The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-04-01
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL LEG.
ISLATION.
[From the Chicago Tribnna.

Intelligent men who are disposed to
act with national parties from consci-
entious motives ought not to omit re-
view of the career of the late Congress,
which was Democratic In both houses.
! They viii search the record in vain for
any useful legislation that viii compen-
safe for the cost Of three sessions of
Congress or justify the Democratic pre-
tensions to capacity for lawmaking but
they will find it replete with lost oppor-
tunities and deliberate neglect of the de-
maIds of the people. The Democrats
were not embarrassed in any respect by
| the Republican administration, which
interposed Its veto only in cases where
the integrity or credit of the Govern
ment was coneerned-such as the pro-
posed repeal of the national election laws
and the enactment of an unfair funding
law, intended rather as blow to the
national-bank system than as relief to
the Government. The responsibility for
The succession of failures, therefore.
rests entirely upon the shoulders of the
! Democratic party.
When the late Congress met for its
last session its mission was very clear.
There were certain things to do, the
| relative importance of which was easily
recognizable. The appropriations for
running the Government, the agreement
upon practical scheme for refunding
the bonds bearing high rate of interest
and subject to call, and the passage of
an apportionment bill under the new
census were, In their order, the essen
tials of the session. There were other
| opportunities for useful legislation, but
successful disposition of the measures
named would have acquitted the Forty
sixth Congress of a deliberate neglect of
public interests. Instead of proceeding
in proper sequence to the consideration
of these Legislative projects, the session
was opened with desperate effort in
| the House to secure a partisan advantage
| by the adoption of an unfair rule for
counting the electoral vote. The Dem
ocratic leaders were not able to secure
the presence of their own maiority-in
itself grievous disregard of the public
| trust which had been reposed in them
and hence they blocked legislation for
considerable time by insisting upon a
| partisan plan which they could not carry
out. Meanwhile the Senate was con-
| demned to idleness. and the country
was agitated by the implied threat Of
disputing the count of theelectoral vote.
It was known that the time of Con-
gress was limited, and yet it was not till
long after the holiday vacation that the
Funding bill was brought fairly to con-
sideration, and then in such shape as
+ to alarm the monetary institutions of
| the country. So stubborn was the Dem
| ocratic purpose to make funding pre-
text for attacking the national banks
that the measure was dragged out to the
very end of the session rather than to
abandon the coercive feature 1t con-
tanned. When it had passed the two
houses with the help of tricks and de-
| ceptions the President vetoed it in time
to give an opportunity for the passage of
bill Identical in every respect except
in it's assault upon the national banking
system and its implied aspersion upon
| the Government credit; but the Dem
ocrats in Congress had no real desire to
save the Government money unless they
| could at the same time work out spite
they carried over for their late defeat
and hence they contemptuously refused
to give reminding any further considera-
ton, and adjourned without passing
single measure of public value.
The ease with which fair apportion-
| ment bill was agreed upon in the House
by the Republicans and a sufficient
number of Democratic votes, when the
matter had been fairly presented, proved
| that an earlier consideration of the sub
| iect would have given the Senate time to
concur. Such course would have
saved large expense and great embarrass-
ment to many of the States. But the
| Democrats were Indifferent to all this
unless they could obtain partisan con-
SESSIONS in the future composition of
Congress, and they permitted appor-
tionment to fail along with refunding,
| All that was actually done during the
session was the passage of the appropri-
alton bills, and probably some Of these
would have been allowed to fail if the
| Democrats had not been solicitous to
avert an extra session, and thus save the
patronage during several months which
attaches to their control of the House
organization The consideration of the
various appropriation bills was conspic-
uously hurried and superficial. There
was no longer SO much as q pretense to
| economy, and as last grab the River
and Harbor bill was run up to more
than $11 600, DOG, and now stands as the
| of
| greedy control of the Legislative power
of the Government extending over
term OF two years.
There were ample opportunities for
| che useful and patriotic exercise of the
| lawmaking function outside the pressing
| necessities of the session. All were
neglected alike. Mr.. Reagan made re-
| peated efforts to secure consideration for
his bill, or some other measure looking
to the regulation of inter-S State railway
commerce, but in vain. Congress was
in session at the time of the consolida-
ton of the telegraph companies with
capital stock representing three or four
times the actual value of their equip
ment, but Mr.. Springer was Unable to
secure its attention to the public demant.
for Government protection against the
monopoly. The Senate passed the
Burnside Educational bill, which, though
deficient in rendering any substantial
aid to the cause of national educa-
ton, contained an important recogni-
ton of the principle involved; but the
House refused to take the slightest
notice of the matter. There was q per-
sistent refusal on the part of the Dem
ocrats in both houses of Congress to
permit any measure providing for ex-
PRESIDENT Grant to come up for consid-
Grafton. The opposition to such meas
ure was prompted by party spite, and
the only compensation for It's failure is
to be found in the reflection that the
Democrats were not able to carry through
their scheme for reinstating Fitz John
Porter to the army. The tariff, civil
service reform, Improvement in the pat
ent laws, and various other matters Of
public import about which the Demo
Gratis have manifested great concern,
were deliberately ignored. and the ses,
sion was absolutely unproduetive OF
public good.
The Democrats cannot escape THEN
q f.