FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. 1397 
Columbia is without a local government; for, if I remember aright, it 
was the Forty-third Congress, which was Republican in both branches, 
that passed the bill denying representation and a local government to 
the people of this District. At that time the Republican party exer- 
cised almost unchallenged sway in all the departments of the Govern- 
ment. The repeal was thought by our Republican friends to bea 
necessity, confronted as they were with an expenditure of four or five 
millions of dollars, piled up under two years of local rule. Mr. Speaker, 
I ami perhaps willing to favor the reestablishment of a local govern- 
ment in this District for the one reason, if for no other, that we may 
have right here under the very shadow of the Capitol an exemplifica- 
tion of the peculiar virtues of that type of government which some 
gentlemen in this countr ae wrcte anxious to impose upon the people of 
the South. 
Mr. McComas. My friend wits to be right in his history ¢ 
Mr. Dockery. Certainly. 
Mr. McComas. He will find the act of 1878 passed during the Forty- 
fifth Congress, which was Democratic. The law was a wise one, 
although it happened to be a Democratic Congress. 
Mr. Dockery. If my recollection is not at fault, and I will put my 
recollection against his 
Mr. McComas. It is the act of 1878, and you can count it up 
yourself. 
Mr. Docxrry. Mr. Speaker, my recollection is that the ‘‘colored 
troops” in the District of Columbia were disfranchised by the Repub- 
lican party in the Forty-third Congress, when that party had a two- 
thirds majority in this House, a majority in the Senate, and the eehaed 
tive. If, however, the act was passed, as stated by my friend, 
1878, iter poriuinky it will not be denied that the Republican eae 
Biitrolied the Senate at that time, and there was a Republican gentle- 
man in the White House who was acting as President of the United 
States. 
Mr. McComas. I misunderstood the original statement of the gen- 
tleman from Missouri. I was referring to the date of the organic act 
authorizing the present government of the District of Columbia, which 
was approved June 11, 1878. The gentleman is correct in the state- 
ment that the bill repealing the local government in the District was 
passed in the Forty-third Congress. 
Mr. Docxmry. I am glad to have the accuracy of my statement con- 
firmed by my friend from Maryland. I find upon investigation that 
the repealing act was approved June 20, 1874, when the Democratic 
party was in the minority in all the departments of the Government. 
[Here the hammer fell. | 
Mr. Cannon. I now yield five minutes to my colleague from Illinois 
[Mr. Hopkins]. 
