The daily gazette., 1879-01-25
SECOND EDITION
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

LEGISLATION USEFUL But NOT ENTER
| TAINING-THE INTERMINABLE ARMY
! BILL-soMETHING ABOUT THE COM
| MANDER IN CHIEF-wHY CONGRESS
| WILL NOT PASS THE BILL-MoRk THAN
! $4,000 BILLS BEFORE THE TWO HoUs-
| Es.
: From our regular correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23. 1879.
/ Just at present there is very little to
write about from Washington. Congress
is occupied with bills and debates that
are the reverse of inte resting and excit-
! ing, except to the special classes they eff.
feet. Of course, they affect all indirect
/ ly through taxation: but the American
citizen is in the habit of paying his taxes
doggedly, when he cannot avoid them
nditferent as to how much money goes
! to the President of the United States, to
the disabled and pensioned veteran, or
TO improve the navigation of the north
Fork of Little Muddy Run. The Army
bill is tolerably live subject, but this
bill, so popular when it was first intro
duced, and which almost all parties
agreed had excellent features, it is feared
has been already killed by pre-legislative
discussion. / believe that one Of the
greatest objections to the bill is the great
authority it conters on the unpopular
General of the Army. General Sherman
is the antithesis of Grant in that he talks,
and talks. If Gen. Grant must be called
the silent sagacous man, then General
| 10 hn nj on
n OF that he does not talk well, and con-
vincingly, but he is devoid of magnetism
and, Will his ability is conceded, he is
not loved either in or out of the army
The American world sees and hears too
much of him. He is too conspicuously
ubiquitous. If he would only fold him
self in his military cloak, and effect the
| trick of mystery, he might go down to
posterity as great man, AMI have
bronze equestrian monument in which
he would be almost as heroic as the horse.
But General Sherman prefers to enjoy
the present rather than posterity. His
motto is Uiuo dum ulrO; so he talks inces-
sanity, is the hero of a thousand inter
views, writes letters and books, dances
at public balls, occupies the most con-
spicuous box in the theatre, the most
prominent seat on the platform when
Henry Ward Beecher lectures, until the
Army, Congress, and the people begin
to feel that the commander-in-chief has
J lost novelty and dignity, has in short
become vulgar. When the Czar of Rus
sia asked the first Napoleon, at ball in
Paris, if it would be prudent for him to
dance with the popular actress, the
| French Emperor told him to dance, if
he wished to read comments of his sal
tatic performance in all the Paris papers
The Gar kept out of the papers. But
the newspaper penalty would not det er
General Sherman. He would have his
dance.
Perhaps the only way in which real
reform can be effected, reform that
Will change the top heaviness of the
army, and reduce the disproportion of
one officer to every five men, will be to
elect Congress that has no desire for
second term. Every member has the
right to nominate one cadet to West
Point, this is one of his perquisites. The
son of the most influential constituent In
his district gets the nomination. In this
| way the M. G. strengthens his own politi-
! cal fortune, and, to certain extent, in
sures his reelection. 1t is expecting too
much of human nature to suppose that
politicians will vote disinterestedly on
/ subject that so clearly effects their per-
sonal fortunes. And the West Point
mill will continue to grind out high pay
officers, at the rate of 20 per year. There
are TOO many otner ABUSES, lo0al anu
national, crying for reform for the masses
! to concentrate on this as an issue. Aud
even if it should be embodied in the
national platforms, Congress would find
some way to evade it.
! History shows that all reforms may be
evaded so long as men and women have
bread, and, in Republican form of gov
erumept, where it Is impossible to fix re-
sponsibllity, reforms, of what are called
minor abuses, are less attainable than in
monarchies. A parliament will more
readily apply the pruning knife to the
overgrown perquisites of the crown, than
il will cut on its own perquistes.
| 1t looks as if .he old saying. "Of max
ing many book there is no end, would
have to be revised by subltitution of
"bill" for "books." There are now over
Z, 800 bills pending in the House aud Sem
ate. There is no statute to prevent any
citizen of the United States from having
his hobby brought before Congress. The
patent bill was again before the Senate
on yesterday. while the House was occu-
pied with the District of Columbia.
|