The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-02


hands it will be agreed that it should be |
place where no masquerading ought to |
be tolerated. Senators should deal cam |
didly with each other as well as with |
the country. We owe it not only to our |
selves but to the place in which we are |
assembled. No man of this body has a |
right to put members of the body in a
| false position, even if We concede that
any Senator has right to put himself
| in a false position.
| / state that every man knows that the
Senate, when full, consists of seventy-six
members. Thirty eight members of the
| body now sitting here were elected to the
| body as Democrats. Let that fact go to
the country. Thirty-eight members of I
the Senate, now in the hearing of my
| voice, were sent here commissioned to
| sit here as Democrats. They hold no
| commission that was not given to them
| as Democrats and by Democrats That
! th1rty-eght amounts to precisely half
| the Senate. One member of the Senate,
the distinguished Senator from Illinois
| tMr. Davls), was not sent here as q
| Democrat. He was sent here by Demo.
| cratic votes, and in words of high and
| lofty patriotism and fidelity to trust, \
worthy of the very best days of this Re-
| public, he announced on Friday that he
would be true to the trust that sent him
here and which he agreed to fulfill
| Yet in the face of this high presence,
| in the face of the nation, the leading
| Senator on the other side, the great
Senator from the great State of New
| York, rises and repeats over and over
| again that when the Senate shall be full
| it will have Constitutional majority OF
| Republicans. How has that been ac
| ccmplished? That is the question. 1t
was not accomplished by the people 1t
| was not accomplished by the LegisIa-
| lures of the States How? BY whom /?
| When? For what purpose has that
| wonderful coalition been accomplished by
which somebody. sent here as Demo-
| crat, has been seized on-no, | will not
| say seized; | will initiate the words Of
| the distinguished Senator from New
! York-taken and carried away to the Re
| publican party? Who did it? The Sena-
tor from New York did not; acqut
him; | know him too we'll. Who did il
/ Who has seized, who has taken and car
iied away? How is it that we on this
side have no right to act on the assump-
| ton that thirty eight members who were
sent to this body as Democrats are not
still Democrats? Sir, / say they are,
and | stand here to vindicate the honor.
the integrity, the fidelity to State to
people, and to principle of all the thirty
eight who were sent here as Democrats.
and deny that either has proven treacll-
erous to his constituents or has falsified
| the commission that lies upon your table.
|
| Now, the Senator from New York docs
not say that somebody has been bought
| NO; L nave not said that. He does not
| say somebody has been taken and car
rled away. No; | have not said that
But there is another obligation While
| concede the right of any gentleman TO
| change his opinions and change his party
aHlnatlonS, yet | say that when he has
arrived at the conclusion that duty re-
cures him to make that change, he must
give notice to the constituency that sent
him here. L have heard of no such notice
| Ii the people of any of these Democratic
States, who, through Democratic Legis~
| latures, have sent thirty-eight Demo-
4 Gratis to this body and one more by Dem
| Ccratic votes, have received notice of a
| change of party opinion or change of
party affiliations by any of those they
sent here, / have not heard of it; the
| evidence of it has not been produced
| Sir, | concede the right of every man
| TO change his opinions; | concede the
right OF every man to change his party
| affiliations; | concede the right of any
| man who was elected to the high place of
seat in this Senate, as a Democrat, to
change and become Republican; but I
| deny in the presence of this Senate |
deny in the hearing of this people. that
any man has a right to accept COM
4 mission from one party and execute the
! trust confided to him in the interest of
! another party. Demoralized as this coun-
| try has become, though every wind bears
| to US charges of fraud and bargain and
I'corruptlon: though the highest positions
IN the land, we fear, have been degraded
| by being occupied by persons who pro-
| cured them otherwise than by the popu-
lar Will, yet / deny that the people of
either party in this country have yet
gwen any man right to be faithless to
atrusts They have given no man right
TO accept position as a Democrat and
mold that commission and act with the
| Republicans. Manhood, bravery, cour-
age, ndelty, morality, respect for the
opinions OF mankind, requires that when
ever man has arrived at the conclusion
that he cannot carry out the trust which
| (OAAiAdtb
the commission and tell his constituents,
Il have changed my mind. and therefore
return the commission you gave me-"
Sir, | do not believe that single one of
the thirty eight gentlemen who were
elected as Democrats, and whose names
are before me here, will hold in his
pocket commission conferred by Demo-
| Gratis, and without giving notice to his
constituency, without giving notice to his
associates, will execute that commission
| in the interest of the adversary party
and go and communicate his conclusions,
| first of all, and only, to the members OF
| the adversary party.
/ Who is the one? Who is ambitious to
| do what no man in the history of this
country has ever done, to be the first man
| to stand UP in this high presence, after
/ this country has reached fifty million
| people, and proclaim from this proud
| Continued on Page Eleyen)