New-York tribune., 1873-12-20

"man" of the time, stopping TO the front Of
the great debate into when our congress
plunged, with u consciousness OF power AZ the
very outset of its work, commented In IAN
guage beftting the time. the orator. ana the
OCCASION upon the "howl of the newspapers
over the Salary Grab AZ having been pro-
vOked because their dirty sheets were no'
allowed to go through the mails free Inv
ing himself then by the suspenders OF MS own
a6lat,ts, he said with that dignity ana ioic!
bleness which characterize all his efforts: ~
sis on that account that Congress has been
pursued with 4O-jacbass mud power Inc
trouble has arisen,r he said, pursuing
the statistical relation between Congress ana
the press, from the fact that members
"do not stand together when by 80 doing
they might overcome any mere 4o-Jacka'S
power" but that they let the men up there -
pointing to the reporters gallery as cicero
pointed at Catiline his " iste homo -" VINO nVo
"by the bounty of Congress, write diatripe'
ragainst them and blacken them all over
until the whole world is made to believe that
members of Congress are worse .thah other
"men, instead of being, as they are, the chosen
"Of the nation, and better as class thah
"men in any other profession on-clergymen'
"lawyers. or dOctOrs-fOr when clergyman
"gets into Congress he is not specially con-
"spicuous for virtue any more than the rest
"of us.p How we'll deserved this is every
body understands who knows that while
the statesmen of this period were
engaged in turning al honest penny
in Credit Mobiler, the vile creatures in the
gallery were disturbing the peace by demand
ing Investigations. and that these same mis-
creants kept up their unhallOwed howl when
the "purest and best" men in Congress were
negotiating for seats, when they were receiv-
ing retainers from great national enterprises,
when they were dividing up among themselves
the area of freedom, when they were
investigating each other 4 with perfect
courtesy, when they were remunerating
themselves from the public Treasury, when
they were making everybody rich by
diluting the currency, and when in lofty
and self-sacrifcifg way they were calling each
other "dirty dogs in vain attempt to DIS
cover precisely how much the&eOple would
allow thom to take from the Treasury with
out making a blind and senseless Outcry
against it.
This is the sort of thing that the Small
Boy of the next generation will put his Whole
weight on in able-bodied defamation, while
the admiring pedagogue remarks, All, chill
"dren, that was the OratOry OF by-gone age,
San age better than the golden, the age OF
"promise. of the greenback, the pinchback, and
" the back pay" Let us be proud and happy
that we are furnishing forth the future with
such high-tOned and sweet-scented oratory for
the text books. The aroma of it waited over
TO the coming age will be like breezes winding
gently down the shores of time, bearing In
their bosoms the fragrant Odors OF the
Chincha Islands.
And then the next days debate. Pause at
it, think of it, newspaper man; lave In II,
drink of it then if you can. 1t was MIR. Hale
of New York-possible Judge of Appeals
who, having been aimed at by resolution of
Mr.. Wilson of Indiana, replied to that gentle
man in the lofty language of indignant vlr-
tue, that he was dirty dog emerging from
puddle, forcing his way among decent people
and rubbing himself against them. 10
this Mr. Wilson, not unequal to the oc-
casiOn or unfamiliar with the line OF
treatment, responded with natural warmth
Of feeling and au undertOne of acidity
THE House has just had very fine specimen
" of dirty dog" And the House-what could
the House do 7-it greeted the remark so con-
genial to its taste and 80 well up to it's level
of thought and emotion with burst of
applause Defending his resolution, he con-
tinued that he had offered it on the ground
that "the gentleman from New-York (Mr.
4" Hae) had been running about the House for
"several days prescribing clean linen for
Everybody else,n and he (Wlson) did not,
under the circumstances, want him to be
wearing a dirty shirt himself 1t may be
said by the cynical that nothing came
of this discussion. We must be per-
mitted to differ. Partisanship having en-
tirely ceased-as we learn from the Presi-
dents message" especially in the agricultural
"regions" this debate will serve to occupy
the minds of the people. 1t is at once
spectacle and a study. Over anxious persons
may have the absurd notion that the time of
Congress might be better occupied with de-
yisng measures for the relief of bankrupt
Treasury but to the thoughtful scholar these
gems Of chaste Orat0ry and models of Con-
gressional elOQuence are worth far more than
any legislation of merely material OF utilita-
rian character. SO we have Butler and Hale
and Wilson displaying their gifts on the floor
of the House, the condition of the Treasury is
of small consequence.
E-5EDec@.----ss7