Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-05-25

and is always in favor of bonuses to
his constituents, the ship-builders,
vigorously supported the appropria-
ton, while Mr.. Edmunds opposed
1t on the above point of order in a
learned and rather lOng-winded ar
gument. Senator Bailey took a
short cut towards proving the irrel-
evancy of the purposed appropria-
ton by reading a letter from the
firm which is now carrying the mail
between those two ports, for the
modest sum of $349.18 for the year
1877 and S310.24 for the first quarter
of 1878. There is only one man
who builds ships of this class in the
United States, and consequently
this was simply a bill for put
ting $150,0O0 a year for ten years
into the hands of John Roach for
services which can be done and are
done for a few hundreds, thus saving
a million and half of the peoples
money at one stroke of business.
We give his speech after reading
the letter, which, among other re-
concentrations, is decidedly short:
Mr.. President, offered that letter
for the purpose stated, to show that
] this amendment to an appropriation
| bill was not intended, as it purpOrtS,
simply to establish mail commune
cation between the United States
and Brazil, but to promote CONNER
cial relations between the United
States and Brazil; and it was upon
a question of order made by the
Senator from Vermont. l did not
choose to go into a general discus
sion of this question nor do | pro-
pose to do so now; nor do l offer
myself as the advocate of British
| interests any more than the Senator
from Maine; but | do appear as an
advocate of the interests of the
American people, Of those whose
money it is proposed here to vote
away. For what purpose? To pro-
mote mail communication between
! the United States and a foreign
\ country? Not at all, but to pro-
| mote the commercial interests of a
particular section of the country, or
a particular interest, or particular
| person or particular ports, dO not
! care how it may be described.
| AllusiOn has been made to the
circumstances under which this line
| of steamers was established. l know
nothing about them and care moth
! -. n TAf
| that question is foreign to the issue
now presented to the American
| Senate. [ understand the Senator
| from Maine to say that a negotiation
has been pending between the En-
| perOr of Brazil and a certain citizen
of the United States, and a contract
was made between this citizen and
the Emperor of Brazil, by which he
agreed for a certain consideration to
put a line of steamers between an
| American port and the commercial
metropolis of the Empire of Brazil
! The terms were stipulated and a
/ certain sum was agreed to be paid.
! 1t is generally known here that a
contract was made, signed, sealed,
and delivered, that ships have been
built, ships have been launched,
ships are sailing now upon the broad
ocean to carry out that contract !;
and, Notwithstanding that contract
exists, an American Senator appears
! here now and offers to vote a part Of
the money of the American people
to maintain that contract. The con-
tract exists, and the parties to it are
bound by it. Its terms must be OBJ
served; its stipulations must be per-
formed. But, notwithstanding that,
we are to give bounty, not for the
purpose of maintaining this line of
steamers, but for the purpose of put
ting money into the pockets of the
man who has obtained that contract
with the Emperor of Brazil.
That's business, which is always
better than long speeches.
Senator Harris is reported to have
made good speech for the repeal of
the resumption act. We have not
yet received it; we have no doubt
that it is a good one, and our read
ers will doubtless enjoy it when it
gets here. Meantime we fear that
speeches are not going to do much
that way; the cOntractiOnists are
maneuvering to let all that go by
default, first by dilatory procedures
and then by hurrying through a
motion for adjournment. To block
all this we find (what we hope to
see thoroughly effective) a plan to
be moved by Representatives. OLn T.
House. We give it as we read it in
the Louisville Gourier-Journal:
House, Of Tennessee, will make a
! speech, as soon as he can get Oppor-
tunity, advocating the policy of en-
/ grating on one Of the regular APP
preparation bills yet to be passed by
/ the House Of Representative an
amendment which shall stop the
/ contraction Of the currency and re-
/ peal the resumption act, so far as it
/ authorizes the sale of bonds.
Mr.. House has a level head, and
there are a number who deem this
the only way to secure relief to the
] people.
That's business again. The most
Objectionable feature of the resump-
| ton bill is the almost unlimited
power it gives the Secretary of the
Treasury of pledging the peoples
credit by converting the currency
of the country into interest-bearing
/ bonds; and this is the only feasible
way we see of tying Sherman's
hands. While on this subject let us
add one other point. We have had
/ frequent occasions of late to COM
ment severely on the repeated Grip
ping the strategy ofthe Democratic
/ party by the criminal absence of its
members, frequently putting the
party in a minority when a majority
is required, and in recent transac-
lions enabling the Republicans to
block Congressional action by pre-
venting a quorum. Our two Clarks-
vile friends, Messrs. House and
Bailey, are peculiarly exempt from
this charge; we look for their names
on every division and it is very rare
indeed to find them absent, and
when they are they are always