Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-10-09

of his party has exercised them. If, my
friends, the House OF Representatives
has no more In the way OF discretion and
power than that which Mr.. Reed describes
it and to which be has reduced it, then II
is simply useless and expensive APP
peudage to our American system. There
really is no use IN l52, 900 people sending
man to represent them VIXEN upon his
arrival at his scene OF duty he is reduced
to the automGton that Raed's rules nave
mado him. Applause. The reprasen-
tativo of dsriot who was to speak the
voice Of 152. goo people GIN do
80 now only under the speaker'a
permission. The presence CT the member
ca be ignored, his protests will remain
unnotioed, his speech or his silence,
either of them, disregarded. The repre-.
sentative OF 1862, coo freemsn can be
treated by the Speaker either as silent
when he would speak or as speaking aud
voting when he would elect to be silent.
The powers vested by the constitution in
the House have now been transferred to
the Speaker alone. A quorum Of the
House is created by the Speakers indi-
vidual count; members are declared pres
ent when they are actually absent, and
they are reported as voting when they
|
Now what is such record worth II
no longer is record of proceedings OF
the popular branch of government, but
it is tue proceedings Of its master, who
is the Speaker, alone. Let me read you
here from paper, not in sympathy With
our party but IN entirely representative
ard independent paper, the Philadelphia
Ledger, which says:
\ rha unuaa NJ Ranrauantatt,,os hoe l. NJ.
reduced by Speaker Reed to Ridiculous
state OF partisan imbecility when 1t refuses
to allow correction OF matters OF fact on
the journal, such AS that demanded by Mr..
Springer on Wednesday.
Under the Reed rules representative
distasteful in his politics or person to
Mr.. Reed may be ruthlessly ignored by
him. At his will his protest will be
passed by unnoticed aud disregarded.
The rules, 80 called, are as clay in the
hands of the potter and are moulded at
the Speakers will. From the chair he is
able TO derde, or sneer, or scof in safety;
his partisans look on and laugh amid the
ruins of free government. When, to
mark their protest, tine Democratic mem
bers retire from such scenes, photo
graph is taken to describe their absence.
l ask you what condition of mind and
feeling does the suggestion by the Re-
publicans that such q photograph should
be taken exhibit? A man who sees an
evil going on that he is powerless to
resist, refuses 10 witntsI any longer the
dissertation of the temple of liberty, he
turns his eyes away from the assassina-
tion OF liberty in her own temple Zap
plause and the chair that he leaves
vacant IS supposed to indicate something
to his shame or to his wrong because he
refuses to lend his presence TO such out
rssesi
My friends, these things are not idle
statements. They cannot be gainsaij.
They have been done over and over
again during this session of Congress,
and the printed record of proceedings
stands there to prove it, In public
speech made by him, MIR. Speaker Reed
10 reported, with infinite sneers and
scorn and contempt for the Democratic
members Of the House, to have thanked
God that the House of Representatives
was no longer deliberative body, but it
was body meant for "business"
My friends, this man is to us unim-
portant. he m st go the way that all
men go, and the time OF life in short; but,
believe me, he is laying the seed for evils
that shall live after him. He is breaking
down the beautiful architecture of Lib
eity that our fathers toiled so prayerfully,
30 carefully to erect. Applause.
l cannot refrain from indignation,
cannot refrain from sorrow, when think
with what toll, what religious care and
duty these rules were laid, and how the
House of Representatives, the great GUS
todian and originator of the sovereign
| power 60 lay taxes upon the people, was
made for the peoples sake deliberative
body. 1t is not form; il is not SUBJ
stance. Talk of my business; of Ills
business; The business of the American
is to respect the principles Of liberty
upon which b country was founded.
| [Applausel But he has not seen that
light. The way that he has sought to
blaze through the American plantation
was not that direction. There cannot be
found by any man decision justifying
such action by the speaker, but there
can be found by any man abundant Eefu-
tation OF that which he has said.
REED VERSUS REED.
will lake his own words. Four short
years ago, in 1885, this same man who de-
rides now the right of Representative to
deliberate and his duty to deliberate, the
right to be silent when no would, and
to speak when he would, to exercise
that highest discretion for the in
terests OF his constituents, this right was
described with persuasiveness and fuency
and avouched for on the floor of the
House by this same Thomas b. Reed.
Would you have other Republican
authority? Let me read what his friend
and brother from Maine, M. james G.
Blaine, [spplause] says upon the su iset.
He was written 60 in 1853 by gentle
man in Lincoln, Nebraska, asking him as
to the power Of the Speaker to count
quorum when the msmbers we're evi.
IDENTIFY present though not voting;
WASHINGTON, April 10, 1881. c. Collins,
Speaker House Of Representatives., Spring.
tisld, Ill.,: Members N their seats not vor-
ing cannot be counted In any way what
ever. They may be censured by the Speaker
for failing TO perform their duty but the
Speaker cannot take cognl2ance of their
presence except as they respond to the roll
call.
[Signedl JAMES G. BLAINE.
Shall cite Garfield, or Mr.. Hawley,
or many other distinguished leaders OF
the Republican party to show that this
man has acted in the teeth of every de.
olaration of doctrine But, fellow citi- |
zens, il they had never spoken, and it |
seems marvellous to me that they should, |
b; oluae the question ought never to have
been raised, [ would say 70 you-neyer
attempt to empower the Speaker at his
will to make up the record OF the House
and to count men as voting when their
discretion and conscience tell them not
to vote. -..5-.
,nfess TO you feel alarmed at such
assaults upon popular liberty, when they
snn nn,Hnrnnd I'D nr....n.-nl