Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-07-20
CoEaREssroxAL ExPERIEgcE.

CONGRESSIONAL EEPERIENCE.
No fact is better established than that
experience Is necessary to efficiency in
legislation that eminence as q Legislator
Is to a great extent the result Of a regular
course of training. and its attainment
utterly inconsistent with a change Of
members in each succeeding Congress
Indeed, an entirely inexperienced man
during his first session hardly more than
masters the rudiments of legislation or
familiarizes himself with the daily routine
of business, while the experienced mem
Der, though he may possess less ability,
commands a more prominent position,
Yields a greater influence, and figures
more conspicuously IN the proceedings
The constituency, therefore, that has a
competent and faithful Representative,
acts wisely in retaining him IN their ser
vice, as by so doing they add to his use
fulness by increasing his power to serve
them with efficiency. We publish on the
first page an article on this subject from
the New York Evening Post. to which
the attention of the reader Is called, and
add the subjoined extract from an Ohio
contemporary. the GAINESVILLE Courier:
LEARNING WISDOM. people of
Ohio are apparently learning wisdom
For years the South welded an undue
influence in the councils Of the nation,
from the simple reason that they kept
men In Congress from year to year and
session to session until they became
adopts IN all the rules and practices of
that body. Their members were leading
ones, not because of their superior knOwI-
edge or ability, but from their readiness
and familiarity In Congressional usages
and tactics. The New England States.
with true Yankee shrewdness, discovered
this long ago, and met skill with skill aud
experience with experience The West
has been slower to learn, but IS begin
ming to appreciate the lesson. OhSO's
present delegation to the councils Of the
nation is universally acknowledged to
stand unrivalled by that Of any other
State. Its strength and ability Is the fre
quent theme Of Washington correspon-
dence. This arises from two things -
The natural capacity Of the men com
posing it, and the long experience Of a
large number of the delegation. Their
constituencies are recognizing these facts,
and the press and people in almost every
quarter are speaking out for their return.
The people Of Ohio will do we'll to re-
turn the great majority of their present
members They have given the State the
prOudest record she perhaps ever had on
Congressional annals, aud having had the
power to give it, they would have, if re-
turned, the ability to sustain 1t. Having
learned the business let them follow It.
Pertinent to the subject is also the
following from the New York Iadepend-
ent Under the heading How to Ensure
a Strong Congress" the editor Of this
Journal writing from Washington, COM
mends to all new members Carlyle's sen
timent: He wont get to any real un-
derstanding Of what is complex, and
what is more pertinent to his interests
without maintaining silence, and con
tinues
"This is the first lesson of every new
member. If he is wise he will keep still
and listen. No matter what his home
prestige, he finds that here he has an en-
tirely new reputation to earn and estab-
hsh. As usual, the road to excellence
and to fame is by no means easy. 1t be
gins with the drudgery of routine 1t
l5auS through exhaustive ICpDEAo duQ
tiresome committee-roOms 1t involves
days, and nights, and years of labor. It's
goal is won not more by ability than in
dustry, patience, and devotion alike to
personal duty and to every claim of the
country There are men who came here
almost unknown. Modestly and shrink
ihgly they took their seats amid the train
ed statesmen who had won a national
reputation. They were observant and
faithful, and patiently abided their time
When they spoke, it was Of that which
vastly more than they said. These are
the men who hold the national faith, and
the faith of their constituents. They are
the leaders of the House, the trained
governing legislators sent back by their
States year after year, because they know
the peoples work and do it. And the
States which WELD the greatest power
through their representatives are those
which have learned that a great statesman
cannot grow from the experience Of
single term, aud who possessing a man
who embodies the element of greatness,
send him term after term to this great
school of national council, till his name
becomes the synonym Of his State, and his
wisdom. his patriotism, and his fame re-
feet the luster of his fostering mother.
The fact that greater number of such
men than usual now have seats in this
House accounts fer the fact that the
Thirty-ninth Congress is one Of the ablest
that ever Assem- mbled in the history of this