The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-02-07
WASHINGTON NOTES.
Current Events and Opinions.


] Congress has been in session. and
brief synopsis of what il has done,
and what it is expected to do, may
not be embarrassing to your read
ers- The first part of the PROPOSE
Jlon may be answered in q single
word, Nothing. Several Thousand
bills, resolutions, memorials and pc
titions have been offered and re-
lerred to committees. and most OF
them have gone to the dark rooms,
and into darker pigeon holes. where
they sleep the sleep that knows no
waking. A very few bills of local,
personal or subordinate interest
have passed both houses; but no
great, Tar reaching; statesmanlike
measure that looks TO tie vital in
terests of the whole country, has
yet become law. Many of these
are in progress, some before COM
mittees and others under discussion
IN the senate or House.
Amongst these may be reckoned,
as most prominent and most adj
vanced, the Bland Silver Bill, which
causes immense excitement amongst
the capitalists and gold buliionists
of the East, who weary the very at
mosphere with their denunciations
of regulators and their simulated
sorrows over the lost faith and
/ honor of a nation; illustrating the
maxim that Patriotism is the last
resort of a scoundrel." The people |
all over the country are determined
TO pay the bonded debt in just what |
was promised, the legal coin of the !
country as it existed when the |
! bonds were issued. Congress will |
/ probably pass the bill by a two
thirds majority, ald even if it does |
not, the President can hardly ven
ture to interpose a veto against the |
VIII of vast majority of the people. /
Then comes the Encouragement
of the tariff, adapting it to the pres
ent condition of the country, and |
allowing the people to buy in the
lowest and sell in the highest mar
kets of the world. This work is |
making reasonable progress IN the
/ House Committee on Ways and /
Means, and viii be ready for discus
sion and action in few weeks time.
Auxiliary to this proposed tariff |
reform is a measure to revive the |
shipping interest oil the country, |
| thus restoring our lost supremacy !
on the seas and relieving the coun- |
try from the onerous burdens i'm
posed by carrying on our commerce
in foreign ships. This is a subject |
! that touches the interest of every !
/ farmer, manufacturer and mer- |
| chant, as we'll as the revenues of |
/ The government ana the pride of
the whole country. To accomplish |
/ this it is simply proposed to pay !
American built ocean steamers a |
moderate sum for transporting |
mails, with the assurance that the |
increased revenue from the new
trade thus developed will far exceed |
any deficiency in postage to meet |
I the contract.
Then comes two great national
enterprises designed TO meet the /
wants of internal trade and at the |
same time relieve the money and |
labor famine of the whole country. /
One Of these is the Improvement /
of navigation on the Mississippi /
and its leading tributaries, thus en-
abiing the farmers of the West and /
south to ship their products 10 a
seaport without sacrificing hall /
their value on freight charges. The /
advocates of this measure who are
found in the North and East as well
as the South and w est, ask tor an
appropriation of 81, 100000, mere
nagatelle compared with the lavish {
subsidies bestowed in the past upon
works OF far less consequence. and
they allege that the expenditure
would be returned fourfold annu
ally TO the producers of the coun
Try.
Then comes Southern trans
continental railway from the Mis-
sissippi to the Pacific, a work that
is universally conceded to be of the
highest national importance and an
absolute necessity to the whole
Southwest. The Texas & Pacific
Company propose to build the road
without drawing dollar from the
treasury of the government, and
make it a competing line TO the
present monopoly, thus saving To
the government and the people more
than 100000 900 year IN the single
item of transportation. They are
violently opposed by the Central
Southern Pacific combination, which
desires to prevent competition by
the building of an open highway
through the Southwest on the SD
parallel, or TO build 10 road out of
the forced subsidies gathered from
the people to extend and perpetuate
the present crushing monopoly.
The airing Of the whole subject in
late discussions before the House
Committee on Pacific railroads oy
GOV. Brown and others, has gained
he Texas & Pa
cific, and tile hitherto fruitIess eff
orts of the governments to secure
payment from the Central Pacific
Co. OF their long deferred obliga
tons, giU, them but small favor in :
Congress pr amongst the people.
These 'Ind some other leading
measures connected with the finan ! n
cIal and industrial interests of the c
country are likely to occupy Con
gross till the summer solstice, If (
not till the dog days. 7
A national eonventio= is to as y
sembie here on the 18Th of Febru I
say to discuss and recommend
measures forth revival of Ameri Il
AN commerce, and as its members
sail come directly from the people,
9 is hoped that their presence and :
nhaence will give fresh and 4
trong impulse to the wheels OF |
egfsiatlon. J. L. T.
ANOTHER OLD LAND MARX GONE.
In Charlottesville In this county /