The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-05
STRONG POINTS BY STRANG.

MIR. SPEAKER STRANa, in the neat little
speech with which he signalized his lnduc-
tion into the position of presiding officer of
the House OF Representatives at Harrisburg,
yesterday, made some strong points which
should not be overlooked 1t is needless to
say that Mr.. Speaker Strang was highly sensi-
BILE of the honor which had been thrust upon
him. Whatever may be his weaknesses, in
gratitude is not one of them. Appreciative
of the honor as he is, he is almost equally
impressed with the duties which this honor
saddles upon him, and made some very happy
remarks about the necessity of such dis
charge Of these duties as would give entire
satisfaction to the members of the body over
whose weighty deliberations he is
henceforth to preside Then, in ex-
tremely good taste, he ventured to
call the attention of members to certain rules,
the observance of which would tend to bring
about harmony" in their deliberations, and,
as direct resultant therefrom, a measure of
usefulness" Both harmony and usefulness
ere good things in their way, and Strang is to
be congratulated upon the fact that he has
lively appreciation of them. An old saying
has been perverted-and much improved by
the perversion-so as to read that, when
rogues fall out, honest men have an oppor-
tunity to do some stealing on their own ac-
count. To prevent honesty from thus falling
into disrepute, it is therefore highly essential
that harmony should prevail at Harrisburg
even if it be at the expense, as is suggested
by Strang, of tinge of ''asperity" in legisla-
tive debates.
But Immediately after this appeal for har-
mony, Strang made confession, the reading
of which caused us unaffected pain 1t
showed that, strong as is Strang in all the
great essentials of craftsmanship, he is a
little weak in some of the details. He is, in
short, ''not aware what, if any, measures of
great public importance, are to be considered
by the House. This is really too bad That
Strang should be ''not aware" of certain and
sundry measures of great public import
ance" upon which we have commented some
what at length recently, shows a degree of
ignorance which is almost too excessive to be
blissful He made the matter worse rather
than better by indulging in some fan
tastic speculations about what measures of
great public Importance" might possibly come
Strang for presuming that ''it can never hap
pen otherwise than that the Legislature of
great State like ours should have important
interests committed to its charge" But
Strang showed lamentable weakness in ina
ginning for moment that our agricultural
and mineral resources" ''our internal inn
provements," and the exploded project for
making ''our noble Commonwealth the gar
den and the workshop of the country" and
all that sort of thing, have any claims upon
the attention of the body of one branch of
which he is the ornamental fgure-head.
From this display of momentary weakness
however, Mr.. Speaker Strang rallied at once,
and made bold stroke upon the subject of
] ''the most rigid economy consistent with the
end to be attained" Straug is right. Mem
bers should practise economy of the most
rigid sort. Nothing in the shape of diyvy
should be allowed to run to waste The sun
shines just now and the weather is Just the
thing for hay-making. Next October tn
political horizon maypossibly be obscured by
clouds of ill portent This happy conception
leads us naturally to the closing passages of
Strsngs inaugural, and brings in gracefully
and appropriately his warning to the mem
bers upon the subject of the source of then
4 present power. ''We must not forget, says
Strang, ''that the people are our masters.
Just. SO The people are your masters; and
the people expect every men to do his duty