Mexico weekly ledger., 1900-01-11

ed man-undertook to help him by say
ing: Colonel Anderson, are you taken
by surprise?" Whereupon Anderson
electrified bench and bar by replying;
"Good God, your honorl / am not
only surprised, but utterly astoundedl"
GGreat laughter.l
l was likewise astounded when l
heard the gentleman from Ohio, Gen
eral GRoSvENoR, say that the Wilson
tariff bill was a free trade measure.
lLaughter.l There is nowhere on
earth or under the earth or in the AIR
above the earth a ,scintilla of evidence
on which to base that statement. 1t is
absolutely preposterous. That bill
carried an average tariff duty of nearly
70 per cent on about 1000 articles of
everyday consumption. Surely no
sane man can believe or does believe
that such a bill was a free-trade meas
ure. Free traders voted for it holding
their noses. They voted for it because
ii was the best they could get and cut
down the rates of the Mckinley bill of
denominations about 8 per cent. It is a
poor cause that necessitates such
wrenching of historic facts to support
it and only shows to what straits Re-
publicans are driven to defend their
present curse.
A characterless, obscure, and ignor-
ant stump speaker might be excused
for making such a grouudless asser-
tion in the heat of debate out in the
backwoods of Ohio, but General GRos-
vEHoR can not be excused on any such
theory. He can not afford to make
such a ridiculous statement. He cer-
tainly can not be excused on the
grounds of ignorance, for me of his
foibles is omniscience; nor on grounds
of inexperience, for he has long since
passed the ~effervescent period of youth;
sixty.six winters have frosted his head
with silver, and he is a veteran, a con-
spicnous, an able member of this House.
He is a great historic parsonage
Llaughterl; younger men look to him
for guidance. He is the only real
simon-pure major prophet now known
to be on terra frma.
The public regards him as a sort of
walking delegate for the Administra-
ton Ilaughterl, its mouthpiece on this
floor, the keeper of the kings con-
science and groom of the Presidential
posset.
He owes 1t to his own fame, to the
dignity of this House, and t. the cause
of truth and Justice to expunge that
charge from his speech, for it is base
less as the fabric of a vision.
THE PEsDINe cuRRRNcy BILL.
"consistency's a jewel" If the
philosopher who wrote that famous
sentence should return to earth and
should find himself among the Repub-
lican majority of the House of Repre-
sentatives, he would feel as lonesome
as Adam before Eve impinged upon his
enraptured vision or as Alexander Sell
kirk in the oppressive solicitude of his
desert island.
If Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, were
speaking rs of the political morals of
the supporters of ''the Atlantic City
money BILL" he would change his far
resembling exclamation: "Frailty,
thy name Is woman!' so as to read:
"Frailty, thy name is latter-day Re-
publicauisml"
With consciences of India rubber and
cheeks of Hindoo gods, Republican
Representatives and Senators are now
doing the very thing which We charged
in 1896 they would do, if given sufficient
power, which charge Republican ora
tors and editors west of the Alleghe-
mics with one accord denied as bitterly
and ~vehemently as Peter denied his
Lord and Master. suppose owe an
apology to the memory of the great
apostle for placing him even Temporal
rily in such ignoble company and make
amends by stating at once the historic
fact that he made noble atonement for
his one act of weakness and unfaith-
fulness-an example which Republic
cans are not liable to emulate. ILaugh-
ter on the Democratic side.l
The die is cast. Hugh H. Hanna
and his confrereS are anxious for the
sacrifice. The majority here are eager
to do his bidding. Argument has
about the same effect upon Republican
Representatives as il wonld If address
ed to 'the dull, cold a of death"
This House will pass ''the Atlantic
City money BILL" and the Senate will
pass It or something equally as bad.
No Republican will dare TO oppose it
for two reasons-fear of the caucus
lash and fear of being divorced from
the pie counter. Our appeal is not to
the members of this House, but to
those who make and unmake Repre-
sentatives-the great body of the
people. In them we place
bur trust and not in those who are
looking hungrily to the White House
for favors to come.