The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-03-05
The FOrty.third Congress.

congresses 10, survives lneIls fOr tHG pres
ent, however, its work can only properly be
considered in the present light. When the
forty-third Congress assembled in December
1878, the business and industry Of the ma
ton were paralyzed in consequence Of the f.
nancial panic which had swept over the
country. The first question brought to their
| attention was that Of furnishing relief. One
| thing had been apparent in connection with
the panic, namely, the scarcity of money. In
most sections of the country the people at
tributed the panic to that cause. A large
| majority of the representatives Of the people,
consequently, attributed the business stagna-
tions to scarcity Of paper money and went
| to Washington with the idea that there must
| be an expansion OF the currency. Many had
| theories of their own and as the result, the
crudest and widest financial propositions ev-
| er made by legislators were presented as PAN
| aceas of the financial ills of the nation. The
| Senate took the same view and only the veto
of President Grant saved the country from
an expansion of the currency. Later in the
session a financial bill was passed, reducing
the amount of reserves Of national banks, re-
quiring deposit of five per cent. Of circula-
ton in the United States treasury and pro-
viding for the exchange Of worn out bank
notes. 1t has never been fully determined
whether this measure produced practical
imitation of the currency or not. 1t has been
claimed both ways. The sentiment OF the
country gradually changed in favor OF spe-
Gle basis during the summer and fall so that
when Congress again assembled, the mem
bers had SO far recovered from their Initiation
craze as to pass bill providing for the re-
sumption of specie payments Jan. l 1879,
| coupled with measure for free banking
| The provision OF the bill first passed, author
izing the withdrawal Of circulation from
| banks in those states which held more than
| their share of circulation has never been
| needed, showing that the South and West do
| not want more circulation or more money so
| long as 800 of United States bonds must be
deposited with the q. S. Treasurer to secure
| 800 of bank circulation. On the whole, while
| the currency legislation Of Congress might
have been infinitely better than it is, let us
be thankful that the infationists were baffled
and the country saved from disgrace and
bankruptcy.
The forty-third Congress also repudiated
the disgraceful salary measure which the pre-
ceding Congress enacted. 1t was hard
struggle as any one will find who decides
against himself in the sum of thousa nds at
| the public demand. In this contest our
Maine delegation bore an honorable part.
A vigorous attempt was made early and
has been continued to the last to reduce the
expenditures of the government The lead
| ing Republicans favored it, the others did not
| to the extent which the country demanded.
| The Appropriation Committee worked hard
| in this direction and the result has been that
the aggregate appropriations of the fo1ty-third
Congress are between forty and fifty millions
less than those of the forty-second.
The sweeping reductions in tariffs, and par
ticularly in internal taxes during the forty
first and forty-second Congresses, left the
government with too small revenue to meet
current expenses and maintain the public
credit now that the revenue from imports
have so largely fallen off. A tax and tariff
bill has been passed by close vote, lncreas-
ing the tax on several articles by which rev.
enue of thirty millions is anticipated.
No little time has been expended by COM
mittees in making investigations. One of the
earliest was the inquiry made into the San
born contracts, which were made under bit
of special legislation engineered in the Sen
ate in previous Congress by Senator Saw
yer of South Carolina, and in the House by
Gen. Butler. The developments were not
complimentary to the care of several treasury
officials. The result was that contracts were
cancelled and the law under which they were
made was repealed. The next important in
vestigatior made by the House was into the
workings of the moiety system as carried out
| by the notorious Jayne. The act granting to
officers and informers a portion of the pro-
ceeds of merchandise seized, is a venerable
one; but as the result of the investigation,
the system was abolished. A special commit
| tee of both branches investigated the late
government of the District of Columbia. 1t
was found to be extravagant and corrupt and
| instituted in its place. Rumors to the effect
| that the Pacific Mail subsidy was secured by
| the expenditure of large amount of money
| upon the lobby and members of preceding
Congress, led to long investigation OF this
| subject. AS to persons, the committee was
mostly baffied, but enough was discovered to
| indicate that large amounts of money had
| been expended upon the lobby, and probably
some upon Congressman. The present Con-
gress washed its hands of the whole matter
by refusing to appropriate the subsidy of hall
| million for the last year.
The disordered condition Of several Of the
southern states, particularly since the Demo-
| cratic victories in October and November, has
| inspired the friends of the "ost cause" with
| new hope, has caused the House to send spe-
| cial committees to those localities. The tes-
| timony has been conflicting, but in the Lous-
lana case the Republicans have brought about
compromise which is generally acceptable
to both parties in that state. Two reports
were made in the Mississippi case. and that
| of Judge Poland in favor of the existing gov
ernment of Arkansas, was adopted by the
House.
The postal laws have been changed so as to
require publishers to pay postage on papers
going out of the county where published in
advance. In the late hours of the last ses-
sion, an amendment was made to the postal
bill authorizing members of Congress to frank
copies of the Congressional Record during
session time and to have the entirely worth
less agricultural reports sent in the same man
ner. Thus, little by little, the franking priv.
ilege is being restored.
The present Congress has also taken meas
ures to distribute the Geneva award to such
parties as suffered by the depredations of the
Anglo-rebel war ships. The law under which
the Alabama Claims Court is setting is con
sdered liberal by the ship owners but not by
insurance companies.
Much time of both sessions has been ex
pended in considerating or staving off civi
rights bills. One has finally been passed
which is more in name than in substance, bu