The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-03-09
WASHINGTON LETTER.
fFrom our Regalnr Correspondent ]


is dreary place. like some banquet hal
deserted" As usual the closing scenes o.
the late session were suggestive of bedlau
or something worse. To an outsider who
happens in during these last hours or days
it is matter of perfect amazement how
any business can be transacted, though d
great deal is DONE Everybody wrangles
over everything. and this year az 147 men
were leaving the legislative halls never &c
return, they naturally wanted to have a
say or get through pet bill. But with
all the disorder it is good natured crowd,
and becomes hilarious over the smallest
attempt at wit. Mingled with the yelps OF
laughter come the shouts of members who
wish TO be heard. Mr.. Speaker, / desire
five minutes only" THE gentleman from
Wisconsin will come to order. For
Gods sake. let me get through what l am
saying" Mr. Speaker, | am not to be
driven from this floor" Vote, Voter
and torrent of motions, amendments
and heaven knows what. As for sbnlit-
ting anything to the yeas and nays it
The yeas answer vigorously, but when il
comes to the nays they bawl it out so
loud that fifty men could re adily be taken
for hundred. Then comes the standing
up and sitting down TO dete rmine the yeas
and nays. Cries of "Get up everybody Y
are followed by Sit down! sit DOWN. and
even then the tellers have TO be resorted
to sometimes. The only exhibitions of i'll
hIsmor last Sunday morning came from the
friends to the whisky bill whe stolidly re-
fused to let any other measures come up
out of order so long as theirs could not;
and the eight gentlemen whe vehementfy
shouted no to the resolution of thanks to
Speaker Keller.
The proverb that nothing evil should be
spoken of the dead is not observed by the
public or the press in commenting upon
the forty seventh congress. Its short
comings are raked up remorselessly, while
the good that it did is lightly passed over.
There is however, room for some
thing commendatory TO be said
of the congress just expired
It's last days were comparatively
free from the passage of jobs and schemes
such as too frequently slip Though in
the rush and hurry preceding final
adjournment. II is true thousands of
measures are permitted to fail but the
chances that there was great deal more
to be condemned than approved in the lot
Some of the wisest statesmen maintain
that too much Legislation is greater evil
than 100 little, and upon this theory the
course of congress is quietly allowing sew
eral thousand bills to go up to the wa SIT.
basket is, IN fact, benefit 60 the country
Among the lost bills are many of undoubted
merit, such as the shipping blll to pro-
vide an intermediate court for the relief OF
the United States supreme court the
educational bill and others of like i'm
portance. One of the most serious omis
sions was the failure to enact definite |
law regulating the court of the electoral |
vote and providing for the
presidential succession. The next congress |
will g be divided between the two |
parties the republicans controlling the sen
ate and the democrats the house; hence
there is but little prospect that it will
agree upon any law prescribing how the
electoral Votes shah be counted, and thus
the country may be exposed to the danger
of another complication and partisan CON
troversy over the decision of the next presi-
dental election.
Amid the babble and tumult of the clos
ing scenes in the two houses of congress a
person might have been moved |
with many serious reflections. Any one |
given to sentiment could have found food |
for melting thoughts in the contemplation J
of Senator Ferry's vacant chair Sunday |
morning. Two months ago he was re
garded as very fortunate man. He was |
supposed to be fixture in the senate, his |
re election being looked upon as GER
tainty, and his wealth was estimated at |
over million. Two or three weeks later
it became evident he would have |
trouble in securing reelection, and /
a few days afterwards came the |
that his riches /
had taken wings. Accumulated misfor- /
tunes Frustrated him. and on Sunday
while the last act of the forty seventh con
gress was being played, he was lying on a |
bed of pain a few blocks distant, a physi- I
cal as well as a financial wreck. His absence
from the senate. of which he had been an
honsred member for twelve years, was I
scarcely noticed He was not missed from I
his seat by half dozen of his old asso-
ciates. He had not been in the chamber
for weeks, and was wellnigh forgotten +
Sunday evening after the adjournment he /
left W ashington. accompanied by his sister
and one or two devoted friends, perhaps /
to return to the scene of all his former /
How different his worldly /
aspect from that proud occasion when at
the head of his fellow-senators as the
presiding officer of that body and the act
ing vice President, he marched into the
joint session of the two houses to preside
over the proceeding of the electoral count