The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-06-27

TOPICS.
casuai Conversation with N's',-
ing Friends.

reflected on the power OF the Nhaiima"
OF the House of Representatives lie
is a good deal more influential than the
Vice President. who is also, By virtue OF
his off e. Chairman Of the Senate. The
House is a very large b, dy-neariy
tour hundred men, including clerks
srenographers and other officers. Vi
course, every member has been y ourth
Of July orator" in his youth. and could
lire of a two hour speech three times a
day. if permitted hence 1t is nocessar,
IL give the Speaker the right TO "recog-
uize members wishing to speak Some
times 50 men are bawllDg at once. Mr..
Jones has the floor l'-cries the Speak
er. Thereupon all the others have to
cit down, and Jones may keep the floor
until it is too late TO say anything on the
other side. Thus II often happens that
a new, or weak, or dlffident member
spends an entire session IN frantic, fruit
less efforts To catch the Speaker 5
cye.'
Dul d WOISC CdlQIC II IL dppOAbNAbe
OF committees. The Speaker appoints
all the standing committees, II they
control all the legislation. For example,
when General Cox Introduces a bill re-
speeding farmers, it goes at once to the
Committee on Agriculture, who can XIII
the bill by reporting adversely, or by
on =, ar al ~ thau ION
lake twenty bills, OF various kinds, aud
squeezing a few items out of each, make
a new bill which is very different from
the one Gen. Cox wanted This will
show you the power of a single com
mittee, and the power of the man who
appoints ali the committees He is like
= Judge who not only makes the Law.
but selects the jury. The Speaker Is,
Of course. always an old member, an old
politician, and an able leader. By the
By. here IL Il paragraph in the Washing
tUu R.ytstr
The Speaker is virtually Congress
He Is cosuIZant of the virtues, forces Ii
UlilI'OUS vi CdCli II AC biS luds
tered evcly question before the country
lie knows precisely what action Will bt
taken by each committee on each ques-
ton assigned 1t tor consideration. He
constructs the Ways and Means COM
mI,tee, giving 1t a strong Tree trade or
high protective tariff majority. He APP
points the members Of the Pacific Rail
ways committee, aud he may thus COM
pei these corporations TO al just their nc
cunts with the Government or suffer
Indebtedness TO become enormous, 10 be
tualiy repudlat. u through the iuterven-
ton Ut courts organized by the railway
kings The Speaker eau 50 construct
committees that Mr.. Teller's concessions
OF public lands to railways and indivld
uais may be affirmed or annuiied. The
Speaker can defeat In advance Reagan's
utter state m bill, or force the
House to consider and adopt or thrust 1t
out. The Speaker is i'll fact the law
maker of the popular branch Of Con-
gress."
From this you can understand why
there is such a fight made over Randall.
lie comes from a Pennsylvania manufac-
turing and iron district hence he has to
favor protection. | might add Rail
roads. also. He was elected Speaker
seven years ago, when the Democrats
captured Congress, and instead Of APP.
pointing committees in accord with the
great popular pulse beat, he carefully Sc
lected men known to be in favor of the
existing high tariffs, or taxes, for it all
comes to the same.
VISITOR" see you make Railroad
matters a regular feature Of the Famer
and .Hechaaic.'
PEN.-Yes, we give from half a col
umn to three columns of such items
every week. Railroads are the hope of
the South, and North Carolina particu-
larly. Our State is usually termed an Ag
licul, ural State,-a back woods devoted
TO tar, pitch, and turpentine But that
is a big mistake. Nature intended North
Carolina the great bulk OF the State, |
mean of course, for manufactures, COM
merce, mining and fisheries. Glance at
the map and you will see that she is
nearly three times as long as she is
broad, aud that all the rivers, with
their innumerable creeks and branches
run racing down from the lofty mountain
ranges at one end of the State to the
sea-coast at the other end. The descent
Is so steep that for two hundred miles al
most any stream will turn a mill wheel
almost anywhere. This recalls another
popular mistake. North Carolina Is not
u fiat, swamry country, as most strangers
imagine. All our streams have large
Tails" which stop navigation at less
than 50 miles inland from the coast, such
as Falls Of Neuse." Falls of Tar"
Fails Of Roanoke" etc. All those
things signify facilities for manufactures.
1t is our boast that our State exceeds
all others III diversity OF soil, variety of
crops and climate, abundance of timber,
etc. This is all very well, but it explains
why We are making less progress thar
some less favored States. Business men
will tell you that too many frons in the
fire is as bad as too few and that the
merchant who tries to deal in a great va
riety OF articles will take great risks. On
the same principle, the Georgia farmer,
who can hardly raise anything but cot
ton, or the Louisiana farmer, who de-
votes himself entirely to sugar. is apt to
get rich faster than a North Carolina
farmer who raises everything wheat,
oats, rye, corn, sorghum, rice, cotton,
tobacco and nine or ten other crops. 1t
Is trae that our farmers live easier.
healthier, and more independently han