The Republican., 1893-09-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
OFr,n ur Kesuiar C3rtcspondeni
WAsHINGTON. Sent. Is. 1913.

open revolt against Mr.. cleveland,
and unless that gentleman displays
more conciliatory disposition there
may be permanent split IN the
Democratic party in the very near
future. The straw which has
almost broken the back of the
Democratic party animal is Mr..
Clevelaud's opposition to the taking
up of the bill for repeal of the Fed
eral Election laws by the House,
until after the Senate disposes of
the silver repeal bill. 1t is said
that Mr.. Cleveland spoke in a most
dictatorial manner to Speaker Crisp
because of his having consented
that this bill should be reported to
the House without having first OBJ
tanned permission and that Mr..
Crisp got nettled and told him that
he was under the impression that
the President was at the head of
them all, and he is openly accused
by Democrats with having in
fiuenced Democratic members of
the House to stay away in order to
break a quorum. Whether he did
or not it is certain that the Demo-
Gratis tried in VAN to get quorum
for three days last week. To-day
is holiday, or account of the CEN
tennial celebration of the laying Of
the corner stone of the Capitol
building, and it remains to be seen
whether there will be a quorum of
Democrats in the House tomorrow,
The Republicans very naturally de-
cline to assist in making quorum
of the House for any purpose.
Che condition in the Senate is
practically unchanged. Senator
Voorhees,, although he knows that
"a majority of the Senators-49 Sen.
ators are claimed, and the claim is
undisputed-will vote for his repeal
bill if 1T can be got to a vote, is
afraid to attempt to force the fight,
although he continues to threaten
to do so. There is only one way to
force the bill to a vote, and that is
to keep the Senate continually in
session with a quorum, -43 Sem
ators-always on the floor, until
the opposition becomes sufficiently
worn out to consent to vote: but
Senator Voorhees,, does not feel GER
tain that he can do that for the
very good reason that number of
Senators who are willing to vote
repeal have said that they would
i. not consider it their duty to remain
continuously on the floor in order
to force vote. Then, there is
another side to this question of en-
durance. Enough of the repealers
may become worn out to enable the
silver men to vote down the bill or
amend it to suit themselves. 1t is
no chllds play either way you look
at it, and, whatever may be the
opinion of outsiders, every Senator
fully realizes the seriousness of the
situation.
The principal reason why Mr..
Cleveland does not wish the House
to start the acrimonious debate that
is certain to follow the taking up of
the bill for the repeal of the federal
election law is that he realizes the
necessity of having the active as
sistance of Republican Senators if
the Voorhees, bill is to be passed,
and fears that assistance may be
lost through the abuse of Repubh-
cans in the House. And there are
good and sufficient grounds for this
fear. Not that anything any
Democrat could say would change
the vote OF any Republican Senator
who upon principle favors the re-
peal bill, but that it might result
in causing some of them to absent
themselves at critical period,
which might result in the defeat of
the bill Take it all in all the
Democrats, split in half as they are
on the silver question, occupy u
very hckhsh position. The south
ern Senators are constantly hearing
of popuhst gains at their homes,
and it begins to look us though the
repeal of the purchasing clause of
the silver law might accomplish one
very desirable thing-a break up of
the sohd south-if the repeal itself
can be accomplished.
To-day there is flag Of truce fly
ing, so to speak, and the President,
the Cabinet and Congress are help
ing the people to celebrate the CEN
tennial of the laying of the corner
stone of the Capitol. The celebra-
ton is a great success, the plaza
facing the east front of the Capitol
being packed with something like
200, 900 people to listen to the
speaking, music and the grand
chorus of 1900 voices, which have
been in training for months. The
President made the speech intro
-. NJ U,llSo,, lGirt IIo,,r,-