The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-10
DRAMATIC SCENE
 IN THE SENATE
Tillman Challenges McLaurin to Re sign with Him on the Spot---The
 Gauge Not Taken Up.

 the success of his efforts were ready to crush and humiliate him. He had contend- | ed that if the tariff were robbery, his section should share in the booty. Upon | the issue of that speech he had later gone into a campaign in South Carolina and although his Democracy had been attacked upon the stump. the people or | his State had endorsed him.
 Calumny and Falsehood' He declared that Curing that campaign calumny, falsehood and trickery never ! before egualled in American ponllcs nau been employed. Now the principai charge against him was that during the | McKinley administration he had been bought by patronage" and that ne hau renewed his former contract with Presi- dent Roosevelt. Entertaining the high personal regard that he did for both the | late President and his successor, MT. MIG | I.aurin said it would be unnecessary TOT | him to say that neither would stoop 10 | so ignoble an act. It was true that an unfortunate condition affairs had existed l in his State and that he had recom- mended good men for office, because ne | did not desire to see repetition or the | horrible affair at Lakeville. when negro postmaster had been burned to death. He | had voted for the war with Spain ana declared that in the same spirit in which I compelled to support the administration | that conducted it. MT. McLaurin paid | A high tribute to the late President, | whom he characterized as broad | statesman and Christian gentleman. | While without official knowledge from | the newspapers he understood that the | principal charges were that he had not | opposed the ratification of the treaty of 1 peace with Spain, that he had upheld the | American nation in its efforts to restore order in the Philippines and to that end | had voted for an increase in the standing army and that he was in favor Of the l upbuilding of the American merchant
 marine.
 Glories in His Acts
 If these are the only charges" said he dramatically, they are true and l glory in them" He said he had not l wished to vote against his party upon the question of ratifying the peace treaty | and had it not been for the reopening of
 hostiiities in the Philippines he would | have deferred the opinion of his col leagues. But, he declared, the dictates
 of reason and conscience should not be
 stified by the party lash"
 | With bitter words MT McLaurin then | proceeded to excoriate the new leaders of
 the Democratic party, who, he said. had
 guided the party to it's destruction during | the last six years and were trying to | cruelty those who would seek to draw | the Democratic party back to its old
 allegiance. He still proposed. he said,
 to vote in his judgment for what he be- l lieved to be along the lines of Democratic
 principles. but he did not propose to place
 himself against a proposition which he | believed to be for the best interests of the | people simply because it was advocated | by Republicans. In conclusion MT. Me | Laurin said he did not propose to be
 driven from his own party nor to be | forced into affiliation with the party with
 which he did not care to ally himself, and that on great public questions he would | act according to the dictates of his own | conscience and best judgment.
 Senator Jones Replies. Mir. Jones (Ark.) said he considered | some of the statements made by MT. Mc- Laurin a reflection upon himself and that 1 he desired to offer statement concern | ing the incident to which MT. McLaurin had referred. At the extra session of the Senate last spring he had been asked | by the caucus officer for the list of Sena- tors who were to be summoned to
 caucus and MT. McLaurins name being mentioned, he Jones) had said he him. self would see the Senator from South
 Caroline. T met him in the cloak room.
 said MT. Jones and recalling the fact that he had not attended a Democratic caucus for more than two years, l asked
 him what his status was. He replied
 that his relations with the party were
 such that he thought would be embar-
 rassing for him to enter the Democratic
 caucus. l then said to him you do not
 wish to be invited. then?' and he replied certainly"
 "As to the charge of ulterior motive on
 my part" continued Senator Jones, T
 am content to treat 1t with the contempt
 It deserves. It is a notorious fact which
 every one seems to understand except
 the Senator from South Carolina that
 there has been no Democratic caucus at
 this session of Congress. l have no
 hesitancy, however i'm saying that in a recent conversation with d leading mem
 Der on the other side l said to him that l did not think the Democratic caucus
 could undertake to provide committee | assignments for the Senator from South Carolina"
 Tillman Gets in It
 Mir Tilman IS. O was on bis feat
 when Mir. Jones concluded. In his charac- terstic way he announced that his name had not been mentioned. he realized that he was the cause of 1t all. He would not at this time make an extended reph Briefly he reviewed the controversy be- tween himself and Senator McI.aurin,
 which led to the joint tender of their feStEnatiOnS to the Governor of South
 Carolina last spring and told of the Gov
 ernor's suggestion that the resignation be withdrawn. MT. -Tillman said he con tended that the Governor was simply "a
 box into which he had put letters for the Legislature" and that they could not ur- do their act, but MT. McLaurin had hast ensd to withdraw his letter. MT. Tillman said he had examined the record and
 that of about 200 cases in the history of
 the government. where Senators had re- signed, Mir. McLaurin enjoyed the en- viable distinction of being the only one
 who had withdrawn his resignation after
 offering it. As to Mir. McLaurins charge of conspiracy to humiliate him by bar
 ring him from the Democratic caucus,
 Mir. Tillman called attention to the fact that he had not been in Washington dur ing the extra session of the Senate last spring.
 This conspiracy" he said, lis dream conjured up by him. It Is the creation of
 his own brain.'
 No Reply to Tillman. Mir McLaurin made no reply to MT. 1 TiIlman. but in replying to Senator Jones. said he did not desire that there should ha an1-tbino nersOnal in his charge that