The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-12-15
Whisky in Washington,

Drunkenness 10 Congress, if common
report be true, has increased to shameful
extent, until public attention has been
aroused to the subject through the agency
Of newspaper correspondents, and the press
Of the whole country is teeming with the
subject. Certain Republican Journals, in
this State and elsewhere, with great disin.
genuousncss, have been willing to censure
the House which is Democratic, while the
Senate which is Republican, has escaped,
but the NJ T. Sun, places the response
bility on both alike, in the extract which
We copy below;
The member from Iowa who recently call.
ed the attention Of the open and fragrant in
fraction Of the joint rules torbidding the sale
of spiritnous liquors 10 the Capitol rendered
a public service. There are two restaurants
in the building, attached TO the Senate and TO
the House respectively, and the traffic in ar
dent spirits has been notorious at both since
the meeting Of Congress, without any real
effort having been made 10 suppress it.
Both parties meet on common ground be.
fore these bars, and join in a truce while thus
refreshing themselves for new contests. One
IS equally responsible with the other, for the
Republicans control the Senate side aud the
Democrats the House side The effect of
free drinking, to speak plainly, has been more
visible recently than at any time for many
years past. All accounts from Washington
agree in this respect, and the fact is a disgrace
TO Congress, for which there is a sufficient
| remedy if there was any moral courage to
/ apply i on the part of those who possess the
power. 1t has been publicly charged in re.
/ sponsible journals that several of the absen.
tees at the vote on the Army bill we're within
easy o. il they had been in condition to an.
swer TO their names. Whether this charge be
true or false, it is no secret at all, as we could
wish It were for the sake of Congress, that
this vice has spread alarmiugly, and that a
spectacle is often witnessed which is humilia.
ting and disgusting,
The keeper of the restaurant of the Senate
is appointed by the President Of that cham
Der. Until the last Congress the Speaker
uniformly made the appointment for the
house, and thus the responsibility was direct.
Mr.. Kerr referred it 70 the Committee on
Public Buildings and Grounds, which resulted
in an election and a scandal, worse if any.
thing than the first.
The President Of the Senate and the Speak.
er Of the House will hereafter be held ac
countable for the enforcement Of the rule.
No committee can stand between them and
this responsibility, because they are charged
with theorderof the two bodies, and have com.
plete control over the two wings Of the Capt..
toll. If members of Congress must indulge
their morbid appetites, they should be re-
quired at least to go outside the building for
that purpose, and be ordered off the floor
when in an unfit state to appear as legislators.
Habitual drinkers will not, of course, be re.
restrained by rules Of either body. They will
lind modes of evasion, and il is generally
known that several Of the committee rooms
have been for some time past little less pub.
lie bars than those licensed ones that adorn
the approaches to the Capitol, or those which
have been tolerated inside without license.
Therefore, unless vigilance be exercised, the
suppression Of the evil in one spot may be
followed by its appearance in another.-Nec
York Sun