The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-01
The Business Before Congress and
Final Adjournment.

The Business Before Congress and
Final Adjournment.
The question of final adjournment of the
present session of Congress has been manipu-
lated in both Houses with mixture of clumsi.
ness and cunning which has left the matter in
condition well expressed in the word
middle. Almost from the commencement OF
the session efforts were made to bring about a
concurrent resolution to adjourn on the Goth
ult. This was opposed in the House by Mr..
Dawes as Chairman of the important Com
mittee of Ways and Means, but was pushed
through the Senate as an administration meas
ure, and then laid on the Speakers table in
the House, no action being taken in the
premises. At length, as the Goth ult. ap-
preached, the Senate, which had wasted weeks
of its precious time in the political speech
making which was to give wordy form to the
Cincinnati movement, became alarmed lest
the House should take up and pass
their resolution. They, therefore, requested
its return, but the House, wishing to
hold tight grip on the Senate, passed it
instead. Matters looked serious at this
stage, until the House rescinded its resolution
and named Monday next, the Sd of the pres
ent month, as the date Of adjournment The
Senate concurred in this and 80 the question
now stands, unless further extension is intro
duced It is generally admitted that the ex-
tension to Monday next was positive neces-
sity, on account of the long executive sessions
pf on, fho oo,,fo ri oil
but for the last few days plot has been de-
veloped to extend the session, growing out Of
the action of the minority in the House on the
special legislation for the South.
The Ku Klux bill, the Enforcement and the
Civil Rights bills have been steadily filibus-
tered by the House democrats; and the admin
istration Senators, acting in concert with the
extreme radicals in the House, have adopted
another species Of dilatory tactics by delaying
the passage of the necessary appropriation bills,
whose completion are matters of necessity.
This dual contumaciousness presents pitiful
spectacle oflegislators dallying with the inter-
ests of nation Anxious on the one hand to
adjourn, that they may attend the
Philadelphia Convention and forthwith
commence 'laying pipe all over the
country for the November elections, and
irritated on the other hand at their
failure to force their pet measures through, the
administration, congressman find themselves
in dilemma out of which they apparently can
find no satisfactory road. The Senate, mean
while, has the Supplementary Civil Appropria-
fho
again disagreed to taking any course by which
the political bills would be reached. The only
way out Of all this would have been for the
Senate to utilize what little time it has left,
and get through the necessary public business
in time to adjourn on Monday; but the cam
paign speeches were again inaugurated yester-
day, and no one can predict the end The
democrats and their allies in the House have
steadily opposed, and so far with success, the
consideration Of the Southern repressive bills
by the House-something for which the friends
Of these measures have only to thank them
selves in making them the object of legislation
in the hurry which attends the close of
the session. The attempt to "log rolf them
together we have denounced, and now say
that the administration radicals must accept
the results Of their laundering and leave
them unenacted. The Ku Klux bill deserves
no better fate. It is measure Of repression,
uncalled for and unnecessary. The hands of
the government are surely strong enough with
out its extraordinary powers to deal with dis
order that calls for force. We do not want
the sword in civil affairs. The fact that the
administration cannot unite the entire republi-
can strength on it should show how undesir-
able it is. AS regards the Civil Rights bill, we
regret that by the dog-in-the-manger policy Of
its parent, Senator Sumner, it was not intro
duced on its merits early in the session, and
believe if this course had been taken it would
have passed into law ere this. No amount of
flibustering by the party opposed to the col
ored man would have obtained against it.
Their effort to deny him the privileges of
man would have weakened as surely as their
defunct opposition to his citizenship. The Ku
Klux bill, however, seems now doomed to carry
it to common grave. The hesitancy and in
directness Of party leaders have brought mat
tiers to their present deadlock, and Congress
cannot do better than stop "spouting," settle
the nations bills and adjourn forthwith.
The Broken Shaft-An Appreciativc
Reader of the Herald.