The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-03-25
MODE OF DOING BUSINESS IN
CONGRESS-,

| lhe hooe OF GoIng business in Congress 10
thus graphically and truthlully described by
tie NeW York Express:
The way laws are now made in Congress
is such that vicious legislation will never bo
corrected until the appropriation bills are
Killed, and an extra session is compelled, as q
consequence Of the loss of these bills.
quasi revolution, IN thus stopping the supplies,
may awaken the people, perhaps to the out.
rages und pers that exist in the now long
prevailing habit Of enacting the most import
ant laws from / O'Clock TO o'clock in the
morning, between the night before and the
day Of the 4th Of March. For ten years past
the halls OF the Capitol have been thronrcd
day and night in March, or on the closing
days OF the long sessions, with an army of
lobby members, pushing all sorts of things
into the appropriation bills, and eyertinr all
sorts OF influence, illegitimate generally, and
such as is to be deplorei. The committee
rooms are filled with wine and brandy by
soiae Of these lobby members, to whom some.
body surrenders these rooms, and hence it is
! not wonderful that, amid the utter exhaustion
I OF continuous sessions night and day, the
human frames Of even the honest and watch
, ful give out, and that schemes are undertaken
and measures carried which, ,n cooler moments,
could receive little else but corrupt support.
Besides, as Congress nowadays will DO little or
nothing bat what it does in the appropriation
bills, there is kindly disposition to engrart
upon them such measures as members deem
good" upon which otherwise there would
be no earthly hope OF action. This considera-
ton, taken in connection with the fact that
corruption really desires 10 action upon the
appropriation bills till the very last hours Of
the session, when, amid the noise and con.
fusion, corruption can best conceal itself. ena-
/ bles the bad to mix up with the good such u
curiosity as the last civil and diplomatic bill
I presents; 4 bill which no fge men in either
House of Congress understood, or could under
stand, unless they were on the committees of
Conference.
! The civil and diplomatic bill was twice
voted down in the House Of Representatives
cur ng the night OF the 81 of II .rch, mainly
because the members had 40 means of even
guessing what was in it, bat partly because
there was general increase OF pay for
Secretaries, for Foreign Missions, &c, &c.
The Democratic Senators, about 4 o'clock,
Il. m, March Attn, came down in numbers and
fell upon their friends in the House, telling
them this would never do; when the great
bJdy Of the Democratic party changed front,
toward dayl ght, and voted Tor the bill that
had been before twice rejected What they
voted for, not twenty OF them could scarcely
tell; because they were taking the reports OF
the committees Ut Conference, which come,
never in plain English, bat in a sort OF
algebruic tOrm2l4, that not even i Washing,
ton veteran legislator without study can we'll
comprehend.
Congressional legislation is at present an
OLIGARCHY, and ten OF twelve men in one
House or the other do nearly the whole work.
Ii the other members were all to stay at home,
and to receive their pay, they might be OF
some service there; but as legislators in
| Washington they'are mere cyphers, and Of
but very little avail under the present modes
| of doing business. TAat this statement is,
in the main, correct, aud scarcely an exag-
geration, will be obvious from the observations
that follow.
| 1t would be good question for debating
society, (Which of the two bodies showed
! the creates corruption md least attention to
| business, at their last sessions respectively,
the Federal Congress or the o. LegisIature!"
There is no way but for the people to sweep
out their Augean stables.-O S. Journal
THE IRISH HEART.-One OF the most ad.
mirablc traits OF the Irish character, is the
fine vein OF true golden affection that runs
through it. 1t is perpetual thing to find in
| the newspapers accounts of how poor star
wing woman who have come frcm the old sod,
and, from day wages, have saved enough to
bring over either an intirm father, desolate
and starving mother, or brother, whose life
was an eternal toll, with hardly subsistence.
These are noble traits of character, and may
be found everywhere among the Irish peasan-
try.
We see that even so far of as Australis,
what is so common in this country is noted
An Irish paper states that at the Limerick
post Office letters are continually received en-
closing from $50 to $500, sent by poor en-
igrants to their poorer kin TO help them on
ward from the desolate home of their birth to
these far-of golden felds.-No5le Tribuns
SAVE Your EARsINGs.--The practice
which apprentices, clerks, and others have of
spending their earnings as fast as they ac-
cumulate, is one great reason why so many
never attain position above mediocrity in
life. A person who receives small COM
pensation for his services, will with a little
care over his exchequer, and system Of re-
gularity in his expenditures, find that at the
end OF the year he is prepared to encounter
any emergency or mishap. But, as general
thing, they manage to get rid of their earn
ings quite as quick as they are due, thus leav-
lug them wholly unPrepared for emergencies.
by sickness or otherwise. A system of curtail-
ing unnecessary expense, if adopted by oGs
yuunge, folks, would bring around the most