Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-05-16

Congress.
The De46cratic mAi9rity in the psesent
Congress ave had That psy be ealled 90 un-
Ipckv sessan The sasxif,=s now lirayine /. q

lucky seassl. The sssdoa now draYing a.
close has been to them an exceedingly un
profitable one They not only are unable tC
declare the dividends they so confidently ex
pected for use in the coming Congressiona
elections, but THAR original capital has beer
seriously impaired, and all their assets hsvt
satzersd shrinkage. Ne presame hey art
soon TO adjourn tiey have ~been taking
about it for several weeks, and they surely
cannot last forever. Still, there is no count
ing upon signs in that regard. That was
shrewd and observant lad who told the school
teacher he knew ''his folks were going tc
move soon, cause they'd began emptyn' slops
into The ssiar.'s But he psonld have been all
at sea in undertaking to forecast the adjourn
ment of this Congress by any such sign, for
these people began disposing OF their slops in
that way when they first moved in. In the
hope, however, that they will move out in the
course of q month Or two, il may not be amiss
10 takea cursory glance over what they hsse
done and what they have failed to do in full
fllment of the great expectations with which
they set out last October. The animating
purpose of the party, their sole object and
constant aim, was to make as much capital
for themselves and against their opponents as
possible, IN orderto insure their holding the
next Congress. To accomplish this they de-
pended upon being able, in the first place, to
relieve, or seem to relieve, the prevailing fl
nancisl distress and business depression by
legislation; second; to expose the corrupt
practices and maladministration Of their op-
ponents; third. by showing thelho own ability,
integrity and cspscity IN zdnihistering SO
much OF power as bad been intrusted to them;
and fourth, by retrenching the expenditures
of the government, and conducting its affairs
on scale of the most rigid economy. These
are tbe things they laid out for themselves at
the outset, and atwhich they have been very
busily at work for the past seven months.
How have they succeeded?
They began with the financial question. So
impatient were they to exercise their states
manship upon the finances that they pushed
everything else aside, and with snehshastca az
was never before known in legislation of such
importance, rushed through the Silver Bill
The financial ability and craftsmanship ex-
hibited ia this act consisted simply in the at
tempt TO increase the number of dollars in
circulation by making ninety cents pass for q
dollar Thai, was the ''relieig proposed to be
secured by that great measure The animus
of the movers of it was plainly disclosed in
the threat of the author of the bill against
holders of Government bonds who opposed
it, that if this measure were not passed, its
advocates would come back to the next Con-
gress and wipe out the National debt as with
The purpose of reputation was
openly proclaimed. They passed their Silver
Bill What have they seconpiisheii byit2
In the method of relief which they proposed,
they simply disclosed their dishonesty, while
in their inability to effect what they desired,
as shown in the result, they have disclosed
their utter incapacity to do what they under
take even when they have the power. That
they failed to carry out their purpose is due
partly to their own ignorance and partly to
the practical wisdom and good sense of Re-
publican Secretary of the Treasury The
present favorable financial condition of the
country is not due to, but in spite of them.
So that instead of making any capital for
on the financial question. they
have by their confessed dishonesty and blum
dering incapacity hurt themselves and helped
their opponents. The resumption of specie
now so near at hand, will leave
them without leg to stand on upon the finan'
ciai question, out of which they hoped to
make so much.
In their efforts to make capital by exposing
Republican corruption and maiadministration,
they have suffered even worse disaster. The
b1astfulness even, with which
they entered upon their investigations, is
fresh in the public mind. The. results thus
far attained are wen known. The chairman
of hepiincipal investigating committee has
had such singular success in exposing his own
party friends, and has made such notable fail
ures in attempting to catch his opponents,
that heshss already become laughipg.stoek
before hescountry. No man ever gave his
opponents such endless entertainment and his
friends such constant anxiety and distress
No Democratic orator can 60 upon the stump
in the coming Congressional canvass with a
word concerning Repdhlican corruption,
without danger of being interrupted by call
for ''Glover" and put down with inextinguish-
able laughter. Their investigations have done
nothing but kick themselves over Their own
capacity for administering official trusts,
which they hoped to show in their appoint
n,ents and the distribution Of patronage, has
been bountifully illustrated i'm their wild at
tempts To- get an honest and capable door
keener for the House, The result of thelast
experiment has not yet fully appeared, but in
the previous ones they only succeeded in
showing that bookkeeping dees not keep ldoor
After the experience they have had in this
Congress, with the .trifing anaoun. of patron
age belonging TO the majority in the House,
they viii hardly hayes.theT face to go to the
people with criticisms Of Republican admin
istratfon of the civil service OF boosts Of their
own superior qualifications for choosing Gov.
ernment servants. And aste- their achieve
ments IN the direction Of retrenehment, of
which they boasted so largely in the last Con.
gress, the public is now. pretty well enlighten.
ed upon the process and tlle practical effect
of it. To cripple the departments and en-
barrass an opposition administration by cut
ting down appropriations which have to be
made'up afterwards in deAeisney bills, may
do for dodge for single campaign, but for
more than that it does not pay. The people
understand that business now too well to be
again hoodwinked by it. The only effect of
The cheese psrias economy of this Congress
viii beta disgust fhe voters with such an ex.
hibition OF cheap demsgogism.
Taking the session all in all, therefore, the
Democrats in Congress dan ChardlYst,e oni'
graduated utou the results of their great en-