Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-05
wEDNEsDAY. FEBaOAaY 5, 1890.
Look out fer Even-Handed Justice.

No amount of special pleading on the
part of the Republicans about the
abstract Justice of the Reed ruling will
blind the people of the country to the
fact that it was sprung upon Congress at
this particular juncture for the specific
purpose of seating seventeen Republican
contestants for seats in the House. For
over century it had been the rule to
treat, in the count for quorum, the
members who refused to vote as not
present. They were not present
in the parliamentary sense. Whether
such rule ought to be changed so as to
make the fact OF corporeal presence
count as parliamentary presence for the
purpose of quorum, is not so much the
question as is the object of springing
it upon the country at this
particular time. We have no doubt if
the question of changing the parliamen-
tary practice in this re pect had been
brought properly and deliberately before
Congress for discussion in a calm and
deliberate way, there are many Demo
Gratis who would have favored the change.
But to have it suddenly thrust upon
the House for On ulterior party
purpose, and arbitrarily showed down
the throats of those who protested, by a
Speaker who assumed the autocratic
power Of doing SO, is revolving to every
sense ofright and justice of men who are
not carried away by blind partisauship.
The House has been organized for two
months, and during that whole time the
Committee on Rules, controlled by the
Republican majority, have designedly
held back their report of get of rules to
govern the session. Amongst the very
first steps taken by every parliamentary
body is to adopt the rules that shall gov
ern it's proceedings. This has been done
heretofore in the House early at the
beginning of every session. Why has it
not been done at this session? The an
swer is obvious. There was conspiracy
amongst the Republican leaders to pre-
cipitate the Reed ruling upon the House
under such construction as that individ-
ual might please to put upon general
parliamentary laws.
If it be asked what was the object
of such revolutionary proceeding, the
answer is not far to seek. There were
seventeen Democrats in the House whose
seats were contested by seventeen Re.
publicans. The House was 30 evenly
divided between the two parties,
that it was necessary to strengthen
the small and precarious majority
the Republicans had by theee seventeen
seats. This would give them majority
of twenty-nine, and with that majority
they would be strong enough to carry
out all the party measures which woult
meet with the strenuous opposition G
the Democrats.
The probabilities are that nineteenth
of the contestants have the f1imsiest kim
of cases; but the majority report of tn
Committee on Contested Elections woult
naturally favor the Republicans, and, a
was the case on Monday when Smitl
was seated, the Republican contestant
would be enabled to slip in under tn,
cloud raised by this cuttle- fish ruling O
the Speaker. There is no chance to in
.quire into the merits of a case when thu
temper OF the House is excited by tn,
plain exposition of conspiracy t,
crush out all precedents tina
would protect the rights of thu
minority. The people will not be slov
to see through the high-hanGed policy o
the Republicans, and they will resent i
next year, when the Democrats will agair
be returned to power in the House. Ther
"the ingredients of the poisoned ehalice'
the Republicans have prepared may "bt
commended to their own lips"
Dem0i1shtng the City Charter.