The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1876-08-26
Popular Verdict AZ TO the Forty
Fourth Congress.

in the United States and gave the de-
mocracy the control of the more impor-
tant branch OF congress. Whatever has
accomplished 10 the lowerhouse has been
been made good against the dead weight
Of the President and senate who have
not only discountenancrd meritorious
reforms but have pulled In the oppo-
site direction. But the saving of thirty
millions of dollars In current expendl.
ture and the terrible onslaught made
on official corruption In high places are
matters so well understood by the peo-
Pile at large and so incapable OF miscon-
struction that they extort unwillngly
ecomium in quarters not partial to dem.
ocratic ascendancy. The New York
Tribune says:
This congress has been an uucon-
scionable time adjOurning, but at last II
has made a finish OF it, Few words
are needed to recall the salient features
of its work. Necessarily iJ could do
little in the way Ct positive legislation,
since the republican senate aid demo
cratic house on the eve OF presidential
election we're even more than usually
SURE tn work at cross purposes.
But II has made success in three di.
rPctions. 1t exposed a corrupt spcre-
tary Of war, and drove him from Office.
1t investigated an INSCRIPTIONS minis
ter to England, and scourged him
home. 1t reduced appropriations
sometimes wisely, often un"isely but
at all events 1t reduced them, and so,
for the present, checked the enormous
expenditures of public money. For
these let this congress have all thanks (;
and let MS frankly say, too. that the
whole credit Of them Is due to the dem
ocrstic house.
The New York Times, in an article
full of bitter accusation as to the small
things, makes unwilling and ungraci-
ous admissions of the reduction in the
yearly budget Of expense. 1t says
The next work which the party un
dertoOk was that of retrenchment. In
this they were partially successful
They made many reductions in the APP
preparations which 1t was proper and
necessary to make, and some which
ought to have been made before But
they we're not. content with this. They
undertook not only to cut down appro-
priatiOns for the next year, hut to
change the laws regulating sala les, to
seriously cripple important branches of
the service, and to coerce the senate in
to yielding many changes in laws which
were in nowise connected with appro-
priatiOns. For instance, they demand =
ed that the senate should consent to re-
organize the army, to abolish the In
dian bureau, to turn The Indians over
to the war department, and to repeal
the wholesome law now In force for the
protection of the purity of the suffrage.
The senate very rightly refused these
demands, when made under threat.
The New York Herald makes the fol-
lowing impartial comment:
The legislative results of this long
session have not been especially bril-
liant. The democratic party has laUor-
ed under a disadvantage, marred by its
opponents in consequence of its long
exclusion from power, yet the raw
house Of legislative neophytes appears
to advantage in comparison with the
senate, where the republicans have had
Q majority Of the trained members. The
republican majority in the senate has
done nothing to establish claim tt
public confidence, whereas the house,
in spite Of bunders and ineXperience
has done much that sound public SEN
timent will approve. 1t has reduced
the public expense, $40, 900, 900 below
last year and would have made larger
reductions If it had not been thwsrted
by the senate. We do not believe any
public interest will suffer by the meas
ures of retrenchment. We are utterly
unable to point to any measures OF the
senate which present favorable con-
trast.
The Philadelphia Public Record, ar
independent and carefully edited news
paper, says:
The thing most likely to be remem-
bered and to make decided impression
upon the country is the reduction IL
national expenditures. We published
a Lhbit ycotttuhy euOWiuS buo ulhCt'
ence between the appropriations of this
year and last year. But the action O
the house receives an additional Illus
tratiOn from the statement that the to-
tai amount of money asked for by ca6i
net estimates was $203, ,09S, OPS, which
the house committee cut down to $l37,
233. 1853, while the house raised it t.
$l38, 752 ,346, and the senate increased
1t 10 $158, 260.616 leaving the SUI
finelly agreed upon. after many pro-
tracted disputes, at $147, 722,2lO. Thi
is, OF course, exclusive of appropria
ti0ns for the pay yment OF the interest q
the puDlic debt, and only represents thu
ostensiDle amount of annual expendi
lures for present purposes 10 this eri
Of low prices and hard times The FAC
that the cabinet estimatts have beef
cut down more than $50, 900, 900 show
cOuclusively that there must be wild
margin for economy in many places
and We suspect that the house, ineteat
of finishing, has only cOmmenced tn
zeal work OF retrenchment. For tina
beginning, however, the nation may
perhaps be thankful. There was 1
time when a strict regard for ecOnom!
was one OF the chief characteristics o
n ranublican government This rul,