The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1881-12-24
WASHINGTON.
[FRoA OUR REGULAR CoRREsroSDESr.] ]

[FRoA OUR REGULAR CoRREsPoSDENT.1
WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. ~, 1881.
Under the rules of the House of Rep
resentatives Monday is the day On which
the States ara called. during the morn.
ing hour, and Members from the States
reached in order before tue time expires
have an opportunity to present any bills.
resolutions, or petitions they may hav'
prepared. Sometimes they come in 8"
thick and fast that the hour is consumed
before the States have been half called,
and on the following Monday the call is
resumed where it left of before. To in
troduce matters Of this nature on any
other day requires unanimous consent or
suspension oi the. rules by a two-thirds
vote. From this practice, Monday has
come 10 be called "bill day. and it is the
day en- which most of the sensations and
'feld exercises occnr; because, if MEM
Der hns anything of Q red-hot nature TO
offer, for which be has at all other times
thing. the Speakers eye" be can. il hi /,
State is reached, shoot it off on Monday
in spite of all opposition. This much 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 nothing except to
take up time. eumber the records, and
clog the Committees, Over six thous-
and bills were Jumped into the hopper
of the last Congress, yet not one out OF
hundred of them were or ever will be
heard of again. Already the sluice- gates
have opened in the present Congress, and
the Good Of measures win 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 thirty-three
bills. In the whole batch there are scarce.
ly 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 triAing
impractical matter, or to some small pri
vate grievance which the Court of Claim
was especially created to consider. TLS
vanity and righteousness of all thi,
might be overlooked il it were not for it,
luxurious effect, first, in preventing tn,
consideration of necessary business, AZ
second, in occasionally facilitating tn,
passage of highly Objectionable measures
, All the important measures demanding
action by Congress at the present tim,
can be told off on the fingers Of one hand
and, as Senator EdmUnds recently eaid
, adjournment might be reached by tn,
middle of May; but between idle meas
ur,s and idle Congressman we shall fnC
that it will be nearer August.
None of the new members attract NOR
n attention in Washington than the preach
A er Congressman from Brooklyn, Rev. J
g Hyatt smith. IL personal appearance
he liz not II mi rkable, the most strikinI
feature being the short, cork-screw curl
in which his hair is worn. But he ap
5 pears to be very active man. Beside
!, his Congressional duties be has alreAd.
e been both lecturing and preaching here
3 with plenty of hearers all of whom tx
It press themselves PLEASED. That is NOR
u than some OF his constituents appear l.
n be, for several of the labor organization
!. who contributed to his election as an In
g dependent have been telegaphiug thei
d Indignation at his course in entering tn
o Republican camp. The good-nAture
% political divine however, expresses th
q opinion that he knew on which side hi
y bread WAS buttered when he located him
l. self near the loaves aud fisnes. That h
did not mean to 'get left" is evidence
d in the fact that Mr.. Randall held hi
a pledge TO vote with the Democrats if hi
n n vote would elect and the Greenbackel Ell
:. say they had his agreement in writing I
II nv WIN bhthh Nuilcp hh unh Ter Oh Ihc
l. he went into the Republican caucus.
a The never-ending Indian question
re- coming up in Congress shorty. Thel
W are fresh reports of scapdalous mismaI
ie agement in Arizona and New Mexico 7,
IL 1; sulting in Wholesale murders of settlei
&c and miners. Though the President !
10 his Message speaks encourlgingly of II
o. o. results of our present Indian policy, thel
81 are many people. knowing from eIper
III enee something about the subject, VIII
lg expect to see peace on the frontier oul
X. hs when we have done with thieving trade
y and agents, and when Indians are mac
n. to take care Of themselves like other ci,
ia gems. The feeling Of the people in Il
Western Territories. who zee Indian a
sassins cherished at the agencies, VIII.
in they come in red-hAnded to get suppli
a. for new raid on helpless farmers al
their wives and children. Can b apprsC