The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-07-09

DISCIPLINE ana leduefHAlp ndfC bAcAA
reward. The Republicans of the House
have accomplished magnificent work,
which it was hardly believed they could
possibly accomplish within a single ses-
sion. Fraud in score of districts had
made the msjorily 50 scanty that at the
outset il was questioned whether it could
hold the quorum necessary for the pas
sage of any disputed bill. Democrats Of
large experience publicly boasted that
they were organized to filibuster year
if necessary, but that frauds in returns
should not be righted, and no Tariff bill
or Election bill should be passed These
threats helped Republican discipline.
Leaders of sagacity and power were Sc
leeted. Mr.. Reed in the chair, Mr.. Nc
Kinley on the floor, and others for im-
portant committees. Six months OF work
have given the country complete and
long needed reform of the rules, so that
the tyranny of the minority no longer
exists, and the majority intrusted 10y the
people with responsibility can perform
its duties; just decisions as to number
of contested seats, 50 that the men ac'u-
ally chosen by the people are now max
ing the laws the bravest and most
statesmanlike Tariff pill ever passed by
the House Silver bill which would
expand the currency largely and yet
with safety; and finally, the admirable
Election bill which passed last week in
spite Of minority at once foolish and
frantic.
No such work had been done by any
other legislative body for many years.
The modern collapse of parliamentary
methods has made lawmaking well-nigh
impossible in Great Britain or France,
but the American House has solved the
seemingly insoluble problem by few
changes of the rules. Men made shame
less by partisan frenzy talk of dictator
ship, but the fact is plain TO all that the
new rules give absolutely no power to
the Speaker unless he is sustained by q
majority in the House. With splendid
discipline, for which nothing but high
patriotic purpose ran account, Republi-
can Representatives have sustained their
leaders in all these measures, even
though some of them have had the
strongest possible motives for desiring
different action from that upon which
the majority decided. Every Republi-
can supported the change in the rules,
every Republican but one in the House
supported the Tariff bill, every Republi-
can but seven supported the Silver bill,
and ont Of a hundred and seventy-three
Republican members of the House only
two voted against the Election bill.
These votes proved not only the disci-
pline of the Republicans, but the fact
that sagacious leadership had first franz
ed measures which clear majority of
the House was prepared to support.
Large legislative bodies are usually
hard to manage But in the Senate only
one of these great measures has been
touched, and on that one a minority Of
Republicans joined with the Democrats
for free silver coinage. The Tariff bill
waits, and the Election bill has still to be
considered, and yet the Senate has not so
reformed its methods that the majority
has any power to control business or to
reach vote on any question. But the
same wise leadership and patriotic feel
ing in the Senate may yet enable that
body to share with the House the honor
of the Inost useful session on record, and
secure final action on all these great
measures in accord with the earnest
wishes of the Republican party.
il is interesting to observe how labor
iously the opponents of the Republican
policy have cheated themselves by false
reports about the wishes Of Republican
members At the outset It was solemnly
predicted that there were a great many
Republicans who would never sustain
Speaker Reeds revolutionary rules"
but every one of them voted for the rules
aforesaid. Then for months there were
printed almost daily in Free Trade papers
accounts ofmany Republicans who would
never support the Mckinley bill, but the
many" dwindled to one. II was the
open boast Of the free-coinage men in the
House that they would beat the Silver
bill of the Republican caucus. But they
have tried twice and failed. Down to
the very close Of the voting self-cheated
Democrats reckoned upon the support of
score or more Republicans in defeating
the Election bill, and they are raging
about their disappointment still. Next,
the same stories are told about the action
of Republicans in the Senate, and by
Democrats and Free Traders are gener-
ally believed But the Republicans OF
the Nation do not expect to have cause
for Indignation in the conduct Of those to
whom they have intrusted the grave
responsibility and high honor of the
senatorship. Probably Democratic re-
ports only mean more Democratic self.
deception.--N y. Tribune.
------------a----