The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-03-08
The Next Congress.

Inc Next Congress.
In about ten days the legislative depart
ment of the National Government will he
formally turned over to the Democrats. Their
party will have small majority in both
houses and-unless met by Presidential ve-
to-will be able to pass whatever measures
it sees fit. How they will use their power,
whether for the benefit of the whole country
or the Democratic party simply, remains to
be seen. Judging the future by the past,
however, the outlook is not cheering. Dem
ocratic Congresses have always been intense
ly partisan bodies, subordinating the welfare
OF the country to that of party, and
accomplishing little in the way of legislation
except for purely partisan ends. There is no
reason to expect that the next Congress will
prove an exception. Already threats are
thrown out by the leaders of the House ma
jority that they are determined to pass bill
repeating the Supervisor law and if the Pres
ident vetoes it attach it to an appropriation
bill, and thus compel the President either to
sign it or let the legislative, judicial and execu.
tive branches of the government go without
means of support. They have made up their
minds that before the next Presidential elect
ton all laws to protect the voter in the exer-
else of his rights shall be annulled and no re.
striction remain to fraud in New York and
terrorism In the South. They feel that free
and fair election in 1880 will greatly diminish
their chances, and that to insure success
their repeaters in the metropolis and their
bull-dozers in Louisiana must be permitted
to work their own sweet will, or more prop
erly the will Of the Democratic party.
The contest for the Speakership is iercely
raging between the rival factions. The two
most prominent candidates are Randall and
Blackburn, with the chances at present in
favor Of the former. Blackburn's support
ers are made up principally of old members
who felt aggrieved at Randall's construction
of the committees, and the revolutionists of
1876 who have never forgiven him for putting
stop to their flibustering on the electoral
count. The Greenbackers at present are an
unknown quantity in the contest. II they
hold together, as Chairman Devices advises,
they may be able to make trouble for the
Democrats, but the probability is that some
of them will be drawn into the Democratic
caucus and committed to the Democratic
candidate. They profess great confidence,
however, that they will prove power, and
perhaps have some reasons to justify it.
The number of the Republicans In the next
HOnan will Qvonod haf in ho loc ;e
change for the better. Several of the old
members will be missed, however, whose SER
vices the country can i'll afford to dispense
with. The most prominent among them are
Mr.. Hale of Maine and Mr.. Hewitt of New
York. Butler can we'll be spared. But the
absence of Messrs. Hale and Hewitt will
prove real loss to the country. Since the
transfer of Mr.. Blaine to the Senate Mr.. Hale
has shared with Gen. Garfield the leadership
of the Republicans. His devotion to sound
principles of government, his correct financial
views, his force and readiness in debate and
his thorough knowledge OF parliamentary
tactics which has often enabled him to put
to rout the Democrats, though outnumbering
his own side of the House, have made him a
tower of strength to the Republicans. The
contrast between him and his successor only
intensi6es the sense of loss. His seat is filled
by man without experience, without any
aptitude for public affairs, and worse than all
welded to financial doctrines which, if they
ever get the upper hands, will prove subver-
sive to the prosperity and welfare of the
country. Mr.. Hewitt must also be reckoned
a loss. Democrat though he was, and an in
tense partisan in his views, he was sound on
financial matters and had no patience with
those members of his party who had imbibed
the Greenback heresies. His voice has fire.
quently been heard in advocacy of sound
principles of finance, and the country owes
him a debt of gratitude for what he has done
in this direction and can almost forgive him
for being Democrat.
The effect of the early assembling of Con-
gress on the commercial interests of the
country cannot but be bad. Mr.. Hewitt
states that as business man he looks upon
the extra session as a misfortune, that the
business interests of the country will so re-
gard it; that they wanted Congress to go in
peace and leave them undisturbed by the
fierce partisan strife which, in existing cir
cumstances an extra session implies. The
statement is literally true., Congress has
come to be regarded by business men as a
menace, and they never consider themselves
safe while it is in session. In the best of
congresses the number of men who are ca
pable Of legislating wisely is few compared
with those whose heads are full of wild and
impracticable schemes, so that the wisdom of
the former is liable to be nullifed or turned
into foolishness by the numbers of the latter
and thus dangerous acts find their way to the
statute book. In such Congress as the
Forty-sixth is likely to be this danger is in
creased, and it is no wonder business men
view with anxiety the coming session.