The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-03-17
THE YORK OF 4 CONGRESS.

salaries. mileage. stationery allowances. COM
mittee expenses, and the OUTLAWS for fuel. light.
printing. police. pages. clerks. messengers
mail carriers fees OF Witnesses. and 80 on. costs
several million dollars.
The Forty-lfth Congress. during the session
which ended at noon Of March A. enacted. as we
count. two hundred and ninety-two laws. and
passed seventeen Joint resolutions. or these
seventeen Joint resolutions. hardly three have
national interest and importance They were
routine matters such as authorizing certain
executive nets to be done or else they were for
local or individual purposes. MS in the following
specimens:
Allowing Lieut. rozer to receive a medal from the
President " the French republic, -.
..Apnropriaung money to the Penny Lunch House Of
Gemitgs duty on two pieces OF bronze, given TO r. C
Mccormick In Paris.
Turning at once therefore to tho two hum
dred and nincty-two laws We find. to start with,
that no fewer than ono hundred and four. or
moro than third Of the whole number simply
grant pensions or increases Of pensions to indi-
viduals named. Thrco general pension laws
were passed; but tho hundred and four now
spoken Of were all like the following:
To- grant a pension to Peter Yerncn
Tu inc. cas- tic tension 81 7. II. slvcy.
To restore VI. s. Corl 20 the pension roll
1t is impossible to say how many Of these
HlluNl W'An ult lpbh UNI h'M ui"liS hih u i''M
committeeman are responsible for this leRis-
lation which came before Congress in batches
and was disposed OF according to the recon-
mendatons Of the Committee.
Deducting these private acts We have left
to consider the remaining hundred and
lightweight. Among these. however,. we find Il
class analogous TO the petty individual pension
laws in such relief bills as the following:
To relieve Murfhv ct Knox COUNTY Tenn.
To relieve T. D. Bell late private IN Third stVrginia
Cavalry.
OF these. excluding general bills OF relief
such rs the one for soldiers and sailors bccom-
ing blind. there are seventy. and the deduction
Of these brings our total Of laws down TO enc
hundred and eighteen. We may further reduce
it at once 10y eighteen acts removing individual
political disabilities and 10y eight giving cannon
and cannon balls for monumental purposes (;
and now our total is ninety-two.
Taking the pile Of acts thus diminished we
next find many Of them to be merely perfume
tory or formal northumberland is such as are
passed In order TO convey some power or con-
sent lodged in Congrcss-usualy a matter Of
course. A few examples will illustrate:
Authorizing the wnLham National Bank to change its
Authorizing the Cumberland road in ohio to become a
Granting reei.tr, 20 fhe Canadian crryhoat Geneva.
fro,idn1 far eoart terms a. f"rt scott kansas
OF this class Of acts we find fully twenty-five.
There are also four petty acts OF this sort:
T. riacc Iwis Lehman Ordnance Sergeant on the re.
tired hst ui the army.
Thus It will be seen that the acts Of general
character. to say nothing Of real Importance
the acts which demand the study Of Il Congress
rather than Of a clerk. a committee. or a court
Of claims-have dwindled to siXty-three; il we
also take out eight acts relating TO the local ad-
ministratiou OF the District OF Columbia the re-
naming heap Of laws now numbers only flty-
i've, or less than one-iliih OF the original mass.
l. would bc easy 90 pursue this analysis 20 n
closer discrimination in TIE same direction.
Thus. there are nine acts among the lny-ive
merely amendutory Of existing acts. mostly in
slight particulars; there are Also some no more
important than the following:
EstahH.hlne the rank Of senior Inspector Gen neral
krifHlin- statute about company cooks
,lsn,;r Ie, "a, 1i sr Warrant 10 Elisha Franklin
1t is enough in fine. to say that outside Of
the routine appropriation bills. not dozen
measures of the first order good or bad were
passed during the last session OF the Forty
NTH Congre-s-such bills. we mean. rs those
for facilitating the refunding OF the ma
tional debt making additional home
stead regulations. granting arrears Of pen
sions. preventing the introdu ton OF con-
tagious Diseases taking the tenth and sub
sequent censuses. providing three months pay
10 officers and soldiers in the Mexican war. and
the vetoed Unti-Chinese bill. Even Of this
list some should not have been passed az Ill.,
Scores Of important bills fcll hy the waysidc.
In various stages Of progress; but nothing
short of enactment counts after q session is
over. Some Of these bills were wisely defeated.
notably the subsidy Jobs but much legislation
that was noeicd also failed.
The Forty-siNth Congress has one great adj
vantage over its predecessor. In the Forty
nth, the two Houses. being constantly at cross
purposes spent their time largely in undoing
each others work. The incoming Congress
will not be- hahlcl hy this lack Of harmony. and
should be- able to show at the end Of ITS career
a better record Of accomplished results.