National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-03-03


out this session, and rs we have anticipated
for the last month, it now looks as if the
country is to have the benefits or disasters,
as the case may be, of an extra session OF
Congress. The purpose of the majority of
the House TO make an extra session neces-
sory has been apparent in the character of
the measures they have been loading upon
the appropriation bills. The most absurd
and outrageous attempts to force the repeal
of beneGcent laws and TO have others passed
of the most odious character, the attaching
TO the money measures of the Government
all sorts of schemes and jobs of corruption
and plumber have all been resorted TO, that
they might become denominations and
wrongs if passed to laws, or that their fail
ure should bring the necessity for an extra
session, have formed the leading tactics of II
Democratic House since they had trned
away two-thirds of the session in idleness
and nonsense.
The schemings and iobbery of this session
has been without parallel, and they have
been thrust forward in the last few days of
the session in the hope that they might be
smuggled through with haste aud without
proper consideration, and thus escape dis
covery Of their real character until they
were anchored in the Statute Book. Among
the most bold and shameless of these
schemes of thievery and plunder was one
recently injected into the sundry civil bill
in a very unaccountablc manner in the Sem
ate. We refer to the bold attempt to legis-
late the public printing. and binding into
the hands of a private firm who are un-
dOubtedly used only as a figure head for tho
real plunderers and to cover stupendous
steal. The proposition to rent three-fourths
Of million dollars worth of Government
property to that firm for a rental of $4,000
per annum and transfer all the printing and
binding of the Government to them under a
law so loosely and crudely drawn that a
coach and four laden with plunder could be
driven through its interstices is unparalleled
in boldness and absurdty. In this per.
formance the conceded plunderers sadly
overloaded their scheme, and when it was
revealed in the printed bill it toppled over
as easily as an unballasted ship i'll storm
1t dropped out on discovery, and wa:
"bursted wide open,' so to speak. Thi:
little bill of stupendous plunder was pre-
pared and presented to House committed
some month or more ago, and il was so fra
grant with iobbery and wrong that it wa'
pigeon-holed in the committee room, thu
committee being too timid to assume it,
responsibility at that end of the Capitol
Within n few days past it has been ex
humed from its hiding place, brought tt
the Senate, and placed in the hands of
f Republican Senator who had the indiscre
tion, to call it nothing worse, to engraf
il upon the sundry civil bill in that body
Its engineers hoped in that way to smuggl
1t through and leave the responsibility o
, it with Republican Senate but it got IL
l farther on its inglorious career than to b
: printed, for when it was reached for consid
) Grafton it was as summarily expurgatet
Q from the bill as if it had been pestlence
, Thus ended that scheme of robbery an,
plunder, and we congratulate its inventor
, upon their achievement and merited fate
The determination of the Democrats t
force the repeal of the Federal election
laws or an extra session has been, and wi
: continue to be, manfully met by the Re
publicans. They were overpowered in tn
, House, but in the Senate the wrong is re
sisted with unhinching pertinacity. TIL
Republicans will never submit to that out
rageous measure, though the bill to whic
= il is attached shall be lost. And if an eS
ira session shall be called, when the Demo
Gratis have full power to pass this measuI,
, and they shall pass it, we venture the opir
ion that the President will veto it us ofte
as it shall be passed, even to the filtieth @
hundredth time, and the Democrats will b
a powerless to pass il over the veto. That
| a revolutionary measure, and revolution,
r thrust upon us, may as well take one shap
# as another The Republicans will neve
= submit to the repeal of that measure s.
: long as they have the power to resist it, Nn
c they will hold that power for six yea
C more, and longer unless the Democrat
o change their tactics and cease their ou
n RACES.
PERSONAL.