The Oskaloosa herald., 1892-08-11
PUREST AND BEST
AN INVESTIGATING LOT

Mr.. W. o. Crosby writes from Wash
iDgton to The HERALD that the pres
ent House of Representatives with its
$50 Democratic majority will go down
to history as the great investigator. 1t
has Investigated almost everything in
connection with the Republican admin
istration of the government, and hay
ing met with failure and disappoint.
ment in its every effort to convict the
Republican party of wrong doing has
now turned to more fruitful field in
the investigation OF itself. This time
their efforts have been crowned with
SUCCESS. and yet they are not proud of
the result; neither are the American
people. 1t is not spectacle for any
American to contemplate with pride
that the popular branch of congress
should deem it necessary that it should
solemnly proceed to determine whether
or not the House of Representatives is
neither more or less than drinking
saloon and its members set of drunk
ards. And yet this is exactly what
this Democratic congress has succeeded
in doing.
1t is all the result Of'a Democratic
family row, and the evidence of guilt
points only to Democratic representa-
ives. This most disgraceful affair is
not only Democratic family fight but
iJ is tight among the ex rebel Demo
Gratis of the south, and indicates how
bitter has become the contest between
the two branches of the Democracy in
the south. Mr.. Tom Watson.of Georgia,
a lifelong bourbon Democrat, succeed
ed in being elected to congress as an
Alliance Democrat in opposition to the
machine program and Immediately the
representatives of the machine began
t. make vicious war upon him. Wat
son fought back and the war has con-
tinued ever since with constantly in.
creasing bitterne Finally Watson
published book for use in the ALI
ance campaign and in his reference to
the present congress among many
caustIc criticisms alleged drunkenness
upon the floor of the House on the
part Of the members. Shortly after
some brother Democrat while engaged
in a tongue battle with Watson, in the
course of debate, quoted the drunken
allegation from the Watson book, and
that gentlemen defended the allegation
and Ieaffirmed its truthfulness. where
upon some chronic Investigator not
realizing that the thing was loaded
with dynamite, at once moved an il-
vestigation and the temperance Dem
ocrats ably assisted by the Republicans
adopted it. A committee was appoint
ed and on the hearing at least dozen
members testified to having seen mem
bers on the floor of the House in var
iOus stages of intOxication, and several
testified that they had seen members
reeling ana were maudling drunk.
These witnesses were not Republicans
but Democrats and Alliance men.
Then there were introduced a number
of Democratic gentlemen to prove that
they saw no one who was reeling or
maudling drunk, and several of these
witnesses testified as jag experts. None
nf the testimony tended to show that
there was no intoxicatiOn, but there
was considerable expert Democratic
testimony tending to show that Wat
SOD lied when he said members were
reeling and maudling drunk, based up
on accepted Democratic theory that as
long as a man could walk, stand, lay or
hold to the grass he was not reeling or
maudling drunk. The reasonable or
at least charitable conclusion from all
the testimony is that none of the Hon.
able gentlemen had passed beyond the
grass holding stage.