The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-30
FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1897.
THE SENATE, PAST AND PRESENT

The northern manufacturing organs
have had much to say of the United
States senate of late. That body is
sadly degenerated according to those
superserviceable servants of the rob-
Der tax crowd. Even some southern
democratic papers here n there have
Joined in the howl. Two or three years
ago the same class of rgans denounc-
ed and senate, and sought to belittle
its character and influence because of
it's fight against the Cleveland policy.
All can remember the seventies OF
comment, the jibes and insults heaped
upon the southern democratic sena-
tors. The senate may not be as able as
st was in the times Of Calhoun, Clay,
Webster, Benton and other masterful
men, but it is not more corrupt now,
not more by habits of
drink, not less watchful of the public
interests. 1t is not as great and pure
q body as it should be. Some Of the
men-a dozen perhaps-sent to the SEN
ate by legislatures are wholly without
the qualifications of a senatOr-great
oiiiIy ISoi ih6 " 40
of constitutional government and the
histories of politics and nations, a
high sense of responsibility, perfect
fidelity to a republican-democratic
form Of government, a sincere desire
to serve the country faithfully and be-
neficently, noble Ideals and aspirations,
q lofty sense of honor, unblemished
moral character. And yet it is a body
as a whole of good abilities, with
members of great force and some of I'M
usual accomplishments, and in the
main patriotic and trustworthy. 1t
would be well for the country if a
dozen or fifteen could be sent adrift.
There ought to be no place in an
American senate for such fellows of
the baser sort as lark Hanna, Palmer,
Carter, Butler, Quay and some others,
but on the other hand there are men
who would reflect credit upon n de-
Lucrative body On the globe. There
are some very able members surely,
n of them all Senator Morgan is
foremost.
In the April number Of the New Yo
Forum Senator Hoar, OF Massachu--
sets, not a faE0Tite with the south,
and does not deserve to be, but a man
Of scholarship, wide information, much
legislative experience, and gifted with
pen, writes of the south now and ASKS
if it has d~egenerated." We do not
urpos following him through his in
teresting discussion. He contends that
the senate is not d~ecadent. He has no
high opinion Of what he calls the "cul-
tiyated and lettered populace,' put
confines his admiration to a few dis
s;npuished teachers all of the north, we
think, and mainly of his little corner
of the country. In spite OF some mar
rowness-NeW England writer's are al
ways narrow, provincial, peculiar
Senator Hoar is both entertaining n
edifying. He believes in the senate
while admitting that at times 1t mas
fallen below it's duty. h is a neces-
sity and applies, we doubt not, to all
aa,;herative assemblies. There have
been dilatory motions and hliousterlng'
but surely these are not conhned 10 the
senate in recent years. A reference TO
the senate proceedings all through It's
instructive history shows that these
things obtained in the past. Consum-
ing time by long debates, and OF see
purpose to prevent action, is nothing
new in the great body.
Senator Hoar could not maintain his
individuality and retain the ancient,
musty flavor of Massachusetts, unless
he took a wipe at the negrO and his
treatment in the south. He talks of
extinguishing the votes OF the negro,
but he has not one word of the uni
versai practice of intimidation and pur-
chase of votes all over the north. In
no age, in no country a h "free
ballot" been made such a burlesque on
!, the one hand and such a power Of ex-
yinction and repression on the other
hand, as in the great, rich north. Men
through the decades have been de-
graded by purchase. Their votes have
been cast not as they willed but as
their masters and employers willed.
They have been bought and voted as
the negroes would have been voted in
the south by their owners if prior to
the war the suffrage had been extend
ed to the slaves. Only the other day
we gave what The Boston Herald told
of the late election in Rhode Island.
and how the electors were bought and
at comparatively small prices. Mr..
Hoar and the New Englanders should
get together nj wipe out h damning
blotch on their 'scutcheon, and restore
to the white workingInen of that rich
section their liberties and rights Of
freemen. (voting especially before
mounting their R~ozinantes. and riding
forth in quest Of battle in behalf Of the
l most c~ontented, freest, happiest class
OF laborers on this cOntinent-the ne
groes in the south-who are in the en-
joyment Of liberty, license, equally
before the law, free speech, free bal
lot, constitutional rights and free and