The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1883-02-23

iFroin our Regular corcspondent.l
WAauISoTox Feb. z I8g


sumed Ia monotonoss debate ON the
tariff bill. Both the House and the
Senate have separate bills under con.
sideration. The House Ii getting
along very slowly with It's tariff bill,
but the Senate Is taking It's measure Ia
heroic doses, having sat up with it for
nearly week until midnight. Il Seems
almost impossible that anything can be
accomplished in the few remaining dayi
Of the session, the work il so great, sO
intricate, and 80 important Il is fraughi
With such great political industrial, and
commercial possibilities that Congress
can hardly be blamed for hesitation and
timidity. The stimulant Of protection
has been given uAtil IL has become q
necessity, and TO deprive our economical
system Of IL ROW will produce temper
airy debility and may bring on deIirium.
The probability that no substantial
changes will be made In tariff schedule
bas given rise to increased speculation
as 70 the probability Of An extra session.
Democrats seem to think that there will
10 no extra session, but il Is believed in
some quarters that . called session i'm
mediAtely after the fourth Of March il
by no means improbable.
The till recently presented by Mr..
Blanchard, Of Louisiana, 70 change the
time Of the assembling Of Congress has
received more favorable comment, per-
haps, than any bill has been recently
presented. and everyone is asking !:
why was not this made a Law long
ago." According 70 the present ar
rangsment Congress does not GENE
into power until thirteen months after
its election. This is ample time 20 en-
able professions and platforms TO be
forgotten, and for the Congress elected
thirteen months previously 20 become q
political anaehroniGm. The country
now has only tho Elusive remedy Of
choosing new Congress, which like
wise grows stale before Il can legislate.
Thus il has gone on for session after
session, no Congress performing the be-
hssts Of It's time because il had been
chosen, as it were, for q previous age,
aud 20 long before its day Of action
that It's energy had become devitalizsd,
its vows forgotten. Mr.. Blanchard's
bill enacts that the first session Of Con-
grsss shall assemble on tae 9th OF
March, Immediately after the adjourn
ment Of the previous Congress, and
again on the LIST Of January. by this
arrangement the Grst session Of each
Congress would continue from the 4th
of March until about the middle Of
June or perhaps longer, and the second
session would begin with the begin
ming OF the new year. This would do
away with the holiday adjournment'
and, It Is agreed on all hands, would
facilitate legislation in many ways, but,
chiefly, in that the new Congress, COM
ing in on the 4th Of March, would be
enabled to take mp legislative work
where il had been left of, and tho ne
cessity Of dsing the same work over and
over again in Committee would be
avoided.
This is the week previous to Lent,
and society ia preparation for the sea-
son Of abstinence, reflection, and pions
resolutions, is dissOlicaIy gay hAnqsets,
balls, receptions, soirees dansante, aud
balls masque succeed one another, or
rather overlap one another in confus-
ing tangle, and one wonders at the
stamina Of the American woman who
not uRfIequeatly makes dozen calls in
the afternoon, goes to the theatre in the
evening, and is seen in the msz-s Of the
German from midnight until two the
following morning. But it iaust be
confessed, she shows the effect of this
torture in faded sallow face, early
wrinkles, and a peculiar detection of
gait and style for which the English
have coined the word "Americanitis.
"Americanitis" is epidemic! here it
spares neither age nor sex, and can be
cured only by the substitution of fresh
air and rest for carbenic acid gas and
revelry. II Herbert Spencer had de-
livered his famous warning against
"overwork" from Washington stand
point, he would most likely have said
that the menacing danger was not ever
work, but everyday.
Lent, elsewhere is = period of rest, is
so only in name here. Church fairs
and entertainments for alleged charit.
able purposes take the place of banqusti
aud balls. The dramatis personae and
the play and the passion are the same
the stage properties and scenery alone
are changed.
Durability Ia better than show.
Durability of health is worth mor'