Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-03-29
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
lFrom onr Regular Corresponaent..l


from Our Regular Correspondent
The Democratic members of the
House have been invited to meet
in the Hall of the House of Repre-
sentatives on Tuesday evening, at
half past seven O'Clock, to discuss
matters of party interest. The re-
quest was signed by twenty men,
bers who were conveniently near
Mr.. Morrison, when he prepared
the call, and handed it over to the
chairman of the House Democratic
caucus, Hon. s. s. Cox. The Re-
nuhlica-s have .o.g iIt:uisoI an
the pleasant fiction that the Demo-
cratic party of the House is divided
into two nearly equal factions over
the tariff in general, and the Nor
rison bill in particular. In antici-
patton of the pending conference,
they wait in hopeful suspense, say
ing, "now for the catastrophe !"
snow for the split I" In reality it
is sheer nonsense to talk ofrevolt in
the party ranks, for there are not
two factions within the organization
at all approaching each other in
strength.
Conclusions reached by Congress
during the week have not been in
proportion to the amount of elo-
quence expened. The Senate gave
some attention to cattle affections,
pension claims, and the salaries of
District Judges. The House pass
ed some private measures special
deficiency bill and the Post-office
appropriation, but whisky has been
the basis of contention this week in
the lower branch of Congress, and
National aid to public schools has
furnished the principal element of
disturbance in the higher. At the
Capitol the prediction is, that the
bonded extension bill will not pass
the House and that the Blair Edu-
cational bill will be defeated in the
Senate. Committee deliberations
indicate that Indian schools are to
be we'll supported that the lifetime
of patents is not to be limited to
five years, that postal telegraphy is
to be inaugurated, and that adulter-
ated importations of food and
drink are to be prohibited by proc
lamation of the President.
The Military Academy Appro-
priation bill, the first of the four
teen general appropriation bills has
gotten out of Congress gone to the
President, and will become law.
The Naval, and Post-office Appro-
priation bills having been acted on
by the House, have both gone to
the Senate. Three others have
been reported to the House from
committees, namely; the Indian,
Pension, and Agricultural appro-
priations, but between the whisky
and Tariff bills there is but little
chance for progress in the House
with appropriation bills during the
coming week.
The friends of the bill for furnish
ing Federal aid to establish and
maintain common schools in the
more illiterate States, have difficult
ty in keeping it before the Senate.
Efforts have been repeatedly made
to displace it for other measures.
Within the ten years contemplated
by the bill for extending aid, the
education of practically two gener-
ations would be secured, for the
majority of children get in five
years whatever school education
they get at all. The Republicans
oppose the bill on sectional grounds,
although their platforms commit
them to the central idea of the
measure. Senator Plumb made an
argument in favor of each State
making provision for educating its
own children, saying, Massachu-
sets, New York, and Connecticut
did not need the money. Last
week the Senator from Kansas
heard that some of the cattle in a
few counties of his own State had
been taken sick. Thereupon he
prepared a joint resolution asking
S25, 900, from the National Treasury
for the treatment of the cows, and
prayed the Senate's immediate at
tention to the matter. That body
voted for the relief of the Kansas
cattle granting $4,000 instead of
the amount first requested, but Mr..
Plumb did not detect the sectional
ism of his demand until it was
commented upon by other Sena-
tors.
While the report of the commit.
tee of investigation in relation to
the manner in which eX-Speaker
Keiffer used the patronage of his
Office is intended to spare him as
much as possible, it is Il terrible con-
domination, and would overwhelm
a less sensitive man. The facts
which the committee found tell
enough, and it requires no inspira-
ton to read between the lines the
comments, which would have been
made, had the committee given
utterance to their thoughts. But
Mr.. Keiffer does not feel it keenly.
1t is humlliating to our National
pride to reflect that this political
barterer stood for months in the
line of Presidential succession and
filled the most influential Office
under the government.
March 25, '84.
TENNESSEE TALK.