The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-02-10
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WASHINGTON, ~. u, FEB. 6, 1882.
Some idea may be formed of the vast
preparation for law making in Con-
gress from the fact that up to February
first there had been introduced in the
House of Representatives 1859 bills.
1t is believed the number of bills will
reach 10000 during the present session,
as business has just been gotten fairly
under way. This does not include the
flood OF bills which have been introduce
ed in the Senate. The people need not
be frightened with such threatened
avalanche of laws. It is consoline to
believe that a large proportion of these
bills will never be heard of again, after
the preliminaries of being introduced
and referred. At the last session of
Congress there were 1,4OO bills intro
duced, which were not considered OF
acted upon at all. So at this session
there will probably be from 1900 to
1000 embryo laws, which, after being
briefly heralded, will be borne away
to the common receptacle for waste
labor. Of the multitude of resolutions
and memorials introduced, more than
one-half relate to the liquor traffic,
woman suffrage, and railroad trans
portation.
Several bills have been introduced
the past week by Wisconsin members.
Hon. g. G. Hazleton has made popu-
lar strike; he proposes to put a new
class of persons on the pension rolls,
for injuries received in the Life Saving
and Railway Mail Service of the q. S.
If AIR. Hazleton succeeds in getting his
bill through, it will do justice to a large
class of persons whose duties in the
service of the u. S. are attended with
more than ordinary peril of life.
Hon. G. G. Williams, of Wisconsin,
has introduced bill to benefit, in an
other form, a class of persons included
in Mr.. Hazleton's bill. 1t is to increase
the salaries of mail route agents and
railway postal clerks. Mr.. Williams
made vigorous speech in support of
the increase Of salary, showing that
persons employed in this service are
inadequately paid for the amount of
labor required of them. Some of these
employees are obliged to be on duty
twenty-five hours continuously, and
their compensation is hardly sufficient
to cover their family expenses. If it
be possible for any man to obtain JUS
tice in Congress for these poorly paid
Government employees, Mr.. Williams
is the man to do it.
The funding bill authorizing the is
suing of U. s. bonds bearing three per
cent interest passed the Senate, after
a protracted discussion. 1t now goes
to the House, where it will probably
be concurred in.
MORE ABOUT THE COLORED PEOPLE OF
WAsHINGTON--O oNE-THIRD THE
POPULATION.
The colored people of Washington
have fair proportion of churches in
the city. Denominationally, the Metho-
dists greatly predominates; next comes
the Baptists. The Presbyterians, Episco-
palians and Catholics also have church
edifces. Some of the colored pastors
have had the advantage of a theologi-
cal education. In few of the churches,
particularly the Methodist, the old
style of plantation music, as it existed
in slavery times, is still heard in devo-
tional prayer and conference meetings.
1t generally consists of a few lines of
rhyme, which are repeated over a great
number of times, with only a change
of a word or two. Some of these plan
tation airs are subduing and plaintive,
while others are lively and exhilarat-
ing, so much so as to cause the worship
pers to rise to their feet-shouting and
gesticulating with wild enthusiasm.
The leader of the singing takes his
stand in a central position, having in
each hand asmall block of wood, which
he strikes together to beat time. The
old plantation music, in most of the
colored churches, has been discontinue
ed, and in a short time will pass away,
and only be spoken of as among the
traditions of the past. One can scarce
ly escape a feeling of regret that this
peculiar style of music is destined
soon to be forgotten. No troupe of
amateur singers, years hence, will be
able to reproduce it, with the strange
and weird effect, as rendered by those
born in slavery and accustomed to its
use as devotional exercise. What
strikes strangers with surprise is to
notice the well dressed crowds of col
ored people when they emerge from