The record-union., 1896-03-05
BULLYRAGGIEG A WITNESS.
How the Demagogue is Looked Upon
in the East.
Morgan's Conduct Unworthy the Dig
nifty of Senator of the
United States.
(Editorial in New york Tribune.l

editorial in New York Tribune)
It is not entirely clear what Senator
Morgan Of Alabama is driving at in
what he possibly considers a very
searching and exhaustive examination
of Coils P. Huntington before the Sen
ate Pacific Railroad Committee. 1t is
evident, of course, that the Senator is
consuming considerable time. That is
his habit On a recent festive occasion
in this city he occupied one hour and
fifty minutes with a discourse partly
extemporaneous and partly prepared,
which, though it bewildered his hearers
and thinned out the guests at the tables,
did seem to have a definite purpose.
That was to round out the week-the
dinner being on Saturday highland
give the devout New Englanders who
fed from the hall something to be CRATE
ful for when, an hour or two later, they
responded to the church-going bell and
entered upon their Sabbath devotions.
There was new and general cause for
thanksgiving when he got through. He
was more than tedious; he threatened
to be everlasting. IF his flowing, gurg-
ling, continuous discourse had any dis
tinguishing charm, it was his own sub
lime unconsciousness of the fact that he
was breaking all records and building
for himself in the hearts of the New
Englanders monument more enduring
than brass. He will never be forgotten
1t seems to be his special forte to oc-
cupy time. During the last week he has
been cross examining Coils P. Hunt
ington with reference to that blood
thirsty highwayman's connection with
the building. of the Pacific railroads
thirty years ago. The matter in hand
with the Senate Committee is the ad-
justment of the debts due the Govern
ment from these railroads. 1t is a sim
pie business proposition. It cannot be
affected by any present inquiry into the
conditions under which the roads were
built and the obligations incurred
Those conditions have been investi-
gated and reinvestigated time after
time by Congress and by special COM
missions; the last commission, ap-
pointed in 1887, having gone exhaust
lively into the whole mater at an ex-
penditure of 100000, and printed re-
port of thousands of pages which left no
point in the transactions untouched.
So that it is within bounds to say that
all sources of information have been
exhausted. Any further effort in that
direction is only threshing over old
straw
AS a result of these Investigations it
has been established that the men like
Mr.. Huntington, who embarked their
fortunes thirty years ago in an enter
prise which most people at the time
considered visionary and foolhardy, did
make a great deal Of money by their
energy and persistence. They took
enormous risks and were fairly entitled
to enormous profits. The work they
did, moreover, was of incompatible
value to the Government Out of the
whole transaction, as has repeatedly
been shown by actual calculation, the
Government has been a gamer by much
more than the entire amount of bonds
issued, even if not a dollar of the debt
were paid.
The question under consideration by
the Senate committee is simply as to
the terms of an arrangement between
the Government and the roads, whereby
the former, in addition to the great ben
efits it has already enjoyed, can re-
cover as much as possible of the money
advanced thirty years ago. Mr.. Hunt
ington appears before the committee as
q zAAOSb CO1upClCnL SN1II6SS SVfsS6IuluS
the ability of the railro1S companies to
meet these obligations. In the opinion
of Senator Morgan he may be a high
wayman and malefactor, but while he
holds the relation of a willing witness,
assisting the committee in its effort to
discover facts bearing directly upon the
issue and the sole issue before it, he is
certainly entitled to a decent consider
alton Instead of giving him that,
Senator Morgan has consumed the time
of the committee and abused the pa
tience of the witness not only by irrel-
evant inquiries, but by pursuing them
in an overbearing, discourteous and
bullyragging manner that would dis
grace a Police Court shyster It is
true that he has accomplished little ex-
cept work himself into a passion over
the calm and imperturbable demeanor
of the witness, but it is also true that
his conduct is that or tedious and
voluble demagogue, and in the last
degree unworthy the dignity of
United States Senator