Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-30
TOO BIG A MAJORITY.
Democrats Will Soon Find They Have
Too Much of a Good Thing.
CONGRESS AND THE CAMPAIGN.
Upon the Policy of the New Statesmen May
Depend the Presidency.
ONGRESS AND THE CAMPAIGN.
HGW POLITICAL ISSUES ARE MADE
rrnnn IA sr.rr CORRESPONDENT,


NEW YORK, Nov 29-'rThe situation of
the Democratic party in the coming
national contest" said a Western Senator
in general conversation at the Hoffman
the other evening, "largely depends upon
the action of its representatives. in Congress
this session.
The feeling that upon Congress will rest
the larger share of the responsibility for
the success or failure of the Democracy in
the Presidential campaign is pretty general,
and here in New York just now over
shadows the question Of the candidacy. No
matter who may be selected as the national
standard bearer, he must stand for accept
Gnce or rejection by the people upon the
issues laid down for him. His person al
popularity viii chiefly favor him as it har-
monies with and strengthens such issues.
And these issues are not constructed by ma
tionl nominating conventions. Nor are
they defined by the individual acts or ut
terances of particular party leaders. They
are rather the product of party tendency as
shown by the record Legislative, admins
trative and judicial And no party can es-
cape its record by the nomination of par
ticular man or by the formal declaration
Of principles. In the man it merely adds
his record to the score; in the platform it
puts its already known collective acts and
purposes hef ore the public in condensed
form.
The Changes of a Year.
No other body of men was ever got to-
Cefher in this country who more clearly
repre- sented the expression of popular will
at the time they were elected, than the in
coming House of Representatives. This
without regard to national issues. No
such majority was ever returned from the |
whole people. 1t was the indignant re- |
iOinder to Congress that broke the record |
for the abuse of legislative power. Had the |
election embraced a Presidential ticket the |
entire Republican administration would |
have been unquestionably overthrown. But |
that was year ago.
Nobody will claim that this House of
Representatives represents the people to-
day on any issue of the coming two years.
The majority of the House does not now
even represent its party. 1t is the mere
foam on Coney Island glass of beer. So
iar rs national issues are concerned it never
represented the popular Wilt was elected
as a merited rebuke, the spank of the
parent to the unruly child. Those who con-
sider it as a tangible evidence of settled
public opinion will be enlightened to their
cost IN the near future. If in fit of anger
4 man knock down his friend, it is no evil
6ence that the two will not enjoy as firm
friendship afterward 1t by no means fol-
lows that there will be another knock
down, though under like provocation
similar punishment mig ght result
Why the Situation Is Dangerous
1t will be seen, therefore, that three i'm
mlnent dangers confront the Democratic
party in the House of Representatives The
ic tho diA1oultr- of L. -, |
two-thirds majority; second, the erroneous
notion that that majority represents the
existing popular will as to national issues; |
and, third, the idea that it represents the
Democratic party. ANY political record
making by such an overwhelming majority
lS fraught with grea: danger to the Demo
cratic party. Anv political record-making
based upon the belief that it represents
either the country or the party in etirety
Will greatly enhance the risks of Demo-
cratic Presidential success in 1892.
The first faint mutterings of the coming
storm are heard in the quarrel over the |
Speakership. They pretty clearly indicate
that the dangers here pointed out are
neither appreciated nor needed in WASH
inCton. They also indicate with equal
force the well-founded expectations of the
Republican leaders that this Democratic
House of Representatives will furnish the
necessary political capital to set the admin
istration party up in business next wear.
The prospective selection of such man as
Mr.. Mills, of Texas TO preside over such a |
House and to organize its working force is |
alone enough to fill Republicans with de-
light.
Carlisle Mistaken in Mills Temperament.
I have studied Mills on the floor of the
House Of Representatives for number of ,
years. Outside of all the political issues at
stake, and regardless of his extreme views
on the questions of the hour, he is, in nv
Judgment. the most unfit man for such a re- /,
sFonSibility that could be selected from the
ranks of his party among all who have been
named in connection with the high office /,
He stands out in painful contrast with the /,
long and almost unbroken line of able and !
conservative men who have occupied the !,
Speakers chair. The Blaines, the Ran :
dalls, the Carlisles, the Kerrs, the Colfa1es !
and a score of other samples were not Pres ,
identsl impossibilities. for they were
Speakers Of the stuff of which Presidents ,
are made. The Republican precedents of
keifer and Reed ought to be a warning to ;
the Democratic party, for they abundantly :
illustrate the perils that beset a party ,
through the Speakership. There are quail =
ties in certain men that not only constitute :
them natural leaders of their fellows but
enable them to command the respect of their =
political enemies and, task more difficult
STILL curb and wisely direct the ambition of .
their own partisans. Neither Keifer nor Il
Reed possessed those qualities and the re- S
suits were disastrous to their party Those
results and the causes are yet too conspicu-
ously in the foreground Of public affairs to $
need recapitulation. If plain, unvarnished Q
brute bullheadedness were the essential :
requisite in a Speaker of the national I
House of Representatives, then both of :
these men would have served well the party t
exigences that placed them in the chair. S
Then Mr.. R. @. Mills, of Texas, would now
be the logical candidate
Mills Can't Rule His Own Spirit
But to his natural bullheadedness Mr.
Mills adds Temperament that constantly :
involves him on the foor and has always g
made him the butt of his associates A i
man unable TO rule his own spirit has very {
poor chance in the Speakers chair-a posi- I
tion requiring the possession of e1traordi- y
nary tact and GOODNESS coupled with courage
and frmness. The conspicuous want of the
same qualities absent in Mills defeated the
brilliant Blackburn when he aspired to the
same Office. The possession of them made (
Carlisle, Randall, Blaine and other Speak 1
ers great Mills showed himself unfit for
such a trust in the management of his own
pet measure and in hundred ways familiar |