New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-29
WASHINGTON.
zon n,rprNCHMENT.


No HOPE. FOR RETRENCH@ENl'
~ruv mn, ro rcoNoMIzs EXPENDITURE oN rorsp
p,,un,sss EFrEcTUALLY KILLED IN ~ .cpn.
THE FRIENDS OF RETRENcHMhNl
,pv TELEGRAPH THE Thibo"-' ,r..
t - os The action OF the HOUSE
49, h;n N economize expenditures on pun
", u,S;,s nav we'll discourage all frlends Oh fe
.-t A combination Of members lnteresoou
= ,hooo structures has been assiduousy workeo up
Cor .ome time past and proved 30 powerful ."Su !"
- ,.eIess To attempt 70 make head against IL ino
Economists found themselves IN p'tfui Hino,iS,
- Ill, rnon which they had built their chief
- 80 retrencbment and which was the result OF
eeks Of careful consideration, was Jeerlngy hchcu
.,, 81 the House and into Committee OF It's avowed
nemies rs the method of killing 1t most expressive
a. the dislike it inspired. The bill was reporteo
from the Appropriations Committee by MI oai"ei"'
o,d embraced the long talked of plan OF covering
hac into the Treasury all appropriations for puoc
buildings authorized, but not begun; aud ior ei'os
-, 90, nnrchased ard authorizing the Secretary OF
the Treasury to suspend WORK on puiuihss ai,0uS
hocnn where If would not be detrimental to the ln-
forests of the Government to make snch stoppage,
The hill was drawn with great care, and after ful
onsltat;on with the Secretary and the Supervising
,rcbitee and It formed one of the chief features OF
d. (,o,o,oit tees programme for retrenchment.
Is soon nc Mr. Garfield had explained Its provls-
,o no moved IN rec0mmit il TO his Committee, ana
cave notice that il would be reported back Tor acuoh
in week or ten days. Mr.. Plat led the attack upon
the bill by moving ito reference to the committee Oh
prhlic Rnildings and Grounds of which he is chair
man. He read long list of the buildings that
vould be affected by the BILL The list served as
ranying signal to the members of the combination.
As each man heard the name of the building read IN
which he was interested, and which he expected
would reflect him next FAIL he sprang up and began
20 rush about and rally his friends TO come TO DIS
assistance. Great confusion prevailed for TIME
and il took an unusual amount OF expostuia-
ton on the part of the Speaker to restore
order. When the vote was taken, the Approp1a-
tions Committee. who thought that the necessity
for their measure of retrenchment was so obvious
and so great that they would have the support of the
House found themselves the position of band OF
guerrillas attacking camp of disciplined troops.
The public building jobbers fell promptly into line,
and not a man hinched when his courage was put
to the severe test Of the rol-call. The vote on
handing the bill over to the tender merces OF Mr..
Patts Committee was 157 to &C. In order that there
could be no doubt of the effect of this disposition of
the measure, Mr.. NeGley, one of ITS most active
opponents said, before the vote was taken, that IT
the bill referred that would be the last of 1t.
1t is plain from this vote that it is folly to hope
for any genuine effort toward economy from the
House except in directions where economy will not
interfere with the private interests and jobs of
members. Later in the day. when the Army ApprO-
priatiOn bill was under discussion, Gen. Garfield
took the opportunity to express his disappointment
at the action of the House the public buildings
question and to say that If il kept in that way.
no important retTencbment would be possible.
Members were strongly in favor of cutting down
expenses in way not before the House, but
when any practical measure was proposed, they de-
nounced it as and unwise. Last year Congress
authorized seventeen now public buildings to be
erected and voted to buy sites for four more.
The Secretary had waited for the sober
second thought of Congress before directing
work to be commenced on IS of these buildings.
Five and half millions could be saved this year
and as much next, by thepassage of the Committees
BILL directing that contracts should be made for
these structures for the present Mr. Garfield spoke
very earnestly, and his remarks offended many of
the professed economists, who had Just killed the
most important retrenchment measure of the session
Among them was Mr.. Beck, who called Mr.. Garfield
to order for scOlding the House. 1t was an unfor-
tunate thing for Mr.. Beck to do for no man on the
floor scolds more than he. Only few minutes later
be was belabOring the Appropriations Committee
fercey for not temziug the Army bill better, when
Mr. Parker raised general laugh at his expense by
calling him to order for scolding the Committee.