The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-09
Ghe:s duly ~ rg III
The Back Pay Bounty Bill.

i y al -aL
! The most. thoroughly disreputable trick
ever attemp pied in a legislative body was
Iperpetrated in the senate yesterday, in
connection with the Bounty bill. This bill,
a mere electioneering device to catch SOL
diers' votes, was passed several days ago
| by the house and sent to the senate. The
| Republicans of the senate did not approve
1t. but too many Of them were disposed to
aimed to defeat it. by process which
/ would. save them from recording their
votes directly against it. They accordingly
loaded it with amendments which they felt
certain the house would not accept, and
even then the vote was tie, and 1t barely
passed the senate by the casting vote. OF
the vice president. 1t went back to the
| house, which disagreed to the amendments,
as was expected and desired. The result
was committee of conference The house
! part Of the committee, finding that the
tsenate part Wo1ld yield nothing, receded
/ from their opposition and consented to
adopt the senate amendments. This
action was reported in due course to the
house and to the senate, the house accept
ing the report of the committee OF confer
4 ence and the senate voting to lay it on the
table, which, according to parliamentary
rules, killed the bill. When bill has
been referred to conference committee
there IS no clearer or better established
principle than that its fate depends on the
subsequent approval by each house of the
report of the committee. When, there
fore, the senate laid the report on the table
the bill was dead.
But the fact that the house part of the
conference committee agreed to accept the
amendments OF the senate furnished an
opportunity for trick, and it is lamentable
that Vice President Wilson stained good
record by lending himself as an instrument
for carrying out this discreditable ma
neuvre. The pretence was that, as the
house had accepted the senate's amend
ments, the bill had passed and only needed
the presidents signature to make it law
This would have been quite true if
the house had concurred in the amend
ments when it received the bill back from
the senate, but when it had expressed.its
dissent by a formal vote the status of the
bill was entirely changed. After it was
Isent to conference committee it had to
take the course of all bills thus referred,
and could reach the president only after
the action of the committee had been &C
cepted by both houses.
| This rule was wantonly and disgraceful
ly violated, and Vice President Wilson,
yielding to the sophistry of the tricksters,
signed bill as having passed the senate
which that body had few minutes before
deliberately rejected by majority Of six
He must have known that he was contra
vening the declared will OF the senate, and
ought to have known that the senate ceas-
ed to be bound by it's former action on the
bill as soon as the house disagreed to its
amendments and the bill was sent to 6
committee of conference The senate was
as free to reject the action of this commit
tee of conference as it would have been t.
reject that of any other similar committee
and Mr. Wilson friends have reason tt
be panied and mortified that he stopped tt
be party to such a trick in violation o.
parliamentary rules and against the delib
erate action Of the body of which he is thu
} presiding officer.
Fortunately, President Grant was toc
well advised to fall into this trap H,
properly refused to sign bill which cam
to him in so irregular manner, and thu
Bounty bill is as dead as if the vice presi
dent had not acted on hasty impulse AM
: become the tool Of such demagogue a
Logan.-Ne,o York Herald, March 5th.
1t turns out that the rumor of the pas
sage of the bill to equaliZe bounties, S
called, which startled the town and, as GU
money article bears witness, particular
lagitated the street. yesterday, arose frol
J. characteristic trick of that particular
disreputable statesman, Mr.. Logan, VIII
tried to smuggle bill into law after th
!. senate had distinctly declared its sobe
second thought that the bill ought not t
become law. Happily the bill is not
AZ law, Mr.. Grant, who has no particular lii
10 ing for jobbery which does him no goo(
: declining to sign it when he learned no
its apparent enactment was secured. S
we are at liberty to turn from contempla
ing the enormity of the bill to the atrocil
Of the means by which MIR. Logan and h
coadiutor, Mr.. Spencer, tried to foist
upon the statute book. There is not muC
need to dwell upon that. Mr., Logan
trick is of kind which we really belize
would have got him put out of any gar
bling house in which he should try it.
is simply the act of backleg, Meth
more nor less discreditable to him tn;
playing with marked cards would be, NJ
Logan's term in the senate, we are sor
to say, does not expire for two years ye
While he remains in that body he is d
grace to it. and nothing else and if h
constituents choose to return him agai
they will partake his disgrace, We
not know that even Mr.. Butler affords
biting sarcasm on representative COVER
ment as Mr.. Logan. For Butler do
really know something-some law, amor
other things can make aliving OF
of
chance to do for the rest of his life. B
MIR. Logan, so far as the Compression
Record shows, knows nothing whatevt
Whenever he speaks it is to do somethi
worse than merely display ignorance,
l. he always eyinces faith that appealing
the lowest prejudices and jealeusies of t
worst people is the way to get on 10 pc
tics, and living up to that theory has
least got him seat in the senate. '
. suppose that is why decent people reese
\ him so particularly. Yorh; Worl