The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-14
SULLIVAN VS. W. R. HEARST Unusual Spectacle Wit
 messed in House. GRAVE PERSONALITIES Denunciati0nS and Accusa-
 ti0nS Exchanged. Dramatic Incident in Which the FOr- mer is by Implication Charged
 With Conplicity in

Washington. Feb. 13.--Not in recent years has the House witnessed such a spectacle as it did today with Mir. sul- iivan of Massachusetts and William R. Hearst of New York as the central figures. Both indulged in personalities in the gravest character and so stirred the House as to arouse among certain members feeling of the greatest in- dignation. MT. Sullivan heaped upon Mir. Hearst a tirade of denunciation, while the latter. by implication, chars- ed Mr. Sullivan with complicity in murder.
 The affair grew out of the recent dis cussion of the freight rate question in the House, when MT. Sullivan inquired of Mir. Lamar of Florida, who was fa- voring the Hearst bill. why Mir. Hearst did not defend his owh bill. this be- ing. followed by a criticism of Mir. Sul- livan In The New York American and Journal.
 Several appeals were made to Speak CT Cannon to cause the two men to de- sist in their abuse of each other. Speak CT Cannon, however. allowed them to proceed. MT. Sullivan entirely con- cluded. but in the case of Mir. Hearst, the Speaker, on reconsideration, not ing the temper of the House, decided that an accusation of homicide against fellow member was not parliamen- tary, because 1t was calculated to pro- yoke disorder and disturbance. Almost immediately thereafter. Mir. Hearst took his seat, hurling defiance and de- claring that 1t would be his pride to continue his hostility to individuals such as he charged Mir. Sullivan to be.
 Immediately after the House con- vened today MT. Sullivan (Mass.l, in pursuance Of notice given by him last Friday, addressed the House in reply to certain statements regarding him-,. self alleged to have been printed In The New York American. Mr. 6uili- vans remarks were the outcome of last weeks debate on the railroad attess tion. in the course of which he inquired of Mir. Lamar CFla.l. why Mfr. W. R. Hearst (N. Y.) was not present to ex- plain his own bill.
 Wanted Hearst Present.
 Mir. Sullivan at the outset stated that he had given his notice early in order that Mir. Hearst might be present .oday. He had interrupted Mir. Lamar, he said. because he thought MT. Lamar was criticising too harshly his Demo- cratic colleagues for their failure to support the so-called Hearst bill, and he felt that MT. Hearst himself might produce the desired effect. Ordinarily, he said, public men expect fair criti- cism of their official acts. but where the proprietor of a paper is a member of Congress, he owes a double duty to his colleagues to be fair and impartial in hA criticisms of them. He read the article in The New York American and Journal of February in criticism of himself. which, he said, had been called forth by an infraction of Mir. Hearts monarehical dignity, and thereby had been consigned to the political assas- sination of Mir. Hearsts paper.
 The article in question. MT. Sullivan said, touched his representative ca- pacity, and is deliberate insult to one member by another"
 He was interrupted by Mir. Robinson (Ind J, who raised the point that Mir. Sullivan was not in order. Immediately there went up a howl of No" Mo-" No" The Speaker ruled that Mir sul- livan was proceeding by unanimous consent.
 Continuing, MT. Sullivan said: The writer raises the query whether my ignorance of pending measures was due to congenital incapacity or indif- ference to the peoples rights. Con- genital incapacity is a serious charge, yet obviously one that the person ac- cused would not care to discuss. If the charge is true, he is not guilty, but unfortunate. and it Is surely a grievous misfortune not to be able to appreci- ate the value of the legislative ser vices of the gentleman from New York.
 But congenital incapacity to under stand is a term that covers a side range of mental and moral deficiency. Ii covers the case of the moral degen- crate, the unclean. unproductive, shift less members of society, and 1t includes the man who. totally bereft of the sense of proprIety, raises his profaning eyes toward the splendid temple of the peo- ple's highest gift-the Presidency of the United states--blissfully uncon- scious of the soeful contrast between the qualifications requisite for that high ohice and his own contemptible and immoral equipment.
 MT. Sullivan was again interrupted bv MT. Robinson, but the Speaker ruled that Mir. Sullivan was in order.
 MT. Sullivan was then. permitted to proceed, commenting on the non-at. tendance and lack of record on the roll call "exhibited by some members"
 MT. Sullivan referred to Mir. Hearst as the unknown man or political nov ice whose only recommendation is his inherited wealth"
 The scheme of political assassination. he said. had been mapped out evidently with the idea of destroying the re- spectable clements of the Democratic Party. He commended MT. Williams. the minority leader. for refusing to en- dorse the Hearst rate bill. also "a re- fusal of that leader to stoop to a con- troversy with a contemptible oppon- ent."
 As soon as MT. Sullivan concluded. MT. Hearst arose to reply. He de- nied that he either inspired or sug- 9estAd the publication referred to, but said he assumed all responsibility for it.
 @Emitting CheVed Wind.o
 Replying to MT. S11livan's criticism that MT Hearst had been guilty of the lack of action in the House. Mir. Hearst said he was proceeding in the way he thought most effective to his constitn- ents. He did not know any way by which a man could be less effective for his constituents 'than in emitting