The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-08-06

for which 1t Will nave name Ill HlStoiy.
Having thus assumed the reins OF pow
er, the majority became responsible for
what was done. They became response
BILE for the Act of 1890 relating. to the
purchase of silver. Whether that act,
isolated from all the circumstances OF
1890, was absolutely wise is more than |
know. That it then and there saved
this country from the free coinage OF
silver for which every Democratic leader
was then clamoring, and on which they
are now SO silent, / do know. If time
shall show that it ought to be repealed,
that will in no wise initiate against the
wisdom of passing it in 1890. They be-
came responsible for the refunding of
the direct tax, a just measure, which,
among other things, saved from bank
ruptcy the state Of Kentucky, most, II
not all, of whose Representative voted
against it.
They became responsible for that lat
est revision of the tariff, which is just
now rising so high above the SANDERS
which two years ago poured upon it as if
the foundation of the great deep had
been broken up. Free sugar, larger ex-
ports and larger imports are fully justi-
flying the bill, and increased manufac-
turing results will soon add their quota
to the returning prosperity of the
country.
They became responsible also for the
meat and cattle inspection, which took
away from foreign nations their last ex-
cuse for refusing to receive our food
products and enable our able Secretary
of Agriculture and our foreign ministers
to restore to us in some measure the
markets of the world for such products.
rThox, h1n for tho rio.
struction of the Louisiana Lottery. They
redeemed the honor of the United States
by making provision to pay its honest.
debts. They opened up to actual settle
ment many million acres of productive
lands, and gave suitable form of gov
eminent to vast acres of the territory of
the United States.
They became responsible for pension
laws which the Democratic House has
not dared to assail, and which, however
much they may be covertly complained
of, were but the assurance of the nation
that the soldiers of the war and their de-
pendents might be forever sure that the
bounty of the nation, which it was honor
able for them to receive, should stand
between them and that faint of dishonor
which, whether justly OF unjustly, has
always attached itself to local and pa
rochial charity.
But it is not necessary to again enum-
crate the acts passed by the Fifty-First
Congress. The catalogue already given
of duties pressing upon the Congress at
its commencement is also a catalogue of
duties done. The House of Representa-
tives of the Fifty-frst Congress met
every responsibility without exception,
and gave the Judgment of the represen-
ta+ Of tho r,on1,1o oil tho
lions which the people put before them.
That all this work was accom-
plished at any time under most
favorable circumstances would have
been a great achievement, but
that it was accomplished, and so well
accomplished, under the fiercest opposi-
ton that ever existed in any legislative
body. is tribute alike to the soundness
of the rules of the House and the unfal-
tering courage of its majority. After the
lapse of only two years the fierce fire of
reproach and clamor has all died away,
and out of the mouths of its most siren
uous opponents its praises are perfected.
The Supreme Court of the United
States has followed the Judgment of
every tribunal that ever passed upon the
question, and pronounced with the same
unanimity which characterized the others
that ''present quorum" is the only
quorum contemplated by the Constitu-
ton of the United States. No fatuous
action of any majority, however large or
however foolish, can ever again be
shielded by any claim of the lack of
power. The right Of the majority to
rule has been established as our fathers
understood it, and can never again be
abdicated. If autocratic power is again
rr,x, 70, 10 Ivy
escape responsibility. 1t is true that the
present House has refused its privileges,
and shirked its duties, and led gelatin
Gus life to the scorn Of all vertebrate
animals; nevertheless the example once
set of a House of Representatives doing
all the work put before it, and emerging
in two short years from deluge of re-
proach, with its actions justified by
events and its method of action justified
by the highest tribunal known to our
law. can never be lost to the future of
this country.
With the single exception of the tariff
act, which is the subject of partisan at
tack, every act passed by the Fifty-frst
Congress has remained unassailed by
even a Democratic House, and the long
list of acts which though done in two
years, were really the business of more
than eight years, now stand, with single
exception, approved by the silence of an
opposition which was wildly and ram
PANTY vociferous when these acts were
passed.
Look over the list of legislative acts
for 1890 and 1891. Compare them in in
trinsic importance with those passed by
any Congress of the century, and you
will find no rival list except that enacted
by the first Congress of the war, when
considerations taking hold of the very
existence of the nation had silenced OPP
position, and left patriotism unob-
structed.
Our reputation, the reputation of the
Fifty-frst Congress, for wisdom has been
indicated by the permanence OF our laws,
Our reputation for the economical APP
preparation of the public funds in the
interest of the people has been more than
indicated by the appropriation of 40
millions in addition to what we ex-
pended-an appropriation made by the
very boosters who reviled us SO
triumphantly while they were putting on
the harness. Mr.. Holman now unders
stands as never before the wisdom of
that scripture, which says:'Let not him
that putteth on the harness boast like
him that putteth it off,"
Surely the verdict of history, the only