New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-08
NOT 4 GOOD RECORD.

that the session has not met the reasonable
expectations of the country. Perhaps NIUE
TOO much was expected. The public remem-
bered that grand and good work had been done
in former DAYS by Republican majorties.
Perhaps it did not sufficiently appreciate the
fact that a host composed mainly of small men,
who lack experience and have no leaders that
command to the full their own or the public
confidence. cannot do the best work until they
have gained experience and found or made
competent leaders. Perhaps, too, the fact
that there was not clear Republican majority
in the Senate, and scarcely in the House, has
not been fully appreciated But the country
did expect, and had tight to expect, great
deal better work than Congress has done.
The most prominent feature OF the esslon
has been the waste of time by absenteeism,
by windy talk. and most of all by disgusting per-
sona wrangles a great part of the long session
has been spent IN hearing personal explana-
tions," which have had nothing to do with pub
lie business and have been always unspeakably
weariSome and sometimes intOlerably disgust
ing. The instinct of combat is strong IN the
Anglo Saxon race, it is true. But when men
Tant TO see a dog match, or prize-fglt, or to
hear two fish-women BLACKBOARD each other,
they do not wish 10 disgrace the country by
importing these entertainments into the balls
of Congress 1t is said that Infinite Provi-
dence has made no creature in valn-not even
the skunk. But there are several creatures
| that decent men do not care to have IN their
parlors, and several kinds of men that SELF
respecting nation is utterly ashamed of as Its
| chosen rulers, when they exhibit themselves In
| their worst traits before all the world. Wash
| ington life trains members of Congress to think
| that they owe their positions to personal quail
tiles and not to the principles which they rep
resent. They imagine that they can better
afford to desert great cause, to prove false to
the public interest, or to rob the Government,
than to get the worst of a scandalOus tilt at
black guardism. Moreover, they will have
right to think SO, if the country continues to
elect such men.
But the failure of Congress to do its proper
work arises, III great part, from a cause not
peculiar to this Congress, but shared by all
others of recent date. Congress has tried to
absorb into itself all the powers and functions
of government, and it proves pitiiuliy ncom-
| petent for the tasks it has assumed. 1t is not
| willing to leave a reasonable discretion to the
| Executive, or to the head OF any Department
Recommendations by the President or the
| heads of Department are usually treated with
| contempt; every pOt-house or crossroads pol
| tician who gets into Congress by accident or
| fraud thinks he knows more of finance and
| foreign relations, of armies and armed ships,
| of pensions, lands, Indians and the postal ser
| vice than men who have given theI lives to a
| study of those branches of the public service.
Congress will not trust the Treasury Depart
ment 10 ascertain the best terms on which
| money can be borrowed, nor the Navy Depart
| ment TO repair or build ship 1t insists upon
meddling with the details of every part OF the
public service. lrasmuch as nlne-tenths of its
members do not know what they are doing, ITS
meddline constantly results in muddlng and
mischief The public service is impaired at
every point. Officials are deprived of the slim
illus which the hope of distinction by notable
su ccess in their work would give. They fall
into the habit of making careless recOnimen-
dations because sad experience has taught that
good recommend atiOns are wasted. Mean
while, Congress undertakes to prescribe the
mode of doing everything, and, as nine-tenths
of its members know nothing about the matter
upon which they vote, usually pre- scribes badly
and does mischief.
The excuse for Congressional meddlng Is
that the Executive, when not restricted, is apt
to become corrupt but this Congress has
helped to teach the country that the most cor
rupt and reckless government on earth is one of
unrestTained legislative power. When Congress,
instead OF making wise general laws and holding
Executive officers responsible for proper exer-
else of large discretionary power under those
laws undertakes to direct everything itself, the
distribution of power among four hundred men
makes each feel utterly free from responsible
ity No Executive Department ever dared to
do anything so shameless as the passage of
the Pension Arrears or the River and Harbor bill.