McCrary. Election cases in
the House up to that time were, as they always were in the
English House of Commons and as they have been too often in
the Senate, determined entirely by party feeling. Whenever
there was a plausible reason for making a contest the dominant
party in the House almost always awarded the seat to the man
of its own side. There is a well-authenticated story of Thaddeus
Stevens, that going into the room of the Committee of Elections,
of which he was a member, he found a hearing going on. He
asked one of his Republican colleagues what was the point
in the case. "There is not much point to it" was the answer.
"They are both damned scoundrels." "Well," said Stevens, "which
is the Republican damned scoundrel? I want to go for the
Republican damned scoundrel."
We had a good many contests. But the Committee determined
to settle all the questions before it as they would if they
were judges in a court of justice. The powerful influence
of Mr. McCrary, the Chairman, aided largely to bring about
that result. The Democratic minority soon discovered that
we were sincere and in earnest.
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