Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-06-01
A CLOSING SESSION.


motion emanated from the Repub-
lican side of the House that the ses-
sion should not be prolonged beyond
the 10th of June, it was looked upon
as a Radical device for blocking the
path of Democratic legislation. but
gradually Democrats seem to recon-
Cling themselves to the fact that no
further good can be done and the
session may as well close. Necessary
appropriations are being hurried
through, Buncombe of no weight in
Congress but available for future use
at home is being accumulated, COM
promises are projected in reference
to measures about to be abandoned
in other words, all the mOribund
symptoms of a Congressional season
IN artic,tlo morris are coming to the
surface; we may therefore look for
our Legislators from the Capital by
the second week of June.
Few will think it a satisfactory
retrospect who go over the history
of the Forty-fifth. Congress and COM
pare the things projected with the
things accomplished. The silver
bill, partly cut down as it was in
the Senate, is the one measure which
can be looked upon as something
achieved for the promotion OF bust
ness prosperity. The resumption
act remains in force; the tariff is I'M
reformed; the barbarous shipping
laws are still bar to our taking
any share in our own carrying trade,
not to mention that of nations; the
Internal revenue laws are as inequi-
tably burdensome on the products
of the West and South as ever; the
sinking fund still presses as a
needless burden on the whole nation;
the bankrupt law slumbers on the
table of the Senate House the
Texas Pacific Railroad bill, half
drowned in the lobby of the Senate,
still remains in a condition of sus-
pended animation. And having
failed in all these mOmentOus prac-
teal issues what has Congress to
show to fill the vacuum? Practi-
cally nothing. Some angry debates
on past issues no longer cared for by
the people, some apparatus for the
investigation of past abuses, and
plenty of BuncOme for campaign
use in the coming elections. OF
true preparation for that election
terribly little. The great business
questions above capitulated have
been lost as much by the delinquen-
cy and supineness and want of con-
cert manifest in the Democratic
party as by the predetermined Oppo-
sitiOn of the Republicans, and if
they, as they should be, are brought
up as the topics of the campaign,
the guilt of their murder will come
home to many a Democrat at least
as an accessory before or after the
fact. The people will certainly de-
mand an Ineligible reason for this
failure. The Republican party will
give its own account of the matter,
and their constituents will have to
weigh what they saywith whatever
consideration they may think it en-
titled to; we are more concerned
with the responsibility of the Dem
Ocratic party, and shall make that
the subject of the present paper.
WeshOuld BEDDING great injustice
to our Democratic statesmen if we
were to omit stating in full the
great difficulties under which they
have Iabored. In the first place,
the present closely balanced state of
parties has been very unfavOrable
to practical legislation, especially to
legislation of such a character as
brings out the encounter of conflict
ing interests. The House Ct Repre-
sentatives is Democratic by a small
majority, the Senate Republican by
a still smaller one, and the EXecu-
tive represented by the President
and Cabinet is not in harmonious or
confidential relations with either.
The state of things, especially now
that the art of obstructing legislation
by dilatOry measures has been re-
duced to a science, is extremely I'M
favorable to legislative activity and
must excuse many shortcomings.
At the same time, the repeated alb
sence of the Democratic members
from their seats at important and
critical divisions has largely in
creased the difficulty, which loudly
demands abatement. Constituent
cies will do well to hold their repre-
sentativeS to a rigid account in this
matter and, when election time
comes, substitute men who will at
tend to the peoples business for
those who have been culpably neg
ligent of it. Happily this COM
munity has no such unwelcOme
duty to carry out, as no Legislators
in Congress have attended as punCt-
Ually and regularly and worked as
faithfully as Jas. +. Bailey in the
Senate and John +. House in the
Hall of Representatives. Another
obstacle to progress in public bust
ness has been the popularity of cir
cumstances under which the major
ity of our legislators have been
elected. They have had one class
Of subjects before them as candi-
dates, another as members. At
the time when the present
Congress was elected the one
subject before them was the restora-
ton of local self-gOvernment in the
South; all other questions were post
pOned to this, both by those who
contended for it and by those who
opposed it. But when they found
themselves seated in the Capitol
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