The Portland daily press., 1876-02-15
Our New York Letter.
Inc democrats and the ScssiOn.--The
Diplomatic and Consular service,-
Saving at the spigot.
NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 1876.

ehoiOuSuiy oiOh VI 1CGuOCEdCy D6IOro the nrSt
session of the 44th Congress is over, they will
exhibit extraordinary patience. Making all rea-
sonsble allowances for the situation which GER
tainly is embarrassing, the attempts at legisla-
tion made by the house have been character
lied ny narrowness and feebleness which
would have done discredit to a back woods
town meeting. Such pitiful cheese pairing,
dribbling expedients of economy are calculated
to provoke ridicule and contempt in about
equal measure. The petty reduction of the
pay of the professors and the rations of the
cadets at West Point was an act of stupidity
as well as of meanDess II will be impossible
to make people believe that the animus of this
proceeding was not a lurking hostility to an
institution from which SO many of the great
soldiers who were so effective in suppressing
the rebellion had graduated. The trimming
down of the appropriations for the diplomatic
and consular service, besides being the quint-
essence of littleness, evinces an utter lack of
comprehension of the principles of statesman
ship, and of the importance, as matter of se.f-
interest, of cultivating friendly relations with
foreign nations. This is an affair.that concerns
commerce, and in that the producers of the
OouutIy nave d NlLdl STAKE. Il0 necessity OIL
finding outlets for the production of our soil
and our workshops will constantly increase as
our population grows larger, and we ought there
fo:e to have able representatives abroad who can
instruct US as to the wants of the people among
whom they are sojourning and furnish valua-
BILE suggestions as to the most effective means
OF extending our export trade. This is point
in which England exhibits superior wisdom
and forethought. Her men Of affairs, who are
trained and cultured statesmen have always
maintained the dig nifty and usefulness of their
diplomatic service. The men they send as
ENJOYS and agents are so literally paid that
they can afford to live in a manner becoming
their positions And they are required to keep
their government advised of all facts bearinx
upon the great questions of the interchange of
commodities which the British consider so
carefully and with such advantage to their
well being As result there is scarcely q
nook or corner of the globe which these enter
prising merchants do not penetrate and create
markets for the productions OF their work shops.
1t has always been reproach to the
American government that its ministers at for
eign courts were SO inadequately compensated
pOsSCSoOu
willing to spend it. they could not compete
with men of eqnal rank, from other nations,
many of them inferior in population and re-
sources to their own. If we are to recognize
the system of foreign representation we ought
by all means to carry it out decehty. 1t would
have been rather a creditable thing for the
House to have increased the emoluments of the
embassies to the four leading powers of
Europe just enough to have given the incum-
bent of them living. To cut them down be-
low the old picayune scale is intensely short
sighted and shabby. 1t is always easy to dis
criminate between the retrenchment which is
hypocritical and that which is sincere. Any.
body who couldn't discern the trail of the
demagogue in this transparent affectaton OF
parsimony, must be binder than bat 1t
would be sad reflection on the intelligence of
the general constituency, to imagine that they
could be hoodwinked by such palpable charla-
tanry. Their represe natives evidently think
so, but it is to be hoped they are self deceived
There is very little doubt that many of the
number who voted for this little saving at the
spigot, hoped all the time that the Senate would
refuse to concur. That sort of game is by no
means new or an exceptional one. There is
great deal more attention paid to the show of
economy than to the substance in some quar-
ters. A change of parties invariably leads to
the introduction of great many pretentious
projects for reducing the public expenditures.
But it certainly is extremely creditable to the
Republicans that their opponents having un-
questioned sway over the popular branch of
the national legislature have been unable to
hnd any extravagances to lop off, and after
spending ten weeks at it have finally hit upon
the bungiHg and small beer contrivance of
diminishing the cost of the government half
million dollars year by reducing the diet of
the cadets and compelling our foreign minis
ters to support themselves or live in lodgings
A very pretty beginning thisl We shall see
by and by what the end is. If it should turn
out that this penurious course was merely the
prelude to an act of profigate prodigality, such
as granting subsidy to railroad autocrat--
and all signs point in that direction-we should
be able to make an accurate estimate of the
amount of genuineness there is in Demo
cratic profession.
The errors the Democratic House is scoring
up are doubtless attributable in great meas
ure to inexperience, but in truth the restoration
OF its ascendancy in one branch of Congress
was partly political freak and partly an alb
solute fraud. The elections were carried upon
the false and sauderous allegations OF extraya-
gance and corruption on the part of the pre-
ceding administration. Now it happened that
the government had for six years Heretofore
been conducted with degree Of thrift and fru-
gality which made any further curtailment
inconsistent with the public welfare Then
there were grave abuses to be exposed and
brought to light. None existed, save in the
disordered fancies Of screechers upon the hust-
ings, or such as were conjured up by the imag-
NATIVE genii who supply kilograms and para
graphs for the "independent'' newspapers.
Instead of unearthing great public wrongs as
was promised, they found everything as il
should be. Ia reality they had hardly organ
lied when they were literally thrown by the
force of circumstances into defensive attitude
There were so many imprudent men among
them who could not be suppressed or restrained
that they were constantly experiencing a
shock of the nerves through some unlucky
utterance indicative of greater frankness than
discretion. The ex-rebel soldiers did not come
there to be snubbed nor gagged and didn't
mean to be- They had waited great while
for their rights and now they meant to exer.
else them in full. They declared their purpose
to be magnanmous. They wouldn't insist on
repeating the constitutional amendments In
fact that would be a tedious as well as diff
cult undertaking. They would even defer
p1ttiug in claim for war damages and the
payment of their lost cotton, until they had
surer footing, but as for any further conces-
sons they were not pusilanimous enough to
make them. Then there were tine wild advo-
Gates of rag-money starting up like so many
Banquos at the festival, aud introducing reso-
lutions of most violent and incendiary char
acter. And the worst of it is these fellows
actually mean it. They are just as sure that
a whole lot more of the money that has already
deprecated because of its redundancy would
set the wheels of prosperous industry in mo-
ton, as if that absurd theory had not proved
illusiye by the universal experience of every
age and country.
Take it all in all, the leaders of the lower
House of Congress are having a thorny road to
travel. But they will not make it auy more