| Show CONGRESSIONAL BRAffLKKS I is a ffequcnl complaint on the part of 2 certain portion of the press that political iiowfipapeffi do not exhibit sttfllclent respect for Congress and Congressman The lav making branch of tho government is daily ridiculed and hoM up t scaiu by tho press of the minority patty nnd individual members mem-bers of Confess both Senators and Representatives Rep-resentatives sire spoken of in terms which should only he applied t blacltRuards and criminals The argument is that this course necessrily degrades in the cswcm of tho people the mon who make the laws anti consequently casts odium upon the laws themselves whereas people should bo taught t look I upon lawmakers as tho ablest and purest men in tho nation and t respect the statutes as the devislngs of wise and honest hon-est men for th protection and government of the masses Theoretically tho complaining press is correct practically it is an ignoramusand cloarlv wrong I Contrressmen wore chosen as they should be If the wisest and best men wero selected and if their election elec-tion were the result of the honest choice ton reslt the honest people it would bo cruel to criticise abuse condemn and vulcarize them as the political press persist in doing But tno best men are not nominated elections are not honestly conducted and the tally sheets do not represent the voice of the people The qualifications of the candidate for tho important duties attaching at-taching to tho oftico are seldom taken into account by nominating conventions The low cunning tho dirty trickery of the candidate in securing control of tho primaries maries and conventions more often secure nominations and elections than the qualities quali-ties required in a legislator The very things which should keep a man out of Congress place hiD there Because of this blatherskites instead of statesmen blackguards black-guards rather than clean and honorable gentlemen sit as Representatives and Senators Sen-ators I our lawmakers were what they should be they would all be referred t with respect even by the opposition opposi-tion political press and the masses would entertain an entirely different differ-ent opinion regarding the socalled statesman So long as unclean men and dirty blackguards g to Congress the newspapers news-papers will score them andneither they nor their friends will have any right t complain com-plain of illtreatmcnt by the press So long a the debates in Congress are conducted on low and vulgar lines and members indulge in the profanity and nastihess which nobody no-body expects to encounter outside tho slums it should not be expected that the people will have much respect for the great lawmaking institution or the men composing compos-ing it We have heretofore referred to the disgraceful dis-graceful proceedings in the House on the afternoon of August 27 when Representative CAXXOX the recognized re-cognized parliamentary leader of the Republicanstold with his own mouth what a lowbred fellow he is and others shall any though in less degree of vileness advertised ad-vertised their vulgar instincts and training The full and true account of the disgraceful disgrace-ful scene has never been told in print and nnvor will be for the reason that no newspaper news-paper in the country is dirty enough to print the account Besides the publishers publish-ers who should admit the language that was used t his columns would promptly be sent t prison by those same people who arc blamed for not showing proper respect for Congressmen Enough maybe related however to show that the press and people arc not far wrong if they sometimes refer to Congressmen I as blackguards and look with suspicion I upon tho laws enacted by such men The remark by CANNoN which precipitated tho disagreeable scone was too nasty to be repeated I was no sooner uttered than everybody in tho gallery left while many of tho more decent Representatives croat cro-at onco upon their feet entering their indignant in-dignant protests One member demanded that tho words be taken down but the speaker knEW that it would not do to disfigure dis-figure the journal with them and therefore declined to recognize the outraged gentleman gentle-man It so happened that tho wife of Congressman Con-gressman MAbOX of Illinois Was in the gallery Which fact tcnue her husband on the floor wildly indignant He made desperate des-perate efforts to got at UAXXON but friends held him back by main force compelling com-pelling him t content himself with hurling hurl-ing epithets at his colleague tho language he used being little less vile than that of CANoN A correspondent who WaS present quotes MASON as saying You wouldnt have said that i your family had been in the gallery and you wouldnt have said It at all if you hadnt been a dirty tramp and so on winding up as CAXNOX protested to break his wrath that his words had beon misunderstood mis-understood Youre a lying son of n This excited CAasox so that his friends had t hold him or ho would have climbed over the desks to hit MASON The dispute was going on nil over the Republican side of tho chamber tho members mem-bers expressing their opinions in language both inelegant und vigorous when WILSON of Washington struck BECKAVITH of New Jersey In nn instant a score of J members wore rushing at each other and r for a tIme it looked as i the Republicans t would engage in a general knockdown The sergeantatarms had difficulty in establishing anything like quiet Tho correspondent cor-respondent explains the collision between the members named a follows It seems that BECKWJTH who had 1 private I jrleyanco against CANNON for naming him ambiift absentees In his 4 ambthe resolution cterI I day Had said t LiuiuiAtiii as hey watched MASON und CAANON that MON was quite 1 right No lip isnt said WILSON ONO Its right 1 Wlifct haie you Rol to do with its t araanded BEdxtyrra Oht said W10 1 youre mad because CANNON put your name In I the list yesterday Well said BrcKwnH it bad no business there for I was here all the day Well said WILSON it was all right for its dd little youre here anyway You are a liar said BECKWITII Youre a liar said WILSON Youre a son of 0 v retorted 11 ecKWJTH Then they fell io blows r ft seems that WILSON is given to that sort of thing Itis related of him that during I the debate on tho silver bill Senator I POWEH went over to the House with other Senators to lobby for the n asure and among the members to whom he talked was WILSON who told him ho wanted to hear nothing from him bn the subject I hI havo been Senatorridden enough bo I said by inert from my own state and Im m I not going to be bossed by a whitefaced I little son 6f a from Montana whose title to a rieat In the Senate Is not above suspicion This drew out a torrent of abuse from POVVKK to which WILSON retorted re-torted You shut up Youre one ran I in Congress that I can lick and you Ill do it now if you slY another W6rd Upon which POIVEK loft confusedly Can there be any wonder that in the shadow o such preeodinfis and in the echo of such language the decent press and decent de-cent people of the country sometimes speak I in contemptuous terms of Congress and i Congressmen When Congressmen indulge in-dulge in blackguard talk mid disgraceful knockdowns can they expect that the I American people will hold them in high esteem I es-teem and show that respect for tho lawmaKers I law-maKers and the laws which should be shown I I is not the partisan press which I is responsible for the vulgarizing of Congressmen Con-gressmen it is the latter who bring themselves I them-selves into popular contempt i |
