Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-12-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our regular correspondent.
WASHINGTON, DEC. Is, 1881.

WASHINGTON, DEC. 16, 1881.
Under the rules of the House of
Representatives, Monday is the day
which the States are called, during
the morning hour, and Members
from the States reached in order be-
fore the time expires have an OPP
portunity to present any bills, reso-
lutions, or petitions they may have
prepared. Sometimes they come in
so thick and fast that the hour is
consumed before the States have
been h%alf-called, and on the follow
ing Monday the call is resumed
where it left off before. To intro
duce matters of this nature any 9TH
er day requires unanimous consent
or a suspension of the rule by a two
third vote. From this practice,
Monday has come to be called 'bill
day." and it is the Gay on which
most of the sensations and field ex-
ercises occur; because, if a mem
Der has anything of a red-hot a
ture to offer, for which he has at all
other times been unable to catch
that treacherous thing, the "Speak-
er's eye," he can, if his State is
reached, shoot it off on Monday in
spite of all opposition. This by way
of introduction to a few feeble re-
marks about bills and things.
Thousands of bills are introduced
in every Congress which ought not
to be, and which accomplish moth
ing except to take up time, cumber
the records and clog the Commit
tees. Over six thousand bills were
pumped into the hopper of the last
Congress, yet not one out of a
hundred of them were or ever will
be heard from again. Already the
sluice-gates have opened in the pres
ent Congress, and the flood of meas
ures will continue TO flow in every
Monday down to the very last week
of the session. In the Senate alone
$50 bills were introduced in less than
a week after Congress assembled.
One Senator alone offered 35 bills.
In the whole batch there r scarce
ly a score that can be said to have
any public interest. And so it
/ always is. A large majority of the
| bills offered in every Congress either
relate to some trifing, impractical
matter, or to some small private
4 grievance which the Court of Claims
was especially created to consider.
The vanity and righteousness of all
this might be overlooked if it were
not for it's injurious effect first, in
preventing the consideration of nee
| essary business, and second, in oc-
casionally facilitating the passage of
highly Objectionable measures. All
the important measures demanding
action by Congress at the present
time can be told off on the fingers
of one hand, and, as Senator Ed
munds recently said, adjournment
! might be reached by the middle of
May: but between idle measures and
idle congressman we shall find that
it will be nearer August.
None of the new members attract
more attention in Washington than
|the preacher Congressman from
Brooklyn, Rev. j. Hyatt Smith. In
personal appearance he is not pos
sessing, the most striking feature
being the short, cork-screw curls in
which his hair is worn. But he ap-
pears to be a very active man. Be-
sides his Congressional duties he has
already been both %lecturing and
preaching here, with plenty of hear
ers all of whom expressed themselves
pleased. That is more than some of
his constituents appear to be, for
several of the labor organizations
hat contributed to his election as
an Independent have been telegraph
ng the Indignation at his course in
Rntering the Republican camp. The
bood-natured political divide how
ver expresses the opinion that he
Knew on which side his bread was
luttered when he located himself
ear the loaves and fishes. That he
id not mean to ''get left" is evil
enced in the fact that Mr.. Randall
ED his pledge to vote with the