, 1880-02-27

10K QtSOEQ5Eu WITH the IuNrIllux QOuT, HEuL lIto
Committee Of the Whole Scales in the chair) on
the star" Service Deficiency bill.
b1r. Page opposed the bill US striking at 107 Of
eoe Of tt be-
protested against it. No member OF the Appro-
priation Committee who had spoken yesterday
there had been fraud committed in putting on
extra service on the star routes.
Mr.. Page criticised the speech delivered by Mr.
the Postmaster General ought to be impeached
because he had violated the law:
Mr.. Hawley-1 did not say TINT.
Mr. Pugc-Iou suid almost the same thing.
In conclusion Mr.. Page appealed to his Re-
publican colleagues, who had staid here for
three months fighting against riders upon ap-
tore the country BY. voting for this bill. which
usurped the powers OF the EXECUTIVE branch OF
tho Government
AN INFAMOUS MEASURE,
which would strike down the star service Of the
Sfr. Baker, on the part Of tho Committee on
whole bill, appropriating S970,000 to meet the
expenses Of the inland mail transportation on.
star routes for the remainder Of tho current tls-
existed on Feb. /, 1880, provided that on uny
route where there has been nn increase OF the
original contract prices during the last or cur.
rent fiscal year for c1peditfng the delivery OF
mails on any such route ut the rate Of more than
$2,5O0, the compensation for the expedited sery-
ice such II fne drsna 0e o
or after March /, 1850, and nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed to require the reduc-
aoa 9f ahe drns
further expediting Of the service on any postal
star route shall be made:
master General to place, new service as author
He 81 said that whenevera "a question touching the
impeachment OF the Post-O1lce ohclalS WAS
tSfi IT. trnt1A ha time hn0tJr6 to Indulge
bitter ordinations against that department,
but no such question wiz before the House now.
The nn Il ns! aame lumber Of
mnil- deliveries that t6ey had now. 1t Would
only affect the rate Of speed
MR. cALKIH5
inquired Of his colleague why 1t was right to
where it does not cost over s., 5o0 and wrong to
stand by it where it exceeds that amount.
was I little 1 or no room for combinations, frauds
or rings but in the other cases there was mn ,oo
Mr.: Clymer said the House had voted g 's@, ,o0o
deF f5r he % proved by the
report Of the Postmaster General that on t9o
very day that the appropriation had been made
CO. cost Of Of $e,to0.ooo He called attention to the
fact that for the first time since, its publication
the Blue Book for this year omitted any STATE
Department. That statement had been de-
lbcrately omitted. He left the Committee to
judge for itself what had been The S ob5ect OF
General claimed there WIS no limit to his dls, ,
crction. He {Clymer) claimed that he who laid
bis bands on an tnaa 80 as oatnr 70 Ieft @ e @
and were it In his power that Fiointor
should suffer as other malefactors. What!
That a mere clerk in the Post Office Department
should override the will Of the legislative power
Of this Government! Had it come to that that
Congress was the servant Of clerk; ami that
be proposed to strike IT down BY coming to thls
House. BY promise BY log rolling, and By threats
of cutting down the service? Was Congress 10
be driven to do what the Second Assistant Post
1nieht 11liIr be the Judgment Of Congress7 Had it
CONE con to thnt Was the American Congress the
slave Of post-ot1ice clerk 7 Congress did not
propose to strike down the service, but II 1t
could possibly by direction or indirection curb
the assumed power, the apparent extr7aylgance
to use no more offensive torm) or the Depart
nS[1 Mr RothwelI supported the bill, not Us mat
ter Of choice, but as matter Of necessity. The
time for argument had passed, and the time for
action had come.
criticised Mr.. CIymer for having injected into
his speech as strong political and theatrical ef-
casion lrcferring to the impeachment of Secre-
tary Belknap), except nov he had not mounted
his rostrlm nor gone to the Gierks deski &, aa Inc
Responded. naughter.l The scenery was ali
here but was not I'LL new. The gentleman hAd
the ad d Il b
Mr. Clymer-The gentleman Is certainly mis-
Mr. Coneer-Wel, somebody else said so. To-
day the gentleman comes in and says that the
iii of Yesterday was substantially wrong. What
dav that this bill was substantially right, and
tells us to-day that it is substantially wrong?
Did that Committee get any intimation i from any
and nnsafc? Of course they did.
The general debate having closed, Mr. Blount
moved as substitute for the f5st secuon me
Mr. Hays said he would be willing to vote
5000 If it were needed to keep up IN efficient
o'Hf Mr. Hnson said an attempt was being made to
force the present bill through under the whip
and spur w1tnqbe }b }ss 91k on
itself. That Committee was certainly ut sea- Il
had Yesterday brought in biz which M would
save to the Government only $4,000. To-day,
bv a substitute, it was proposed to cut down
tHat ~ : service over 5000, 900, and why2 The mem
bers Of the Committee bad
GIVEN NO REASON FOR IT.
Their mouths had been frothy and bloody, and
nfIre with open and general denunciations of
the Postmaster General and bis subord1nates,
but they had not placed their fingers upon sin
Ole fra1id. and be challenged them to point to q
Kin sinale substantial reason why the bill should be
atopted in its present shape.
! Mr. Blount's substitute was agreed to-yeas,
Mr RIount then moved to amend the second
scctinn Of the bill By striking out the apporpria-
| ton Of S100,o00 to increase the service on ex-
| '' MT Cannon, In advocating the amendment,
| said that in bis opinion the expenditure which
was now beng made on . the star routes was q not
nninion boldly and fearlcsly. In politics he was
a Republican, yet, he stood on nll questions Of
the expenditure of money On his character and
| frcedom as Representative. and no cracking Of
the party whip in the hands Of the gentleman
from California Page by t taki9S about riefs let
tn heat the .sSolid South" when reinforced by
his side Of the House,: Politics had nothing te
no1ftical test whether these s. 600 900 were to bt
poured into the lap Of half dozen contractor
On those enormous routes, then be WAS not {
nj. Callius said tho Committee had made at
af+ark Imam the star service In only two State.