Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-04-17
Letter from Washington,


elephant they had made pilgrimage to see'
The Committee of Ways and Means alter
thorough discussion of the tariff in the Com
mittee room, preparatory to reporting Dill
to the House, has at last ascertalned that hVe
out of the nine members which compose 1t
are in favor ofrevenue reform. Ii was rather
expected in view of the temper of the House
that such committee would be appointed
and when it was actually named by Mr..
Blaine, it was conceded by the revenue re-
formers not to have. disappointed their ex-
pectstions. But the singular part OF 1t Is
that when the committee came to agree upon
L bill TO present to the Ii )use, the CHARM N
who should be the especial mouth-plece OF
the committee and the leader of his party, Is
not ONLY not in favor Of the recommendations
# the majority but strongly opposed to them.
And so strongly opposed is he to the majority
bill that he refuses to report it, leaving that
/ honor to another member Of the committee
and giving notice that he shall fight it on the
q Dor Of the House less desirable position
Tor the leader of the House and chairman Of
the Ways and Means Committee could not
well be imagined EfJrts have been made
TO close up this split in the committee and
either have it agree on a bill which Mr..
Dawes will report, or have Mr.. Dawes report
the present bill and support it 50 far as be
ran; but such efforts viii not avail. The
,mtat deepens, the matter gets more c)m-
plic4ted and involved, and no one can tell
whether one month OF two will be sufficient
20 settle it.
1t is perhaps, uncharitably said that
Mr. Dawes objections to the bill Of the
committee arise from the proposed reduction
Il duties on wool and woolens,-artees in
which his constituents are particularly inter
.s;ed that he Is in sympathy with revenue
/ reform on the question Of coal and iron, but,
| Ike the man who thought the best place to
nave boil was on another man nose, b,
prefers to keep it if possible from harming his
,wu State or district.
A bin for abolishing the Thanking privilege
.ame up before the House for an hour 5 DIS
-ussion One year ago the Ilruse gave It
most respect al consideration - such bull
Petitions were coming in rom all qIarlere
praying Tor it, passage. and members FASTENED
gllh wonderful unaulmiry to obey the petit
IONS. But the bill was killed in the Senat,
and :he matter passed over. Thing- hav,
change since that time. The House not
hayirg heard OF late much cutlery sgsin-t
this abuse could f rd to treat the present
bill a. they pleased. They laughed at it
therefore, made fun Of it, denounced it as a
trick Of the demagogue Mr.. Butler, the
philanthropist. male a plea for the people
lie said the ranking privilege was burden
o Congressman but precious boon = the
poor people; that the cutlery against it cam,
rom the metropolitan press W ich is anxiou-
to become the only org n Of communication
between tic representative and the people
Here is his st4te-manhke close
:. F3r one, shall vote against the aboli-
tian Of tie ranking privilege. think /
voted for IL be ore bgt d cid 50 II Wa
Will tile distinct understanding, which every
body else had in this House, that If we voted
10 abolish it the Se ate would not concur,
and it would be all right
The House has also expressed ITS contempt
for !. Civil Service Reform by cutting down
the proposed precipitation Of $50 600, asked
for by the President to enable him to carry
into force such rules and regulations for the
Civil Service az he may think wise to adopt,
to 10000 The reform which the President
has asked Congress for support in carrying
out was called delusion add humbug. and
Mr. Butler was not slow 70 discover in it
another assault on the rights Of the people.
lie drew touching picture Of crippled
officer who. having been turned out Of has
place ia She Department, had hobblcd 70 his
house in the midst of a storm and begged T.
be admitted to the Asylum for disabled
soldiers at Hampton, declaring that since be
had lost his place he must either 20 there OF
starve An affecting story surely, but which
could hardly be connected with the rules Of
Mr. Curtis and his commission. Il was sug
gested 10 Mr.. Butler, on the contrary, that
this was a capital illustration Of the working
Of Just that wretched and heartless system
which he himself was upholiing.
The House has voted TO condemn 10 public
use two squares. nov occupied by buildings
one northeast, the other southeast Of the
Capitol. and thus enlarge the Capitol grounds
by alb ,ut twenty-five acres The immediate
c ST to the government would be perhaps
$500 900 The House POSSIBLY has nm % "a
that this viii compensate IN manner for
givir away portion OF the park already
owned by the United 5 ates that a Pennsyl-
vania corporation might have "a grand depot
IN the midst Of the city. In one Of these
-quares is Whitney, drinking saloon,-a
senatorial resort,-and IN the other ie
Sanders, where the members Of the House
take something now and then to carry them
through those exciting debates. IL these
places are suddenly broken up and the keeper
Of tie Capitol refreshment sal ION is to be
inhibited as heretofore from selling anything
stronger than ale, the query Is, what are
members ike ualdeman and Senators like
Frank BLAIR to do
The proceedings Of the Senate have been
anything but interesting the past week
The Committee on Claims reported favoraby
on great number Of Bulls for allowIg the.
clnims OF loyal persons whose property was
d stroyed n one way and another during the
war, and many Of these bills were passed.
In many cases property Of loyal citizen was
sold, and the procee is turned into the Treasu-
~. Several Of these bills have passed each
House once or twice, but never both during
the same Congress, and wheti er they VIII
have much chance in the House this spring
is doubtful.
The Indian appropria ton bill was the
occasion for long debate, and general re-
view Of = the Indian policy = though what
that policy is exactly, does not clearly ap-