Iron County register., 1890-02-13
Reeds Suicidal Violence.

! The Democrats If the popular branch
/ of Congress should BE- mucn more COM
placent than they have been hitherto
/ under the suicidal violence of Speak ker
Reed. There is not a man of general
! intelligence in either party who il a
dispassi0nate observer of the struggle
in the House " ho does not know that
{ Speaker Reeds revolutionary AFRO
! gauce must speedily destroy his party
majority in the body, and end in the
! inevitab BILE defeat of his party when it
next appeals to the country. Unless
! the Democrats are thrown in 10 paroXys-
nal action by Speaker Reeds destruc-
| ton OF bis own party, they have little
! else to make them lose their tempers.
| When Speaker Reed refused recogni-
| ton 10 a member of the body when be
rose TO a question of the hig hest priyil-
| ege-that of correcting the j urual as
to his own public action-he was guilty
of the most iusolent abuse of the priv
ileges of the Chair ever witnessed in
any reputable deliberative body, and
it is amazing that there was not one
Republican leader on the floor possess
ing the honesty and courage 10 halt the
Speaker in the interest of public de-
cency. No Speaker who makes such
record can ever preside over the popu-
lar branch Of Congress without de-
structiOn to himself and disaster 10 his
party. The attitude of Speaker Reed
can tie summed up in three words-a
colossal suicide.
1t Is pitiable to see the subserviency
OF party organs excusiug or justifying
Speaker Reed in his unheard-of as
sumption to embody all the power of
the House in himself. The.same iourn
as have uniformly assailed every at
tempt of the ma jorisy when il was of
different politics to restrain the wisely
guarded rights of the minority, aud
the same organs would tomorrow stul-
tify themselves and condemn what
they now defend or apologize for, if the
presumed party advantage was on the
other side. True, they have high au-
thority f3r their disqualification in
Speaker Reed himself, whose protest
ot Of 1880 against his present lawless-
hess, given III another column, proves
how well he understands the law and
how violently he can defy it.
We have had constitutional gov
eminent for more than q century, and
during all that time, alike in Congress
and in all lesser Legislative bodies, the
rrights Of min0rities have been scrupu-
ously respected. 1t is an indjspensa ble
right in a popular government; all
parties have confessed its supreme
necessity, and no party has ever dared
10 abuse it. II is the extreme remedy
for utterly reck iess or revolutionary
legislation; and for more than one hum
dred years no minority has ever dared
To obstruct .legetimate legislation by
its employment. Its abuse 10y the
minority would justify its repeal, and
its necessity in exceptional eXtremities
has ever made minorities abstain from
the needless use of it.
Had Speaker Reed and his party
majority made the Hous a law-ruled
body by the prompt adoption of the
esla Dlished rules and then proposed to
amend the rules in legitimate way,
they could have called the contested
election eases and seated their men
without any revolutionary action from
the minority. There could have been
no revolutionary action because the
minority could not have been excused
in violent resistance TO the regular and
lawful proceedings Of the maj jority;
but when Speaker Reed rejected all
rules; arTogated TO himself the whole
legislative power Of the House; denied
recognition when claimed for the
highest privilege known to a legislative
body, and did ali these things to force
the uHsSaiIUB ti ItlhIBtN iilSIII btIe III
indecent haste, not only was it time to
summon the extreme rights OF the
minority, but il conclusiveiy proved
how imperious is the H. cessity tor Just
such res straints upon violent ma jority.
II Is idle TO say that the success of
legitimate Legislation demands that
the minority shall be gagged and pow
erless. Even Bismarck does not dare
TO apply the gag to the violent revolu-
tiOnists who assail the Empire in The
! Reichstag. No presiding officer under
any constitutional monarchy of the
! world would dare to resort to the viC-
| lent desp tisE exhibited by Speaker
! Reed; but here, in the only govern
! ment where the people rule, revoiu-
| tionary des ootism that would shame
| government of kingly powers is exbib-
| tied from day to day and " ith the APP
! parent sanction of great party. OF
! course, such violence can end only
| in destruction alike TO the offensive
/ Speaker and to the party that is re-
! sponsibIe for and sanctions his acts;
! and " hen the present majority party
! shall return to another Congress as a
| chastened minority, none Will howl
| louder for the rights of the minority
| than the Reeds, the Mckinleys and
| the Butterworths who are now rio'ing
! in revolutionary despotIsm. .-Phtld-
| delphia Times.
The Evolution OF Christianity.