The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1911-04-06
H NEW CONGRESS.

third congress- met in 1893. the
HOUSE Of Representative, which con.
venes today. 10 in the hands Of the
democratic party. In 1893 there were
220 democrats and only 1875 repub.
licans ir the House. The Senate q.
60 was in the control Of the demo.
|cratic party. but by the narrow mar.
gin Of 41 over 50 members. The
next congress. the Fifty-fourth. saw
;hoth branches Of congress again In
the hands Of the republican party.
Prior to that time the democrats
had not had control Of both branch
les Of congress since the Forty-sixth,
which convened in 1879. However,
with q republican president. the
democratic party was not able to
carry out its wishes. In 1898. fol
the arst ana only time since the Civil
War, the democratic party had full
control Of the executive and legisla-
tive branches.
However. the democratic sweep OF
1892 was preceded by the selection
of q democratic House in 1890, BY
lthesoverNheiminE lead Of 23s to SO.
In 1910. another on year. the dem
,ocrats elected q majority Of the
House members. though by compare
lively . narrow margin. 228 to 100.
It 10 the fond hope Of the democratic
party that history may repeat itself.
and that the triumph Of last year is
but the forerunner Of a general vic
tory next year.
The democratic majority in the
House IL left perfectly free to play
politics to the limit at the present
session. With the republicans con-
trolling the Senate and the presi-
dency. they will feel NO responsible
lity. except for their campaign inter-
|ests. They will take action that
would not be possible If the demo-
Gratis believed there would be .
chance Of their bills becoming laws.
For example. the Tammany demo-
Gratis two years ago went to the res
cue Of Speaker Cannon and prevent
ed reform Of the rules. Yet last SAT-
urday there was no division in the
democratic caucus over the changes
made In the rules. Similarly, we do
not doubt the democrats will make
changes in the wool. cotton and steel
tariffs, knowing they will not become
law. But II the democrats should
control both branches Of congress
andsthe White House. 1t would be
utterly impossible to make a radical
reduction in any Of the tariffs. In
the consideration Of the Payne-Ald-
rich tariff act. it was developed by
the opposition Of the insurgents"
to certain schedules, that whenever
the standpat republicans needed
democratic votes. they had no trou-
BE In getting them.
The fact is the democratic party
40 without . tariff policy today. In
the debate over the Payne act, there
were all sorts Of declarations. Some
DEMOCRATS advocated q tariff for reve-
nue. only Others declared that the
policy Of protection had been proved
indispensable by the experience Of
the country with 1t, but that some Of
the duties were too high.
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There will be one thing upper
most In democratic minds through
out the coming extra session as we'll
as the long session. and that is.a the
Of making campaign
material. Theirs is not the respon-
.sibility Of government. They con-
slider themselves fortunate.
+@eAe
MOTHER DaLDGATEs.
Pierre. q. D.-Governor Vessey has
appointed % delegates to the Inter
national Mothers Congress which
meets ct Warrington, April -: Mss
Annis Danshsrty. Yankton; Mn. q.
Pierre: Mn. Z. y. Mar.
unsDsa4woed; Nh. RI. oanhaA.
Yankton; 1ss. n. G. Nossr. HlSA.
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