Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-05-12

side the bres esstworks. wouldn't take
him in out of the wet, wouldn't reward
his treachery with $40. 900 salary be-
sides mileage, stationery, etc. When 4
the vote was declared confirming the
title of his rival to his scat, Josiah must
have realized politically the meaning
Of st. Paul when, speaking as to things
spiritual, he expressed fear that after
preaching to others he himself might
be castaway. Josiah preached to the
Missouriana vociferously. He warned
them to fee from the wrath to come.
He whooped 1t mp amazingly and unotu-
ously. He gloried in his shame. Now,
10 stalwart Missouri Democrats repre-
sent that imperial commonwealth, and
Josiah Is out in the cold with his comb
Ont, his wings broken, his tail feathers
gone, as General Grosvenor described
him In 1896, ga political guerrilla, T"
and as some other Republican then de-
scribed him "a political tramp"
Uses of Adversisy.
But it's an i'll wind that blows good
to nobody. Even Josiah's adversity had
its sweet uses-it was the cause of two
new members demonstrating extraor-
dinary capacity and making for them
selves enviable positions In the house
Stephen Brundidge, Jr., Of Arkansas and
Edward W. Carmack of Tennessee-the
latter being the man whose seat Josiah
was longing for. Private John Allen of
Mississippi also made great speech and
roasted Josiah to the queens taste, but
as John is national character and is
in the habit Of making great speeches
I will not write further of him at this
time. OF the others will speak. They
are worthy of note. My readers will
hear Of them many times, / am sure, In
the days to come. II they live up to the
golden promise Of their congressional
youth they will become. commanding
figures in the house. Brundidge. who
greatly resembles Speaker Crisp In his
physical make up, is not an orator In
the popular sense Of the term, but he is
logician Of the rarest sort. His speech,
as legal argument, has not been ex-
oelled during my three years In congress
strong, inoisive, luminous, clear as
crystal. In style of speaking he recalls
Judge Turner of Georgia, who was uni
versally regarded as one Of the finest
lawyers in the house.
The strange part of the story is that
while Brundidge and Carmack had spo-
ken In the house before-Carmack sew
eral times-and had spoken we'll they
had not made any unusual impression.
An Audacious Speech.
On this occasion their splendid success
was universally and ungrudgingly ad-
mitted. This Is only another evidence
Of the fact that the right sort of oppor-
tunity is required to inoite any man to
do his best. Perhaps Patrick Henry
would be utterly forgotten but for the
stamp act and Wendell Phillips would
have remained in obscurity had Lovejoy
not been killed. In this case Josiah
brought on the engagement, and Brun-
didge chopped him into minoe meat
with his logic, thereby fixing his own
status securely among the strong men
Of the house, while Carmack delivered
an Grafton so splendid in its diction
that it charmed his hearers, varying
from gay to severe, from the beautiful
to the oaustio, from honey to gall, from
the airy to the pathetic, with such sud-
denness and such skill that his audi
ence were laughing, applauding, weep
ing and laughing again before their
tears were dry. belisve it was Dantun
who had for his motto "L' audaoe. Tau
dace, toujours 1'audace.' It appeared
to me while he was speaking that Car
mack had adopted that motto as his
own, for truly It was most audaoious
speech. Many thought he was spelling
his case by his daring performance. I
confess I thought the Republicans
would bounce him for defying them
and skinning Josiah, but so admired
him that when he had concluded and
before the vote was taken said to De
Graffenried of Texas, "f were Car
mack, would rather have made that
speech and be bounced than not to have
made the speech and serve out the term, T"
and that is my solemn conviction now.
The Washington Posts Warning.
When some mossbaok Republican
reads my comments in the first part Of
this letter on Republican sins, he may
try to ease his conscience by saying,
"Champ Clark is Missouri Democrat; |;
therefore a prejudioed witness. Fer
the benefit of such Iquote here a signif-
icant warning from the Washington
Post, very ably edited, calling itself in
dependent, and in fact as nearly inde-
pendent as paper can be which Is edit
cd by virile character. II Ii has any
bias, it is in favor of Republicans In
general and Of the Mckinley admins
tration In particular. It comes as near
being an unprejudiced witness as can
be found. I commend to candid men ev
erywhere every word Of The Post edi-
torial, headline and all:
NO TIME FOR PARTISAN ZEAL.
II occurs to Us to suggest to the Republican
majority in congress that the present is a good
time for calling q halt on purely partisan pro-
ceedings. Surely the party is strong enough,
in tho house at least, to refrain from further
exercise OF its power so far as concerns con-
tested election cases. We are willing to admit,
for the purposes Of this controversy, that there
may be reasonable doubt-oven grounds for
deliberate action-in the instanees that have
thus far been brought to the houses atten-
ton. We are willing TO acknowledge as a gem
eral proposition that members who have been
seated as result of fraud and violence shonld
be, In the interest of Justice and pure politics.
upseated Mt the earliest possible moment Our
contention Is that for the present such ques-
tions are OF very subordinate Importance and
that the Republicans in congress can well af.
ford TO ignore them In view Of the emergency
that confronts us now.
The country has before it much more seri-
Gus matters than partisan contests for seats in
congress. We may safely assert that what We
most urgently need at this time is patriotic
harmony In the councils of the government.
AS we see the matter 10 is never particularly
wise or useful for q majority In either house
TO go behind the official local returns In order
to exploit n purely personal claim, and this ID
especially true when the majority Is already
large enough to insure party supremacy In
legislation. These interferences only breed re-
sentiment and insure retaliation, and they dis
close to the eyes Of the thoughtful n very for
bidding and abhorrent fusure Of tyranntcal
corruption. But existing conditions only ag-
grayate an evil which is normally sinister
enough. They not only emphasize the unseen
Hness Of the practice itself they show Us what
unhappy consequences mi,y result at time
when cur greatest need Ia u nonpnrtisan senfi-
ment and patriotic harmony.