The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-17
hing so absolutely rotten as this was ever

| thing so absolutely rotten as this was ever
| attempted.
| It crime against Kansas. against
which every liberty loving and law-abid-
lag citizen will protest. The recognition,
! however, can have no permanent effect
upon the situation, for if this rump legis-
| lature should attempt to pass any bills,
| they could never brcOme laws any more
| than if the city council Of Topeka or any
/ other body were to pass a bill and ask the
senate and governor to concur. If the
! theory upon which this rump house was
| organized should be sustained there is no
use holding elections any longer, AID we
/ may as we'll save the expense. The prlnci-
| pie, if adopted. would put this state
absolutely at the mercy OF any crowd of
couspirators who could thrust themselves
! into he house of representatives and or
! ganiZe legislature by making up roll of
members from city directory or any
other repository of names. It Is revOlu
ton, pure, simple and unadulterated, and
no seif-res pecting man cognizant of the
facts can ever countenance it or do other
than deBouuce it in the most emphatic
language The Democrats in the legisla-
tire and throughout the stste stand side
By side with he Republicans in denOunc-
ing the fraud and in demanding that the
rightful and constitutional house OF repre-
sentatives shall stand firm Tor honor and
principle and law A large number Of the
/ Peoples party members Of this rump
/ legislature are utterly disgusted with
the proceedings. and express themselves
emphaticallv to this effect in private con-
versation. They do not hesitate to say,
as several OF them have said to me. that
there can be but one house of representa-
tives, and that the majority body is
that house. The only thing that
has prevented their coming out
boldly and denouncing the fraud
has been the extraordinary efforts of a,
coterie of outside leaders to overawe and
prevent them from so doing. But ] be-
lieve these leaders are losing their grip
and that the power Of the individual
conscience of the members will re-assert
itself: if it does not do so it, of course,
means a complete failure of all legislation
during the session, for the constitutional
house cannot legislate without the con-
currence of the senate and governor. And
the minority body cannot legislate at all
even with such concurrence. The whole
thing has been brought about by a few
political schemers in the PEOPLES
party who, are hoping to be
United States senator. AS matters
stand in the twc>houses as actually elected
the three Democrats in house and the two
in senate hold the balance OF power in the
election of state printer and senator. In
order to get rid of this Democratic balance
pf nj ryil
to violate the law and the constitution
and to precipitate revolution in our sys-
tenn of government. That they will fail
in the end is as certain as that majority
of the people of Kansas are believers in
the ssnctity of the law and the constitu-
tion. Ed OBryan has led noble fight in
the senate for the cause of decency and
good government, and l am proud of his
course so far as Wichita man.
The populist senators have Kissed and
guyed him, l understand, while he made
his speeches, but from all could hear he
was abundantly equal to the occasion.
The position OF the members Of the consti-
tutional house over which l preside was
stated by myself in the few remarks l
made on Saturday after the senate message
had been received.
The remarks to which he referred are as
follws:
Gentlemen of the House:
Allow yourselves no uneasiness. The
almighty has wisely reserved the powers
of creation to Himself alone. All the
powers on earth, senators and governors
included, cannot make siXty-three men
out of fifty-eight men, and in every free
representative body in the world the ma
iority governs. The principle of self-gov-
eminent is on trial in Kansas today rs 1t
once was years ago. But 1t triumphed
then ana 10 will triumph now. The friends
of the constitution and the laws will soon
stand as Que man IN Kansas regardless OF
party The constitutional house of rep
reseutatIves with sixty-seven lawful mem
bers is here and ready for business and
here it Will remain unterriied and un-
awed. What Is the fur Their pleasure OF
the house?
The members who make up the consti-
tutIonal house are right, and, being right,
they can afford to keep cool ana that is
what we are going to do, but we propose
to stand up for law as against anarchy to
the end, and in doing this wer are stand
ing up for Kansas"