Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1860-03-14
The Republican Pc sohsmo n1posod

We regret that the voters Of the Third Oon
gressionsl District Of obio.-our sofl'shel
neighbors Of the Journal included-eould no
be present and witness the proceedings Of lh
House Of Representatives at Washington, OF
Friday, the 9th instant Democrats woul,
have been delighted, und the Republicans
many Of them at least, We hope, might hav,
been amazed at the barefaeedness with which
their party-thoss self.chosen champions o
honesty, and enemies Of uption-proposet
10 behalf Of the inimitAble, 6loody Tom Ford
to have ssvsgely deep dig into Uncle Sam,
strong box Democrats would have been de.
lighted, we say, at Pefosiving that our efficien
Congressman, Gen. VallAndie CHAN, was, a. ever
on his guard. aud BY his Adroit exposure o.
the whole scheme. knocked the plundsriup
plans OF the Republicans sky-high But We
will tell the story as II happened.
On the day named, the Rev. Mr.. Gurley, q
Representative from Cincinnati, obtained the
floor, and a. Chairman Of the Committee on
Printing, reported bill to repeal the third sec.
tion Of the civil appropriation bill Of March
I'd. 1885, aud stated IL to be the object Of this
bill, that the printing for the House should be
expedited. On its face the proposition seemed
to be innocent enough. But Mf. Vallandigham
looked up that third section, aud though Mr..
Gurley had called for the previous question,
and was supported in this by large msiority
Of his party, intending to force the bill throuR
under its operation, Mr.. v. succeeded in OBJ
tanning the attention Of the House 10 read that
third section, aud the object oflhe Republicans
at once became apparent That section con
tains the following proviso:
"That the office Of Printer, either to the
Senate or to the House Of Representatives, shall
not be transferable, either directly or indirect.
lyi and any attempt 10 sell a transfer, either
OF said Offices or any sale in transfer Of the
same, shall operate as a vacation aud abandon
ment Of the said Offices, or either of them"
And this wholesome PtOvisO The Republis
cans intended to repeal. Ehy1 To enable
Tom Ford 10 sell out. divide the spols among
his party, pocket his share Of the profits and
60 home; to make the Office Of Printer again
an object of bargain, corruption and sale, the
proceeds TO remain under the control of the
Republican msjorilY of the House. In other
words, to undo what a Democratic Congress
had done, and to reopen the doors to the Treas.
urY, which they had closed. Another object
of the proposition was to allow Ford pay for
composition done by the Senate Printer; that
is, double pay for the entire printing Of Con
gress; the very thing the Democrats in the last
Congress proposed to abolish, and did abolish.
When our Representative succeeded In bring
ing these matters to the notice Of the House,
the Republicans Immediately foresaw that the
Democrats would. to a man, oppose their
schemei and they saw also, to their great dis
may, that few Of their men began toget shaky,
fearful Of the influence this exposure would
have upon the people in their respective dis
tricts. So they moved TO re'commit it again TO
the Committee on Printing, with the hope at
some more favorable moment 10 rssintroduce
and force 1t through. But Mr.. Vallandigham
was not to be entrapped in this wise. He inn
sisted that the previous question was not exS
hausted, and therefore the motion to re-commit
was not in order, After some colloquy with
the Speaker, who had already entertained the
motion to re-commit, Mr.. v. carried his point.
A debate snsued, aud finally upon motion 10
lay the Republican plunder scheme upon the
table, it was carried, all the Republicans but
twelve voting in the neg ativei
Believing that some Of the Republicans vo>
ted in the affirmative only for the purpose 10
be able to save re consideration, aud to bring
the bill before the House again, Mr.. Vallandig
ham himself moved 10 Reconsider and to lay
the motion TO Reconsider upon the table, in or
der to bury this nefsrious proposition Of the
Republicans so deep that only a two>th: :rds
vote Of the House could reach it. His last mo
tion was then agreed to without division.
Thus by the indsfatigable exertion Of our
Democratic Congressman from the Third Dis
trict, the country was saved the doubling Of the
expenditures for Congressional Printing!
But what shall We say Of those Republicans
who, il you believe them, have swallowed all
the honesty in the world, and who claim to be
the guardian angels Of the Treasury They
come forward with a proposition directly 10
steal money from the Treasury to keep op their
party mHehinel They propose 10 pay their
Republican Printer, Tom Ford, eIhorbitant
prices for work he has never done, nor ever in
tends to do; and then, after mskiDg their inA
famous proposition, they further insist upon the
previous operation. so as TO prevent debate and |
exposure. Verify, those Republicans in Con-
gress are q nice band Of Legislators for honest
people 10 trust. Will the Journal dare 10 de- |
fend themf