He will be in the field
despite all opposition, and If he must
go. will fall like hero.
| Then there was alarming news from
South Carolina. The veteran George
D. Tillman alone was undismayed. He
is brother of the Tillman who is shak-
ing up the political aristocracy of the
Palmetto State, and whose obituary is
probably already in type in the COM
posing rooms OF more than one daily
newspaper.
west. The sitting members were not
only exposed to the blasts of the Farm.
ers' Alliance, but were shaken by the
school question that had excited the
German Lutherans. This agitation
threw the Republican Representatives,
of the Badger State into fever. It
threatens their supremacy to such an
extent that it Is claimed the State will
go Democratic. The great Caswell is
said to have been knocked out of re-
nomination. There were also cyclones
in Congressional districts in Illinois.
Indiana. Minnesota and Michigan.
All these rumorS withered up the
| House like a sirocco. 1t shrunk to the
smallest dimensions. The Speaker had
difficulty in counting quorum. Many
an empty seat tells of the desperate
struggle. Both sides find it difficult to
keep their lines. kilograms are re-
ceived daily telling of the fortunes of
Representatives hundreds and thous-
ands of miles away.
n quorum was FOUND only when q
vote was taken upon the most impor-
tant measures. There were tiresome
debates in committee of the whole on
the original packake, the bankruptcy.
and other bills. Men spoke to empty
seats. The Committee on Rules kept
its grip on the throat of the House.
1t not only directed what bills should
be taken up, but allotted the time for
consideration and specified the hour
for voting. Without this specification
1T would have been almost impossible
to have obtained a voting quorum at
the critical moment.
There was no chance for the thous.
ands of little bills upon the calendarsI
These are usually showed in to fill the
interstices Of legislation by unanimous
consent. The list of bills on the print
ed calendars toward the end of the
month filled 120 pages. The calendar
OF the committee of the whole on the
state of the Union took up twenty
three; the House calendar carried nine.
and the private calendar was spread
over forty-seven pages. There was a
page of special orders, FIVE pages of un-
| finished business, and q page Of priyil-
eyed reports. over LOO bills remained
upon the calendar, only 237 of which
| NEfn 49,.