The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-02-21
OUR WASHINGTON SPECIAL.

quietness on account of the advent Of Lent.
AUGUST.
OUR WASHINGTON SPECIAL.
WASHINGTON, Feb. II, 1880.
The proceedings Of Congress are still with
out special interest when the general de-
bate on the new house rules closed In Com
mittee of the Whole it was thought that their
speedy adoption would follow and that other
subjects would come to the front. But the
rules still hang fire to the exclusion OF more
interesting if not more important matters.
The great trouble in getting an agreement to
the revised rules comes from the PmbitiOus
jealousies of the different Committees. 1t
has been generally claimed that the Appro-
priatiOn Committee has too much power.
That Committee has charge Of all bills ap-
proprating money out of the Treasury, and
under the code at present governing the house
this amounts to absolute control over such
| measures. The report ofa Committee, favor
able or adverse, generally carries measure
with 1t and when is added to this prestige
complete control over the debate and other
movements relating to the bills, rs well as u
preference over all other business, It may
readily be seen what immense power the APP
preparations committee wields. Other Com
| mittees are struggling to obtain some of this
| Importance. The Commerce Committee wants
| to take churge of the River and HarbOr i'm
| provemeut Dill, that greatest of all legisla.
| tive swindles and the Committee on Public
| buildings and grounds is ambitious to get
/ these purposes. SO far they have partially
| succeeded, but in the squabble the entire re-
| vision may be lost by defeat of the rules as
amended, upon the final vote. The Appro-
| priation Committee is SO much exercised over
! the matter that all work on the business be-
| fore it has been suspended until this question
| Is settled. Both Speaker Randall and Mr.
| Garfield are working like Troians to keep thG
! power where 1t has always been.
! Taken altogether, the work of the Commit
! tee on Rules proves ON investigation to be less
valuable than at first supposed. The report
| fails to meet any of the urgent demands for
better methods Of procedure than have o.
| tained. BY common consent Of the members s
| OF the committee, no effort has been made to
| put an end to hlibustering or to the practice
| of breaking II quorum ny refusing TO vote
! Dilatory measures are defensible so far as
| they are employed to prevent the passage of
measures without debate, or the opportunity
| of amendment, or to prevent vote in a thin
| House and compel FULL attendance, hut there
| onght to be some limit TO the time in which q
minority can absolutely defeat the will of a
| majority. In many other respects the report
| fails to meet the real wants of the House, and
| is indeed but little more than cOditcatiOn
and more convenient arrangement of existing
rules. This, with the exception of q slight
| change in the system Of max NJ up the calen-
dar, is about all the much-vaunted work of
| the committee amounts to. The great de-
mand for better, simpler and more accurate
as well as speedier methods of legislation has
| not been met. As long as the House is CON-
| pOsSu VI lWO puIlles luty say is I'M
| possible.
One of the curious phase of human nature
| is illustrated through what Is known at the
Treasury department as the "OUnscience
Fund" Every now and then an item appears
announcing receipt by the department of u
contribution to this fund. These cOntribu-
tiOns nowadays vary from one dollar to be-
tween one and two hundred. A few years ago
they were much larger. The money comes
from all parts of the country, Philadelphia
and New York leading in the number of CON
trlbutOns. a member OF Congress from New
York, when Mr.. BrlstOw was in the Treas
ury, rcierring to this fact, remarked that it
| showed cOnclusively that New York and Penn
| sylvana were the most religious states in the
| Union. MIR. BristOw replied that he did not
| regard 1t in that light; in his opinion it only
| showed that those two states had done the
most stealing. The money which comes in
| from cUnsctence-stricken people is on account
| of frauds on the customs, frauds under the old
| incOuie taX law or ON the revenue. The in
| come tax having been abolished some years
! ago, contributions ON its account are very few
| now. The trst record OF money received by
/ the government from rCpentant deirauders Is
| in 1868. When General Spinner was treasur-
er he kept the account separately, but the
! practice was discontinued The money now,
| as 1t has been tor she greater number Of years
| since 1858, when the contributions began, is
| turned into the Treasury ns miscellaneous re-
! ceiPts 1t is not known how much the con-
| science money now amounts to. The total
amount from December Isl, 1863, o June 30I h,
! 1874, is given in the rreasurer's report for the
/ latter year. 1t was Sl62,9l4. Since then no
account OF The contributions has been kept.
| Treasurer Gilh,lan, however, estimates that
the money now fOOts up $3.50 900.
The contributions as IA rule, come through
the mails with note stating for what purpose
| the money is forwarded. Very frequently the
penitential explanation iGcluded Some OF
/ these explanations are very curious and some
/ very laughabe. The ladies contributes "A good
! deal. I hey repent principally over false re-
| turns made under the income tax, and for
| having evaded the duties upon articles of
dress. A lady visited this country in 1864
| from England. She smuggled in while here
a silk dress pattern. A short time ago she
wrote cOniessing the evasion of customs dui les
and sending $l5 to clear her conscience. She
gave the value of the dress, and wanted the
balance sent back to her il the duties did not
amount to SIS. The customs division of the
| Trearury made computation based upon the
duties charged in 1854, and found that the
lady owed exactly $3.50. The balance was
| returned. The largest amount ever received
rs one contribution was $4,000 in u. ). 7.3C
notes. This contribution was announced in
the newspapers, and many ingenious attempts
were made TO get the money out OF the treas
ury. One man claimed that his father made
the contribution, and that he was crazy. A
search Of the Treasury books showed block
of 900, which 1t was thought c0rrespOnded
to the contribution made. The money was
hurredly then covered into the Treasury
The contributor Of 1t had carefully cut out
the numbers Of the notes so as to make 1t i'm
possible to discover from the books who had
sent them.
The leading topics In Congress at present
are the lnter-oceanic Canal project, the pro
position to make the Commissioner of AgTi-
culture Cabinet officer, and the scheme L
organize a new Territory out of what is nov
the Indian Territory. Both these latte
schemes will tail and they ought to fail. A
lively and probably bitter political debate Il
shortly threatened over the Fitz John Porte
, case. Gen. Logan in the Senate and Gen
Garfield in the House are prepared to defenC
the action of the original Court Martial ant
, resist to the end the effort Of the majority Il
: restore Gen, Porter to rank in the Army
Lent is upon us and the gaieties of the las
r few weeks will in measure suspend. Tn
last public reception at the White House OC
CURED on Saturday evening and there was
general rush. The crowd was com Posed OF nj
, classes of people, high and low, elegantly al
> tired and plain. Dom Pedro.