The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-04-20
The Situation in the House.
Daily Mail,

We hardly know what to make Of his
latest news from Washington, to the teect
that the inSurgent republicans, spurred
by letters from their constituents, have a.
bout decided to resume their fight against
Cannon ndC annOism,, and have intimated
that they will now be willing to vote with
the democrats to declare the speakers
chair vacant and then elect an outsider as
speaker. The constitution provides that the
speaker Of the house may not necessarily
be q member of that body.
But somehow we do not believe the in
surgents will do anything Of the kind. One
or two Of them may, but we believe that
most Of them are insincere, and have been
making all this noise simply for political
effect in their own districts, without any
intention of kicking out OF the traces Of
their own party or Of doing the party
machine any particular harm.
In this connection we take the liberty OF
quoting from a private letter from Con-
gresham Aiken. 1t was written on Friday:
"Your comments recently have been cor
rect in tho main, but we feel sure that the
democratic position is better b ever,
because we helped the insurgents to the
extreme limit, and we were delighted when
they took to the woods and refused to get
rid of Cannonjand C~annonism, for which
they had been bowling for SO long. We
Idu W Cdll Ullt optuhCl . Oluii, wi Il W. ioN
not done so the press of the country would
lave said We had endorsed him and that
/ we had acted cowardly. W&did all we could
and we are now in better position than
ever to fight the insurgents, and tie regu-
lars too, in the west and elsewhere.
Taking everything into consideration, re
could not have asked for better conditions.
As far as the rules are concerned, they are
about as before, but the insurgents may
sometimes combine with US on the floor
and knock out Objectionable special rules
The insurgents and northern press claim
that they did wonders, when as q matter
of fact they laid down at the crucial MON,
ent, and never could have turned q wheel
il the democrats had not stood solid"
This is q view of a democratic member
of the house, who is on the ground and who
watches things closely, and it is just the
view of it that WE have had at this distance
The fight Of the insurgents did not amou
to a hill of beans, and we do not believee
was ever intended to.
The record Of the fight, as given in the
interesting fact. When the vote was taken
on the momentous resolution to declare
the speakers chair vacant, the roll was
called in alphabetical order, Of course. The
two members whose names come before
that Of Congressman Aiken did not vote
bsing absent. When Mr.. AikenS name was
called he voted, and his was the first vote
to be recorded in favor Of declaring the
speakers chair vacant. All the rest OF the
democratic members followed him like
sheen, but the insurgents turned tail fled
The fight was lost, but, but, as Mr.. Aiken
SAYS, it was not the fault OF tee democrats
and they are in better position than ever
while the blame rests where it belongs ano
is so plain that everybody sees 1t.
It was a very pretty fight, in which no
body won a victory except the democrats
and we are very glad that Mr.. Aiken lee
the fighting at such a critical moment.