The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-03
THE DAILY UNION.

i gave his adhesion was never known In the admins
tration. Who did III Not the wings.
"shakc not thy CORY locks at me-
| Thou csnst not say 1 did H."
to use the language Of Macbeth. Who did it
The democrats of this country. II was they VIII,
introduced, in an evil day, that corrupt and nfamou
principle into the affairs of this country. Yes;
anything could corrupt the glorious institutions
this country it would be the abuses introduced by
| the support of government press The HONORABLE,
gentleman from Massac huseiis, when in Office, re
moved in the of his four years Of administra
ton, but four officers and those for good cause
He looked to his administration with PRIDE anc
asked the opposite party to initiate its economy
purity, patriotism, and public worth. Until tina
glorious administration elapsed the spoiis system
had not prevailed. Now there is truly revolution
What is the consequence They saw universe
spirit Of anarchy in all quarters, and one unintcr
rupted cry Of "Punder," "plunder." When The
question comes up, the other party enters not into
il with any love Of justice devotion principle
but in spirit Of rapacity and plage on the high
seas. He called upon the gentleman, Mr.. BAYLY
and every man who loved his country, to aid him
in cutting off some of that system. AT the com.
menccment Of last session, gentleman from Vir
gna made similar proposition, the effect Of which
was to sever the patronage Of the government, in
all its departments, from the newspapers Hs
voted for the proposition then; II came from Wiz.
gnan---from just the right quarter. 1t accorded
with his Mr.. Ds) conscience; and he voted for il
then, at present. He was charged with inconsis-
tency by the gentleman who said he wanted the pub
papers separated from the government. What object
could he have in ths' He begged to tell him, in do
ing something to effect that separation, he would be
indicating his own consistency better than by as
sailing his. The gentleman said he was in favor Of
the principle OF severing government from the news
papers, but complains that the House would be
without a printer Now, it would be recollectcd
that his amendment proposed that the clerk should
have the necessary printing done in the mean time
For the purpose, however, of avoiding every diff
Guilty, he would propose the following modified res.
olution:
Rs,o,rsd That committee be appointed to let the print
advertisement, in two or newspapers, published In
Washington Baltimore Philadelphia, New York. and Bos
ton Respectively the person or persons to whom such print
be let TO give bonds to the United States with
censecurty for the proper performance Of the work. and
until this arrangement be made the clerk of this
Is required to have its necessary printing DONE in conform
ity to existing rates.
Mr.. VISprocccded TO say, that, by the adop.
ton of that motion, provision would be made for
the printing until printer could be selected. The
gentleman spoke of the purity of the National In
telligencer; and in all he said of il, he concurred
For dignity, truth, decorum and patriotism, TO what
little modicum of worth possessed by the pub
lie press, that ancient journal contributed more than
its share; but he could not say as much for thai
paper which the honorable gentleman advocated
He read certain extracts from former numbers Of
the Richmond Enquirer, in order to show incon-
sistenccs various subjects in the course of the
former editor of that paper, for term of years
His proposition was, to let the public printing to
the lowest bidder, who should give the strongest
securities TO perform As far as this plan had been
carried out in reference to the executive depart.
ments Of the government, it had purified the press
to some extent, and had saved thousands and thou.
sands to the government. What was there to for
bid the application of that principle TO Congress
They wanted mechanic, handicraftsman, a
practical printer, who would do the work at low
prices. They wanted to separate the public print.
ing Of Congress from the politics Of the country to
preserve the press from the corrupting influence Of
public patronage. And how did they propose ia
effect il! just in the way that nearly all the bust.
ness of the government was done, and should be
done, viz: to give the opportunity to practical
printers to throw in their bids, in fair, open com
petition. Now, what would be the result as to the
matter Of economy He referred to, and read OK.
tracts from, the pamphlet read from yesterday con-
veying an offer on the part of certain individual OF
individuals, to do the printing of Congress at re-
dnction of from IS to SO per cent. from the rates
established by the joint resolution of 1919. He
also quoted and adopted computation, from the
same source, that the acceptance Of their offer fol
the printing would effect saving on the single doc.
ument Of the Presidents message Of some $751; 0(
or $4,000. He commented at length upon the
subject insisting that the present majority Of The
House, in order to maintain their political consist
cncy, were absolutely compelled to accept Of The
offer making so great reduction of rates.
The people Of the Union might be blinded; bu
such extravagance and proHigacy as the refusal L
accept this offer would result in, would open theiI
eyes, and they would burl them from the high unt
responsible trusts which had been confdcd to them
He brought forward similar offer from another
source, proposing to do the printing of Congress
40 per cent reduction from the rates Of 1919, or q
per cent. reduction from the rates paid by the las
Congress. In case of the rejection Of his amend
| ment he gave notice that he should nominate thes,
practical printers when the House proceeded to tn,
| election for printer.
In conclusion, he modified his amendment, in &C
cordance with the notice above given, in the
of his remarks.
Mr.. BAYLY had regretted yesterday the ad
journmcnt of this debate He thought the proposition
of the gentleman from Kentucky was simple one
understood by all the members of this House, an,
was anxious to save the time of Congress by
speedy decision of IT, But since he had heard thu
speech of the honorable gentleman he rejoiced tha
the argument had taken place. He was glad tn,
gentleman had had afforded to him the opportunit,
of inquiring into HIS Mr. B.s) humble political his
tory, and of venting the spleen of his wrath upor
| the editor of tho Richmond Enquirer, who seemed
to he particularly obnoxious to Kentucky pot
clans Of the gcntlcman's school. But before he ad
dressed himself to reply TO the remarks Of the gen
| tleman personal to himself, and before he said {
word in vindcation Of a gentleman he (Mr. b. wa.
proud to call his friend Notwithstanding the gentle
| mans bitter denunciatons of him, he desired to nd
dress himself more particularly to the business be
fore the House. He had hoped that gentleman
| the parliamentary experience and understanding O
the gentleman from Kentucky would have found i
in good taste to confne himself to the discussion
the resolution, and not to have wandered over sc
wide field and not to have edited the House with
what he supposed was portion of some one Of III.
very effective siump-spccchos Of the gentleman in
Kentucky.
He had stated yesterday that he was not prepared
to disapprove the end the gentleman aimed at in hi,
resolution, but that he objected the mpracticablt
manner in which the gentleman proposed TO affair
il. Propositions of this sort, popular and proper
propositions, were very often made with one of two
purposes in view: was, with the wish and cx
pectation that they should be successful Whel
that was done, practicable mode was undertaken ,c
be adopted, which he should undertake TO show
was not the case in the present instance. Again
propositions proper in themselves were made, blu
under ouch circumstances forbade their support
the time when brought forward, and were made witt
the design to throw political odium upon others. III,
should attempt TO show that this must have been In,