Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-05-25
WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

by Wise of Virginia that quorm count
| ing was after all democratic measure
and that the Hon. Tom Reed did not
originate it, Said Wise:
IL simply desire now to strip a leader
of the false colors under which he has
been sailing. The attempt on your
side to falsify history. and your own
Mr.. Reed as leader. is making him
ridiculous.
The following extracts of the
proceedings of the house are taken from
the press dispatches:
January %, 80 and 81, 1890. when
Gar Reed first applied the quorum
counting rule in the house, Mr.. Crisp OF
Georgia said; i appeal TO you as fair
minded men, as men reminded OF your
obligations to protect the constitution
as men who really believe in fair play,
to hesitate long before you endorse this
revolutionary and unconstitutional rul-
ing"
.Bland of Missouri shook his fist at
the speaker and called out as loudly as
he could: Il denounce you as tyrant. "
"Breckinridge of Kentucky ('Willie)
rushed down the aisle, and standing in
front of the speaker. exclaimed: The
gag law which that gentleman (Mc.
Kinley), with the help of the speaker,
has applied today is usurpatory, revo-
lutionary, and corrupt y
And long-legged Buck Kilgore bran
dished his fist in the speakers face,
rushed at the light door leading into
the speakers room and smashed it open
with a jackass kick, and called on his
fellow eX-rebels to follow him out SO as
not TO be counted" in order to break
up visible quorum.
These are some of the scare heads of
Watterson'S Courier-Journal, articles of
January 20 and 80, 1850, denouncing
the republican quorum counting as
shockingly anti-democratic:
"Despotism-Czar Reeds Shameless
Ruling in the House-The Speaker Sets
Aside the Customs of Century-The
Constitution Dsregarded and the
Rights of the Minority Derided."
"Anarchy-The Republicans Inau-
gurate a Reign of lawlessness-The
Speaker SURPRISES His Record for I'm
pudence and Usurpation.
"a Reign of Despotism-Speaker
Reed Continues in His Reckless and
Lawless Course"
almost a Riot in the House! Infam-
Gus! Outraged! Despostism of the Car
Increasing"
And here are extracts from Waiter
sons editorials of February 3:
"Despots have forfeited their heads
for acts of usurpation less Infamous
than those of the speaker of the national
house of representatives.
Reed purpose to deprive one-half of
the American people of the right of
representation on the floor of congress.
1t remains TO be seen whether the people
are ripe for such revolution"
Poor Tom Reed, the despot of the
house, feels and fears the contumely
that will ever be his"
And yet four years later only forty
seven of the democratic house members
"a pitiful minority-voted against
Revolutionary, corrupt, and unconsti-
tutionaln ruling. In order to make the
surrender to sound republican doc
trine seem less AFFECT and complete,
some of the democrats took the ground
that the quorum-counting rule was a
democratic and not a republican idea,
that it was suggested in 1880 by Ran
dolph Tucker, Virginia democrat,
and that the democrats by taking it up
now were merely retaining their own
property.
1t is a pity they did not find out the
democracy of quorum-counting at an
earlier day. 1t would have saved Mr..
Reed and the republicans of the fifty
first congress a great deal of trouble.
1t would have kept Messrs. Bland,
Crisp, Breckenridge, and Kilgore from
making violent fools OF themselves.
They should have examined the utter
ances of leading democrats in the past
before attacking Senator Reeds course.
Nobody will believe the assertion of
the democrats, that they are for quorum
counting because a democrat suggested
it. They were not for it until their fill
clustering chickens came home to roost.
Then they learned that their obstruct-
i've, malignant tactics of 1890 could be
used effectively by others, and that it
would be impossible for them to do
any business unless they fought those
tactics as the republicans had fought
them. Then it was they swallowed all
the bold, bad words they uttered in
1890, and adopted a rule they had in
sisted was unconstitutional even after
,bo sunrooa court had dacla rod tbat IL