The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-03-11
CONGRESS-,
Scenes and Incidents Attending it's Closing
Hours.


The close of the Forty third Congress
was unmarked in the House by special
incidents, save that which followed the
final address of Speaker Blaine. When
his last words and the hammer fell, there
was scene which the Oldest members of
Congress do not remember to have ever
Witnessed in the hall of the House.
Members-elect, ladies, and visiting
strangers thronged the floor, every foot of
which was occupied AS his speech con-
cluded, the immense audience on the
floor and in the gallaries manifested the
greatest enthusiasm, and cheered until
it seemed as if the applause would never
end. Blaine himself, relinquishing his
gavel and his chair, descended to the
desk Of the reading clerk, and was so
moved by this spontaneou manifestation
of non-partisan approval that for mo-
ment this strong man bowed his head to
conceal his emotions.
Just prior to the adjournment the
Maine delegation in Congress- had placed
on the Speakers table large morocco
jewelry case containing a present from
that delegation as an acknowledgment
of their high regard. The case contained
silver gavel and tankard
An amusing incident of the closing
minutes was the dispatch of messengers
from the House to the Senate with the
enrolled bills, in order that they might
receive the signatures of the Vice-Presi-
dent and the President before Congress
should end House pages, as the bills
were hastily signed and presented to the
House by the Speaker, would snatch
them one by one, dash through the
crowd in the main aisle, traverse the
length of the Capitol and arrive breath
less at the Senate Chamber. Gen. Chip
man, delegate in Congress, closed his
career by acting in this capacity. A bill
to incorporate the Inland and Seaboard
Coast Company of this District, which
passed the Senate last session, had re-
ceived verbal amendment in less than
ten minutes before the Congress ex-
PRED. The House concurred. In this
brief space, the bill would become dead
document or law. Chapman previously
enrolled it with his own hand, had it ap-
proved by the Commute on Enrolled
Bills, presented it to the Speaker, and
|
himself ran with the bill to the Senate
and saved it, it being signed by the Pres
ident as the minute-hand reached the
hour of noon. This incient was not
without its lesson upon the House. It
showed, as the most experienced legis-
lators are agreed, that the present method
of enrolling bills and the processes of
final legislation are exceedingly imperfect
and dangerous. The enrolling clerks of
Congress for the last forty-eight hours
have sat at their desks without sleep, and
almost without food, engaged in enamel
ing upon the cumbersome parchment the
bills which became the basis of the laws
of the land. Last year, a slip of a comma
in this parchment enrolment cost the
Treasury millions of dollars in the silk
ribbon cases. The miracle is that those
clerks, working with almost superhuman
energy III the closing hours, do not make
blundars of the gravest character. In all
thus haste, every / must b0 dotted and
crossed, and compared with the original
bills. This is done under the super
vision OF a standing committee of both
| houses. No one who should watch these
processes of enrolment would fail to dis
cover an opportunity for intentional
fraud. The pressure of time is too great
for knavery. The danger is from the
accidents incident to haste and fatigue.
It was remarked by the oldest enroll
ing clerks that never in the history of
Congress have so many large bills been
presented for enrolment or completed
in so short time.
It is not possible tonight to state in
exact figures the aggregate amount of
money appropriated at this session Of
Congress. The Clerks of both houses
are SO entirely overcome by the exhaust
ing labors Of continuous session of
nearly three days and three nights that
the footing has not been made. A very
near approximation, however, is posi-
BILE. The approximate appropriations,
from which it is thought the official foot
ings will show very slight deviations, are
these
Legislative Appropriation bill. .......".$19, $4,000
army ~, l5OOU0