Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-12-25
. our Washington letter.

WASHINGTON, Dec. %. :.
About the most important transaction
of the Congressional week was the I'M
conditional repeal of the bankrupt law
by the House of Representatives. just
what the sudden demand for such a
sweeping act as the utter and uneondi-
tional repeal OF. every vestige of this law
is, is little obscure. t,:...@s.
But perhaps we err when we say I'M
conditional repeal, for, by the terms of
this repeal, the law still applies to cases
already adjudged bankrupt, and fees are
reduced to one half the present rates.
There may be something in this con-
nection which does not appear on the
surface, but this bill is not a law yet by
any means. The House sent it to the
Senate, and the Senate to the judiciary
committee, where it is supposed to have
encountered the ordeal of dissection, dis
cussion and digestion. What shape it
may be in when it finds its way back to
the Senate, more especially after the
Senate shall have set upon it awhile, is
impossible to forecast. Meanwhile the
Senate as well as the House has decided
to pigeon-hole all such matters and take
the accustomed holiday recess. Thus
the matter waits, but there is consola-
ton in the fact that few days more or
less can make no immense difference
with this matter.
There was fierce opposition in the
Senate to taking recess at all, but it was
as unayailing as spirited. To ask to
deny Congress of its holidays is, in our
opinion, to plead ignorance of circum-
stances, cause and effect, or to be guilty
of fallacy. AS well ask the earth to
bring forth fruit without seasons, or q
hen to bring forth her brood without
Incubation, as to expect healthy session
of Congress without the accustomed
holidays. Many suppose this to be a
season of pure jollifcation to members
of Congress, on the contrary could we
see all that is crowded into those few
days, and all that is crowded out of
them in ways known only to the in
itiated-well, we should know better
what we are talking about, that's all.
The average NJ. c. hurries on to the
opening of session as If just reminded
of the fact that he must be here. His
carpet bag his only companion, and he
hastily tumbles into some hotel, or lives
in a rented room, taking his meals out
side, in short not living at all, only sort
of stays the few days before recess. 1t
would be bad for the country were he to
live this way long, but happily he don't.
The holidays are his salvation. The
first outward-bound train bears him to
the bosom of his family, which he is
enabled to bring on and safely deposit
in his previously prepared winter quar-
tiers somewhere among the mysterious
hiding places of this metropolis. In the
! meantime he has also had an opportunity
to feel the pulse of his constituents upon
the resolutions and things with which
he has stirred up Congress. The re-
naming few days-and they are all too
few for the purpose-he needs to devote
to the consideration of questions affect
ing the public good, and to the prepare
tod of electrifying speeches, and other
wise planting his batteries for the ses-
sion. Our neighbor Jones suggests that
these things should be attended to before
Congress meets, but then, Jones is queer
He thinks that our legislators ought to
be paid by the year, and ought to be
paid enough to secure efficient men, who
like him would consider that all their