Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-17

Ihey are unrepubican. they are undemo-
cratic. they are un-American Applause on
the democratic side) We need the patri-
otto duty in this body today of rising up
ana formulating new declaration of in
dependence. We need to restore this House
TO the great patriotic plane on which the
fathers Of the republic placed 1t, where
every individual member on this floor
stands on N equal and an exact plane with
every other. Applause.)
I'VE operate here under a set Of rules
confessedly designed to belittle the hopes
and dwarf the ambitions of the individual
members Of this body and at the same time
to vest more power in the hands of one or
two men than was ever enjoyed by oriental
despot or a ten-button mandarin. / say to
you. my friends, that the system is rotten
at both ends 1t is rotten at one end be-
cause 1t robs the individual members in
this House of the power that the Consti-
tuition of the United States and his creden-
tials as member on this floor entitle him
to; 1t Is rotten at the other end because
1t vests power in men that have no right
to 1t, and Outlines places on them duties
that they have no capacity to fulfill. Gap
plause and -laughter)
The Leaders of the Party.
'Nfr. Chairman, let no man charge me
now with trying to tear down the republic
can party. am not trying to tear down
the republican party, but I confess that L
sometimes feel that would like to put my
hand upon the throat Of one or two men
VINO conceive that they are the republican
party. applause and laughter)
Il am believer in the republican party.
! have been ever since the days of my in
fancy, when l played with a pair Of tat
tered and faded epaulets that came home
to me from the war. 1t does not lie in
the mouth of any man on the republican
side OF this chamber to say that l do not
believe in the republican party. The true
friend OF his party Is the man who does
not sit idly by and watch his party drift
into disrepute and toward destruction, but
the man who rises up and calls attention to
the evils that exist. Nero sat the hill
tops and hddled while the eternal city rose
in smoke and sank in ashes, and We are sit
ting here idly and unconcerned while the
great power of this ancient House is being
evaded.
There people in Washington city to-
day who are going down to a theater and
paying out 80 cents each Of lawful money
OF the United States of America, Of present
standard weight and fineness, in order to
see what? In order to see a performance
of lilliputians.
Great God!' he cried. what a sinful
waste Of money, when they can come up
here and watch this House perform six
days In the week for nothing. Gaughter.)
Now. Mr. Chairman, a member of this
House said to me the other day, 'Cushman,
what makes you so thin?' l will tell you
what makes me so thin. I have hall a mil
lion earnest, patriotic, intelligent constitu-
ents behind me, demanding that 1 secure
certain needed and righteous legislation in
their interest.
THAT is the pressure on me from the
rear. When try to secure recognition and
an opportunity to bring up that legislation
for consideration go up against the stone
wall that surrounds the Speaker Of the
House and the committee on rules. That
Is the pressure on me from in 'front.' and
between the pressure from the rear and
the pressure from in front 1 have been fat
tened out like Cancelled postage stamp.
QAaughter)
Now, in the three years that 1 have
been a member Of this body, I have al
ways approached that little machine with
the Difference due to its age and its station,
but I hope you will excuse my frankness
when I tell you that from this time on
l will devote a little of my time and a
tithe OF my energy to putting few spokes
in the wheel of that machine that the de-
signers of the vehicle never ordered.
NaughterD Now. l expect to leave the
consideration of this subject. I realize
that in the brief time allotted to me 1 can
not do adequate justice to the injustice of
the subject. I will leave it, with the final
observation that some time between now
and the close of this session l will get a
little time, at a suitable opportunity, and
l will make a speech on the subject of
the rules of this House, and promise you
that that speech will be so hot that it will
have to be printed on asbestos paper and
tied to hand grenade for distribution"
uaughter.)
ban BILL. Mr. Cushman painted several
mirth-inspiring pictures Of the republican
leaders. Chairman Payne of the ways and
means committee he had standing with
one foot on the wall of protection with
the other on the free trade" side. while
out of his hip pockets stuck copies of the
republican platform. That" declared
Mr.. Cushman "is picture which, with a
little red fire. would bring tears to the eyes
of an Egyptian mummy"
Taking up Mr.. Grosvenor. Mr.. Cushman
said he could take the speeches Of that
gentleman and go into the campaign and
refute any proposition. The record Of Mr.
Grosvenor on the pending bill. he said,
would make material for the defense of
any one, whether he voted either for or
against the pending bill.