The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-03-16
The Results of the Decisions Touching tho
Mckinley Law.

Mckinley Law.
Let us look back little. The Demo-
cratic victory of 1890 was won largely up
on the assertion that the Mckinley
tariff and the Dingley worsted bill were
unconstitutional. Men professedly Of
great knowledge in the law, not in the
chief importing cities only, but in other
parts Of the country, including conspic-
uous members of the Senate and House,
staked their reputation as lawyers on the
assertion that these acts were not mere
ly inexpedient, as they claimed, but
plainly in violation of the constitution.
Yet the supreme court Of the United
States, Democratic and Republican JUS
tees agreeing, decides by unanimous
vote that both these acts are constitu-
tional and valid.
Another great advantage which the
Democrats had in the elections of 1890
was that the action of Congress on many
important measures was declared un-
constitutional because the Speaker
counted members as present who were
present. Who does not remember the
frantic outcries of Democrats at that
time, how Speaker Reed was n tyrant,
usurper, car, and how the one-man
despotism in the House must be re-
buked by the people? Because Re-
power to control legislation, and to
make effective the will of the people in
the previous congressional elections,
this infamous usurpation, it was said,
must be put down, or the liberties of
the people would be sacrificed. This
notion actually caught many thousand
innocent voters, who imagined that a
rule of the House must be quite out
rageous because Democrats had never
adopted it. But now the United States
supreme court, Democratic and Repub-
lican justices agreeing. unanimously de-
cides that the action of Speaker Reed
was constitutional and of unquestiona-
BILE validity.
So it was said that reciprocity was
fraudulent and worthless trick; that
Congress had no power to intrust the
President with the responsibility of de-
Gliding whether the conditions upon
which legislative act depended had
been met. There were some people
who really considered it about the
worst and most revolutionary thing the
last Republican Congress had done.
But the United States supreme court
now decides that it was unQuestionably
constitutional, and in that decision one
Of the Democratic and all the Repub-
lican justices concur.
These decisions come in good time to
help reasonable voters in the judgment
they have to form this year regarding
the two parties. They happen to ac-
cord, moreover, with the exceedingly
emphatic decisions of the Democratic
judges in the state Of New York regard
ing the stealing of seats in the legicla-
ture. They exhibit the Republican
party as acting carefully and scrupulous-
ly within its constitutional powers, even
in the most difficult emergencies, aid
contending only for what is legal and
right. They disclose also the impudent,
lawless and law-resisting spirit of the
Democratic party in national as we'll as
state affairs.-New York Tribune.
1t is worthy of note in connection
with these decisions to say that one of
the greatest speeches made in the SEN
ate on the reciprocity clause of the Nc
Kinley act was that of Senator John G.
Spooner, on September 8, 1890. He
took decided grounds in its favor, and
not only combated the theory of the
Democratic senators but that of Senator
Evarts. So a majority Of the supreme
court has sustained Col. Spooner's argu-
ment on the constitutionality of the re-
ciprocity clause.