Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-18
57th CONGRESS.
CONTINUED from page ~

Ding department OF THIS government.
applause and laughter)"
Cushman then quoted Cassius' allu-
sionS to Caesar as the colossus of the
world and continued:
Il make no onslaught on the indi-
vidual. l have a high regard for the
Speaker of this House personally and
for him politically. but the fact is that
we have adopted a set of rules in this
body that are an absolute disgrace to
the legislative body of any republic.
applause on the Democratic side).
They are un-Republican, they are
I'M Democratic, they are un-American.
applause on the Democratic side).
We need to restore this House to the
great patriotic plane on which the
fathers of the republic placed it, where
every individual member on this floor
stands on an equal and an exact plane
with every other. (Applause).
we operate here under 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 an Oriental sport or a 10but-
ton mandarin. | say to you, my friends
that the system is rotten at both ends
1t is rotten at one end because it robs
the individual members in this House
of the power that the constitution of
the United States and his credentials
as a member on this floor entitle him
to; it is rotten at the other end because
it vests power in men that have no
ight to it and oft times places on them
duties that they have no capacity to
fulfill. applause and laughter).
Mr.. Chairman. let no man charge me-
now with trying to tear down the Repub-
lican party. | am not trying to tear Il
down, but | confess that | sometimes fee!
that | would like TO put my hand upon
the throat of one or two men who con-
ceive that they are the Republican party
applause and laughter. | am a believer
in the PARTY. The true friend of his Bar
ty is the man who does not sit idly by
and watch it drift into disrepute and to-
ward destruction. but the man who rises
up and calls attention to the evils that
exist Nero sat on the hilltopS and tiddled
while the Eternal city rose in smoke ami
sank in ashes, ana we are sitting here
idly and unconcerncd while the great
power of this ancient House is being
evaded. belittled, dcbauched and destroy
ed tapplause).
There are people in Washington city
today, who are going down to a theatre
and paying out 80 cents each in order to
see a performance of Liliputians. What
a sinful waste of money, when they can
come up here and watch this House per-
form SIX days in the week for nothing,
Laughter).
Now, Mr.. Chairman, a member of this
House said to me the other day: 'Cush-
man, what makes you thin?' | will
tell you what makes me thin. | have
half Il million earnest, patriotic, inteli-
gent constituents behind me, demanding
that | secure certain needed and right
eous Legislation in their interest That is
the pressure On me from the rear. When
| try to secure recognition and an oppor-
tunity 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, | have been
fattened out like cancelled postage
stamp Oaughter,.
Now, in the three years that | have
been member of this body have al
ways approached that little machine with
the Difference due to its age and its sta
ton: but l hope you will excuse my
frankness when | tell you that from this
and 1.-THE of my energy to putting a
few spokes in the wheel of-that machine
ordered Caughter).
Il will leave the consideration of this
subject with the final observation that
sometime between now and the close OF
this session | will get a little time, at
suitable opportunity, and l will make a
speech on the subject of the rules of this
House, and 1 promise you that thai
speech will be so hot that it will have 20
be printed on asbestos paper and tied to
hand grenade for distribution.
Cushman then turned his attention to
the pending measure and its sponsors.
After reading the utterances of Harrison,
Blains and Mckinley on the subject of
reciprocity to show that they did not ad
vocate such reciprocity as was contained
in the pending bill, Cushman said:
Il appeal from the reciprocity of John
Dalzell to the reciprocity of Benz. Har-
rison. [ appeal from the reciprocity of
Congressman Grosvenor to the reciprocity
of VIM. Mckinley. | appeal from the rec
iprocity of Serene 4. Payne to the reci
procity of James G. Blaine. l have been
continu, u, by some peculiar statements
that have been made on this floor i'll
support of this measure.
The gentleman from New York
payne on this side of the Chamber. pro-
claimed that this measure was the height
of Republican protection and then before
the sand in the glass had run once. Mr..
Mcclellan arose on the other side and
announced that he was going to vote for
1t because it was a breach in the wal! |
or protection and a step towards free |
trade. And these two speeches are print
ed in parallel columns of the same issue |
of the Congressional Record. There is a |
picture.
The gentleman from New York |
tPayne), with one foot planted on the |
wall of protection with the other set |
firmly on the ramparts of free trade, with |
the American Sugar Refining Co. in his |
arms and the platform of the Republi |
can party in his hip pocket Qaughter).
There is tableau trenewed laughter)
that with the aid of a slow curtain and Il |
little red fire would bring tears to the |
eyes of an Egyptian mummy 0aughter). !
Now, my distinguished friend from |
Ohio. Mr.. Grosvenor. for whom Il have
a very high regard, also spoke upon this |
bill. and L desire to say here and to give |
1t all the emphasis / can that he is per- |
sonally responsible for the fact that | |
occupy seat on this floor, today. The |
way it came about was this. In my state,
that great, expansive young common |
wealth in which there are few railroads |
and where you cannot campaign in 4
Pullman car, we have to get out ON horse !