Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-12-16
SATURDAY EVENING, DEC. 1e 1895
M,rrvns have come to pretty pass

M
IN this country when resolution Oh
tsrad in the Senate, calling upon the
Secretary of the Navy for information
ritbin his knowledge relative to the
n-ospcntion of the war against spain'
can he con,emptuously laid on the
table It is true that the acknowledge
nsrt Of the facts might have embar'
-ossad the executive by showing that
,hs United States forces had fully re-
ooo,ized and saluted the flag OF The
Philippine republic, thus giving the ~, lie
to the pretences upon which the rnil'p
nine war is pow being waged; but 1t has
always been the custom Of the SENATE,
az an independent body, to require al
necessary information and to Do ve's
liberal in making it's requirements
Rnt here we recognize an opposite splf-
1.-THE spirit of slavish Difference to 'ne
administration, the cap-in hand ana the
banded knee. Yet every republican,
excep,ing Mr.. Hoar, voted to table tue
resolution. 1t seems incredible lns'
anv democrat should have voted 10
suppress the truth by tabling the reso'
luton but there were three men VINO
did so. They were Senators Lindsay o,
Kentucky, McEnery Of Louisiana anu
McI,aurin of South Carolina. Senator
Lindsay abandoned the democratic par
tv in 1896 and is said to be hoping 10
be reelected to the o. S. Senate by the
aid of the boiling democrats and the re-
publican vote in the Kentucky legisla'
ture. From him We can expect Ettle'
Int from Senators McEnery and NC
Lsurin we had right to expect better
things. Verify they have their reward
in the praises of the republicans, and
they may have also rewards even more
substantial from President Mckinley.
In the House of Representatives, where
a republican caucus bill is pending to
establish the gold standard, to maze
the rich richer and the poor poorer, 10
give outright two hundred millions
TO the bondholders by the enhancement
of their obligations to be paid ultimate
IL by the American taxpayers, to IL
crease the wealth and power OF the ma
tional banks, and to enlarge the already
vast powers of the President and Sec
rotary of the Treasury, the great body
of the faithful democrats are making
manly stand for the rights OF the peo-
ole. But their battle is weakened ana
their energies crippled by some eight or
ten recreants from the Eastern states
elected az democrats, but now selzlng
eagerly their first opportunity to aid
the darling project of the adminlstra-
ton and to betray the cause OF the
democratic masses. In both these cases
il is impossible not to see the quality OF
the act, The idea of these men is that
their present offices are given them
merely to subserye their OWN personal
advantage and that party apostacy aoo
treachery carry with them nc infamy'
NO dishonor. But this is not all. WITH
out any Constitutional authority the
Governor of Pennsylvania appoints Mr..
Ousv TO the q s. Senate. The legisla-
ture had refused to elect him. The
Senate has in repeated cases, and
very recently, decided such cases
on line which would make
Quay's admission impossible. That
the republicans should set aside
any numoer of presidents in order
to admit partisan who quite as much
as Mark Hanna embodies the gospel OF
corruption and purchase in American
politics, is not strange. They are we'd
ded to corruption; their only hope OF
success in 1900 is by an enormous cor
ruption fund, repeating the methods OF
1896, and they might hold that Mr..
Quay would be valuable ally to Mark
Hanna. But how ought democratic
Senators to feel about it Can it be
possible that any democrat in that body
would vote to overturn the precedents
of the Senate in order to seat man
who, by both parties in Pennsylvania,
and by the people generally, is regard
ed SIS one of the most corrupt men In
American politics? Yet it is rumored
that one or two democratic Senators
are anxious, if not ready, to vote for
Quay. They are hesitating, 1T seems.
not 80 much from an idea of fidelity to
their party or from any respect for the
precedents of the Senate, but from the
fear that the States they represent may
consider that such vote would be a
betrayal of the democratic party. And
such it would be. The honor, the
truth, the convictions of the demo-
ocratic party are not to be measured by
the spectacle of few shifty politicians
at Washington, but they are an endur.
ing force which in 1896 followed Bryan
because he was true, brave. clean and
faithful to the party, and they will fol-
low him again. 1t will be again the