The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-03-03
CONGRESS-.

To-day will probably terminate the
Forty-sixth Congress, though the ses
sion may be continued until high
noon on Friday, when the Constitu
tional limitation viii be reached.
When one scans the congressional
work of the past two years. be is
compelled to regard it as approaching
a dreary waste. There has been plenty
of tslk-too much IN fact, out CON
paratively little has been done. Muon
of the time has been squandeIed il
president-making, members deveting
more attention to that than TO legis
tive business. The quarrels have been
numerous and the disRracefnl scenes
more frequent than usual. 1t cannot
be fairly charged that either party IL
responsible for the wasted session, or
rather, that one psrly more than the
other has been less attentive to duty.
Both are equally guilty snd the CEN
sure ought to be divided between
them. One thing that stood in the
way OF legislation vas the too even
party membership, and the fact that
the executive was OF the political
faith Of the majority. 1t is true the
democrats had a majority in each
house, but the advantage in this
respect was not large enough t. over
come the distractions that the oppo.
sition was able to array against them.
7. would be bst;er lJr the country if
the strength OF one party were Away
sufficient to wOyk without bargain
ing and schemiDg with the enemy
Another thing that has tended
to shorten the record for good
of the closing Congress, has
been the scarcity OF statesmen in the
Honse Of Representatives.. Even the
casual reader of the congressional
proceedings as published in the daily
papers, must have been struck with
the slender Gle OF workers. Fne same
limited number OF names appear in
every days proceedings. a half
dozen republicans aud IS many dem.
ocrats seem to have done the work OF
the 500 loafers who have merely
voted as their few captains directed,
or applauded their respective Leaders.
One would be safe IN saying that lbe
names OF seven-eighths of the mem
bers have nOs appeared in print dur
ing the session, except at such times
as come enterprising newspaper mar
shals the roll when the vote Is taken
on some important measure. Nine
tenths of the members are unknown
outside of their respective states
Only by consulting the political
almanacs can it be learned who are
in Congress. Whatever may he said
to toe contrary, the Forty sixth Con
gress has been below the average in
point OF ability, as it certainly Is a
long distance behind most of s pre-
in the amount of legisla
ton. The records prove this latter
true beyond question. TIE
need not grieve that the end
hes come.
But, will the Forty-seventh Con-
gress be an improvement? This is 3
question that TINS alone can answer. i
In TIE matter of ability of members ]
The new will perhaps be no better
than the old. A large percentage OF
the members have been reelected 4
The Forty-seYenth will have the same
disadvsnsage-only in a higher de-
gres--Rs to an even division OF mem ]
bers as to politics that the present
Congress has ls5ored under. The
majority will be small; indeed, SO
small, that 1t viii be possible for t1e
to prevent All legislation.
But there is this IN favor Of tae com
ing Congress-it can have nothing 20
DO with making the next president
There is no reason why It's iabors
should net be confined to its legiii
duties. The country has the
right to expect more from tbs Forty
seventh Congress than was derived
from the Forty-sixsh, and We believe
such expectation will be satisfied.
Walking COuIagiOn.