Evening journal., 1893-10-17
RULE TO LIMIT DEBATE.
Senator Dolph Calls for One
and Says His Colleagues
WILL SUPPORT HIM AND RISK IT

BE Used to Pass Laws Obnoxious to
Republicans, the e6 Republican Re-
peal Senators Were Ready TO Run the
Risk, Realizing the Necessity of Inn
mediate Action on This NIeasure-The
Newest "Hurry-up" Scheme.
WASHINGTON, Oct.1 The ilibuster.
ing silver Senators were told yesterday
that their course in the Senate could
fairly be lkened to rebellion. 1t was
Senator Palmer, of Illinois, who said so.
Rising in his place and throwing back
his Homeric head, as he finished survey
of the chamber, he uttered the bold
words in clear tones. "Sir, said he to
the Vice President. 'I insist that,
excepting the methods employed
and the instruments used, there
is no difference between their
co urse and armed resistance to the
law" Just or unjust, it was a cour-
ageous declaration, and it at once put
the noble old Democrat upon the de
fensive against the assaults Of the
angry silverites, but he was not
daunted, neither did he apologize g.
That was a very little juncture in the
life of man who had once been
Republican. who had survived that ex
perience, and had reformed aud become
Democrat in the days when it was
heroic to be a Democrat.
IF am out of order" said he, Il
will not take it back. have simply ex-
pressed my belief" The scene in the
chamber of the Senate of the United
States was one never equalled in our
history, and one never to be forgotten
by any of its witnesses. The day was
the seventieth day of the truly extra
ordinary session, the opening day of the
eleventh week of a session which the
President had not called an hour too
soon to meet the wishes Of his allies, or to
escape the denunciation of those partisan
antagonists who were clsmoring for re.
lief even more loudly than the general
distress warranted.
The aged but vigorous Senator from
Illinois, instead of fixing his gaze on his
own personal interests or those of To-
cality, lowered above the obstrutionists
and swept the whole country with his
eyes. Everywhere he saw the same woful
conditions, anxiety. depression and dis.
tress BE saw closed mills and fac.
tories, and thousands and tens Of thous
ands of idle operatives. He saw the
merchants Of the length and breadth of
the land, helpless, alarmed, shorn of half
their business and uncertain of the
future. He saw stocks and bonds and
securities of every sort offered at panic
prices, and no one with money daring to
risk his means even under such tempta
tion.
He needed no prophetic eye to see
revival and exaggeration of the still
worse distress that preceded the
patriotic action Of the lower House Of
Congress. Nor did he need any miracu-
lous power to picture to himself tel
thousand currents Of prayer and hun
dred thousand written petitions all
directed against the once dignifed and
the long time patriotic upper House ol
the peoples representatives at their cap
ital.
But If this was the scene upon which
] the aged Senators gazed without th
walls of the Capitol, that which lay i'm
mediately around m in the Senat
chamber was wholly different. A spars
attendance. marked by extreme languo
and lack of interest had changed tn
: usual busy hall into a seat of idleness
: rest, and Indifference to routine. II i
. were possible to imagine a country 81
prosperous as to need no relief for an,
q OF its people, so wisely ruled as to leav
, no chance for further legislation, and s.
, peaceful and content as to permit of n,
! discord among its public men-such
country might rightfully boast Senat
, chamber such as the reporter looked
down upon from the gallery yetterday.
Nearly all the seats of the Senator
j were vacant, and in ell q rooms ther
were only eighteen Senator'S. One o
two were writing in leisurely way tina
Z suggested choice of that chamber a
3 the qnietest nook in Washington spo
: as little intruded upon as the readin
q room OF club of sporting men. Tn
other Senators stood about in eroups
/
lobbies of our uptown hotels after
days work is done
One voice alone disturbed the elegan
q repose Of the place and its occupants.
n was the voice Of Senator PETER. q
= Kansas. He, the representative of
q great, imperial and progressive state
\ was delivering an oration, but no on
,f was listening TO him except the stenol
4 rapher, whose pen trailed lazily owe
his pad in slow keeping with the draw
ing utterances of the speaker. Th
\. clerks Of the Senate were writing upo
sheets Of note paper. inditing letters t
a friends and relatives.
Over in far corner of the chamber
is handsome page, whose slender face an
20 long, light hair recalled the youthfr
portraits of,Charles the First, of England
y was dancing a jig with much energ,
looseness of time, and disregard for Ii
neighboring furniture. Tne galleris
y were half-flled by crowd Of men an
ik women whose faces wore surprised an
- puzzled expression, such as might
- looked for on their faces had they ei
~ tered church and found a vaudevil
>. / 4 ~.