Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-02-20
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caIumniating Congress.

The current issue of the Voice, the
national organ of the Prohibition Par
ty, edited by the Rev DIR. Funk, con-
tains, in addition to long leader on
''The Kingdom of Heaven" and many
other pious illusions, scurrilous at
tack on the Congress of the United
States. 1t is an outburst of malig-
nant hate calculated to deceive those
readers OF the Vote who accept its ed
itorial statements as facts. 1t condens-
es long list of Congressional scan :
dals-mostly pure iction-into less
than three ines of billingsgate, and
solemnly assures the public that "all
these Babylonian orgies are of COM
mon occurrence" 1t asserts that
Omitted States Senators inaugurate
spree in the Senate saloon and wind
up in weeks debauch on the 'Di-
vision, drawing checks for their ex-
penses, to be presented by madams
to the discussing officer of that body. "
That is not true, aud good DR.. Funk
should have been unwilling to print
it, even if he had known it to be a
fact. The doctor next asserts that
members of the House of Represen-
tatives get on a debauch in the House
saloon, and cheer in maudlin fashion
while drunken women dance the can
can for their benefit in adjoining
rooms" That, too, is fictitious, and
it is a statement to which a patriotic
citizen should hesitate under any cir
cumstances to give publicity. The
rest of the article consists of personal
assaults of a serious but sensational
character, and the statement that 'all
these Babylonian orgies are OF COM
mon occurrence" winds up the infa
nous screed.
The self-evident purpose of this
good mans calumny is to create the
impression that the American Con-
gress is mainly composed of drunk
ards and rakes. If the people of the
United States could be induced to ac-
cept DIR. Funk's picture of their Con-
gress as a faithful portrait; if they
had not intelligence enough to know
it to be false in detail and in general,
they would rather their Capitol would
sink into perdition than that such an
abomination should go on for another
week. How it is possible for any
honest citizen, for any man who loves
his country and desires to see its ca
reer of progress continued, to defame
the law-making department Of the
government, as the editor Of the Voice
has done, is problem that we shall
not attempt to solve.
If the Congress were what this de-
famer declares it to be, what would
be the condition of the country?
What sort of people must they be
who would elect the vilest drunkards
and most depraved libertines to rep
resent them in Congress- To Islander
Congress is to insult the people and
the States. To make such assertions
as the Voice makes is to declare that
our government is failure, our civil
lization a plunge into Babylon, and
our religion a sham. If oue-half OF
the Funk indictment were true, our
nation would be unfit for place in
the family of civilized nations and
useful only as an awful example. If
Babylonian orgies were everyday al
fairs in our Capitol it would be time
to ring down the curtain on the re-
public and ring in the one-man pow
er.
With the single exception OF the
Rev. Dr. Funk we suspect all intelll-
gent citizens know that the average
Congressman is a man of good NOR
ais. While the Voice and its party
have for some decades past been vast
ing life on the impossible scheme of
prohibition, the rest of the country
has been pushing ahead with temper
ance reform and that reform has
shown quite as conspicuously in Con-
gress as in any other quarter. The
- $50 &c CNonorracc &c far hiuh pr