The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-02-13


Let Senator O'Brien insist upon bringing his
bill to vote in the Senate when every seat is
full, and the yeas and nays can be put on
record. We shall then see what Senators have
been purchased by this powerful and unscru-
pulous combination, for it is certain that NO
reform member will vote at the bidding Of
Gould and Lane unless they have been fur
nished with very substantial reasons for be-
traying their constituents.
Congress Observation-Disclosures in Embryo-
The Women sunrn sisrs-The Chicago Re.
lief Bill Reconsidered.
AS usual on Mondays, large mass Of
embryonic legislative matter was deposited
yesterday In the House and distributed among
the various committees, where but very
small percentage of it will ever be Matched
and vivified. A couple of propositions so
disposed Of had reference to our PROSTATE
commerce. One was a bill introduced by Mr..
Dawes, of Massachusetts,, processing in Its title
to be for the revival Of commerce, but pro-
vidng merely for the construction of ten first
class iron steamships, and the use of the same
by the aid of government bounties aud subsi-
dies. Evidently that bill falls very short of
the mark. Another bill for the same
general object was introduced by Mr..
Banks, Of Massachusetts,; but that
was understood to be the project
prepared by the Secretary Of the Treasury and
submitted to the House Committee on Com
MERGE last week, proposing bounty on
wooden and iron steam and sailing vessels and
the renewal of the fishery bounties. That, as
we endeavored to show at the time, will also
fail to reach the end proposed. Our COM
merce is not to be revived and stimulated by
any such halfway contrivances. Let the
fishermen of Maine and Massachusetts be at
liberty to buy their boats and their nets and
tackle and salt, and all the appurtenances Of
their calling, wherever they can get them
cheapest, and free from tariff exactions, and
they will ask no other favor from the govern
ment to enable them to compete successfully
with the fishermen of the British Provinces.
If, after they are placed upon that footing of
equality, they will still be unable to hold their
own, it will be time enough to con-
slider the question of boosting them up
with bounties. And so 1t is, too, with our
merchants and shipbuilders. Give the former
the same rights which the merchants Of all
other maritime nations have, to buy their ships
in the best and cheapest market, and give to
the latter the materials for their business free
from taxation, and neither the one class nor
the other will ask or need bounty from the
government. But anything short of this as
mode of relief will prove utterly Intellectual
In promoting any general and permanent i'm
provement in our shipping and commercial
interests. The Chamber of Commerce Of this
city gives expression to the same opinion, in
a memorial presented to the House yesterday
by Mr.. James Brooks. The chances of OBJ
tanning such legislative relief from this Con-
gress are, we are aware, very slighti but still
it is as well to keep the public attention d.
rected to the subject, in the hope that popular
sentiment may make itself felt sooner or later.
The women suffragists made yesterday an
unsuccessful attempt to obtain footing on
the floor of the House. Mr.. Kelley, Of Penn
sylvania, the champion of the pig-iron inter-
ests of his State, and the opponent OF all tariff
reform that might injure those interests, could
not resist the seductive influences OF the
women who want to be politicians, and ne
consented to offer a resolution that three OF
the petticoated agitators should be heard at
the bar of the House next Saturday In an
argument for the right Of the sex to attend
primaries aud run for Congress. The resolu-
ton actually got the affirmative vote of eighty
seven MEMBERS comprising many prominent
men of both political parties; but the unim-
pressionables were in majority OF nine, and
the resolution was rejected. OF course the
women will not stay beaten. They will insist
at least on their primitive prerogative of being
heard, and we may regard it as a foregone
conclusion that some Saturdays session will
be snatched from buncombe and consecrated to
feminine oratory. ,
Among the other matters of public interest
that came before the House yesterday yesterday was .
resolution, adopted 81 motion of Mr.. Banks
of Massachusetts,, for an investigation into the
affairs of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com
pany resolution, offered by Mr.. Butler, of