The Portland daily press., 1875-01-01
THE YEAR 1874.
A Brief Review of the Leading Events

The year 1874 has not been one which will be
conspicuous for the march of progress. Indeed
| unless we are solaced by the philosophy of
! Tennyson that
| "Thro' the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the pro-
cess of the suns"
| we shall be forced to conclude, after brief re-
| view that the past year has been period OF
| reaction in the moral and political world.
| When the year came in, the country was suf-
fering from financial panic which in time has,
to greater or less extent, paralyzed every de-
| partment of trade, and every branch of indus
try. Nor has this season of business depression
| been confined to this country. 1t has spread to
Europe where for long season commerce has
| languished, but is now slowly reviving. AL
| though the year goes out with much better
| promise for the future, than when it came in,
| it is far from bright. Depressed business, idle
| factories, low wages or no wages for the mil.
lions Of toiers, has reacted to some extent,upO
political matters and has contributed not little
| to bring about movement in favor of reaction
ary parties and men, both in England and our
| own country. While in Europe, outside of the
half-in-earnest contest in Spain, there has been
no war, the condition of the nations has been
| far from quiet In Great Britain the conflict
| between capital and aristocratic privilege on
| one side and labor and condition of serfdom
| on the other, has continued In France the
| triangular contest between the Bourbons, the
| Bonapartists and the Republicans, has been 60
| ing on. The latter cont nue to show the great
| est strength; the Bonapartists are gaining
| ground while the Monarchists have lost from
the first, until it is doubtful if they could elect
| half dozen members of the Assembly if
new election should be ordered. In Germany
| the conflict between Bismarck and those SYM
| pathizing with the Romish church, has been
growing more and more bitter In addition to
| this, there has been the usual jealousies be-
tween the leading powers, respecting the bal
ance of power.
AS is our usual custom, we shall briefly re.
| view the year and note the most prominent
events, grouping them under various heads.
HOME POLITICS.
| The first thing which Congress did, after a
recess, was to repeal the salary grab act of the
| previous Congress. The senate bill was passed
restoring the pay to that of the XLIst Congress.
|
| West made itself apparent at Washington ear
| ly in the winter, and the western and southern
| members held several cheap transportation
| meetings but nothing resulted but talk and "a
new House Committee on railways and canals
| which reported bills to incorporate double
| track railway from New York to the West
| The House by vote of 40 to 64-being near
| ly strict party one-passed a resolution as
| serting the constitutional power of Congress to
| so regulate the commerce between the states as
I to protect the people against all unjust and op-
pressive bi,ls taxation or distractions by rail-
| way companies or other common carriers. The
| senate did not reach the m itter, but Mr.. Win
| dom from the special committee on transporta-
| ton routes made long winded report on the
| subject, recommending that the government
aid in constructing number of rail and water
routes. No action was taken on the report
| The House also passed a bill to regulate COM
merce by railroads between the states, by a
commission. The Senate did not take it up.
| The names of Attorney-General Williams
and Caleb Cushing not proving satisfactory to
| the Senate for the vacant Chief-J usticeshp, the
| President nominated aud the Senate confirmed
Morrison r. Waite of Toledo, Ohio, who was
unanimously confirmed Jan. 21. Gen. Cush-
| ing was afterwards sent to represent the Gov
ernment at Spain.
/ United States senators have been elected as
| follows: California, Gov. Booth, Indepe ndent
| Republican to succeed Democrat Virginia, Col
Withers, Dem. to succeed Republican; Ohio,
| Mr.. Thurman, Dem, reelected; Maryland, Gov.
| Why te Dem. to succeed Democrat; Kansas,
ex-Gov. Harvey, Republican, to succeed Cald-
well who bought an election; Connecticut,
| William Eaton, Democrat, to succeed ex-Gov.
Buckingham, Republican. In Massachusetts,
| after long contest in which Messrs. Dawes
| and Hoar were the principal competitors, Gov
| Washburn was elected to fill the vacancy oc-
casoned by the death of Senator Sumner.
| Congress spent great part of the session in
discussing the financial question which the
panic had brought before the country. A
measure looking to the resumption of specie
payments was reported in the Senate and after
| long debate defeated and Mr.. Merrmon's sub
stitute, an initiation scheme, adopted 1t
passed the House but was vetoed by President
| Grant in a message which took strong grounds
in favor of an early return to specie payments.
| Near the close of the session compromise bill
became law. Its most important features
| are the release of bank reserves and deposit
of five per cent of circulation with the Treasury
| Department at Washington. The question for
| long time was whether it contracted or ex-
panded the currency. Among the other i'm
| portant measures adopted by Congress were
the Geneva award bill, the bill repeating moie-
ties, bill making the postage on newspapers
two cents pound payable at the office OF pub
lication. Among the measures which failed
was resolution appropriating $3,0OO,OOO to
the Centennial exhibition. The attempt to Sc
cure a treaty of reciprocity between the Uni
ted States and the Dominion failed to receive
the sanction of the Senate. The House pro-
tested that as the proposed treaty affected the
revenues, it could not be legally entered into
| without vote or action of the House. The
Senate passed the civil rights bill which now
lies on the Speakers table, two.thirds being
required to pass over other measures to take
that up. The appropriations made by Con-
gress exclusive of interest on the public debt
amounted to $1S4,7S4, ,346.25.
The several Legislatures which began their
sessions in January, for the most part, did
nothing worthy of note. The Massachusetts
Legislature rescinded resolution of Dec. 1872,
censuring Senator Sumner for presenting bill
to strike from the army register and regimen
tai flags the battles of the rebellion. New
York and New Jersey enacted laws making
education compulsory. The Michigan Legis-
lature passed a resolution submitting propc-
sition to extend the right of suffrage to women,
but it was largely defeated by the people. The
| Legislatures of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota
under the grange pressure enacted laws put
ting restrictions upon railroad corporations
now existing. In Wisconsin the railroads COM
plain that the restrictions are oppressive in the
extreme and the matter has been carried to the
U. S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Richardson resigned the off ce of Secre-
tary of the Treasury and was succeeded by
Gen. B. II. Bristow. The former was made a
member of the Claims Commission. Mr. Saw
yer, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, was
made to see that his services were no longer re-
quired and he resigned He was mixed up in
Gen. Butler in the Sanborn Contracts. Mr..
Richardson's lack of watchfulness was con-
spicuous in the same connection.