The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-03-20

Uue fOpulISCS Ia UnlS OcQdG0 owe you
an apology. There are five POpulist
Senators in this body and four of us
are here; you have As Republicans out
of s. votes. Now, it never occurred to
us that the vote of single POpuliSt
you Republicans to carry out your
promises to the people, otherwise we
should have seen to it that he was
here
'"There was murmur of applause
and approval at the good point made
by the Populist leader. when Senator
Wyman rose to speak. The chair again
called attention to the fact that the
debate was permitted to proceed un-
der unanimous consent as sort Of
free parliament.
'Mr. Wyman said: "A day or two ago
the Senator from Lyon told us that
the Republican party was between the
devil and the deep sea. 1t was asked
of him whether the Populist party was
the devil or the deep sea, and he de-
clined to answer. think it has now
been demonstrated that the POpuliSt
party is the devil
"This put the laugh on Reishus and
Senator Stevens followed it up by
very clever smile in which he COM
pared the senate to the ninety and
nine and Cronkhite to the one sheen
that was out on the hills away far off
from the gates of gold.
Senator Reishus' rejoinder was the
most pointed Of all the witty sallies
that were made at the expense Of the
absent Senator. He said: The absent
Senator was all right few days ago
or at least at the beginning of the ses-
sion. II there has been any pressure
brought upon him assure you that it
was not POpulist money that did it.
1t must have been Republican influ-
ence in this Senate that caused him to
fall from grace
Senator Schaller arose at this state
ment and addressed the chair. He
said as far as the Senator knew there
was no ground to question the motives
of the absent senator, and he indicat
ed that it was very much out Of order.
President Day Joined in this observa-
tion and the committee withdrew
again to the committee room.
X
Senator Ringdahl, the seat mat
and colleague of the missing Cronk-
hite, saw, evidently. that his party was
being forced into a position that was
not agreeable to him. He rose to the
occasion and attempted to evade the
responsibility being thrust upon the
Populist party by saying: I am here
to represent party that is anxious to
help the Republican party to do its
duty. agree with Senator Stevens.
We are in the performance of seri
GUS duty and for my part [ shall favor
Camping here week, if necessary, to
bring every absent Senator to his
seat
"The speech eff Senator Ringdahl
was we'll delivered and greeted with a
burst of applause coming from every
part of the Senate, even from the gal
leries"
But creditable as was the part taken
by the Populist Senators it was a
shameful piece of business for 46 Re
publican Senators to attempt to
thrust the whole responsibility for &C
ton on one Populist Senator. They
knew perfectly well that Senator
Cronkhite's presence or absence would
not make particle of difference in
the vote on the bill. There were votes
enough present, and had been all day
to pass the bill If Senator Cronkhite
1ldu AOCIl UIlCIC duu VOUCu dRdluSU UQC
bill he could not have defeated it; and
if he had been present and voted for
it there would have been 80 votes for
it-while % were enough to pass it,
Hence all these assaults on brother
senator were uncalled for; and were
inspired by the fact that he was
Populist; they proposed to prosecute
him with lies just as they did Waite,
Pennoyer, Lewelling and all the rest.
II Senator Cronkhite had even voted
against the bill he would simply have
done what % out of DC Republican
Senators did. They violated the plat
form pledges of their party, while if
Senator Cronkhite had SO voted no one
could have charged him with treason
or treachery, for his party had taken
no position on the question.
The following is the vote on the
passage of the bill, as given by the st.
Paul Globe: