The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-02-12
special Correspondence Of the Press.J


Confederate Provisional Congress and also
the Confederate Congress after its organic
lion, Is here an employe of the House doc
ment room. He is man of considerab
means and ability, but desiring to spend
winter in Washington he preferred to be en-
ployed and took whatever position offere,
He was q candidate for postmaster of tt
House, but unsuccessfully and then drifted I'M
The document room where he makes the a
quaintance Of many people of distinction
they visit that branch of the House for the
bills and public documents "My Cougrel
sional experience" he said, talking of his tw
terms in the Confederate Congress, "was
very busy and exciting one. No one could re
| allze from seeing this Congress and the wor
| IL does the vast amount of business we had t
| perform. Here you have all the machinel
| of the government at hand, everything pre-
| pared and all that Congress has to do is t
keep it running as il we're. There we had {
| create everything. There was no system O
government with its forms AMI constitution
and rules and laws to put in motion and per
feet, and there were all the necessities of Wa
| arising, all the preparations for operation II
the field offensive and defensive, and th
great work Of caring for The sick, the wounded
aud the dead. l member my first war ex
| perence. IL was when first came to Rich
ra1nd s-s. Aa,annhe of the Provisional Con
gress. The Provisional Congress, IS you viii
| remember met first at MONTGOMERY aud wa,
transferred to Richmond. Our Stats-Nortf
Care liua-was late in seeding and / did NO,
get to it until 1t was at Richmond / arri ed a
Richmond on the day OF tue bat 10 Of Manas.
sas. shall never forget the experience, words
cannot describe IL. OF course l saw q gre
deal OF war after that but the experiences o.
those two days impressed in manner that no
words Can tell.o
How did the Confederate Congress COM
pare with the Congress- Of tine U vi ed State,?"
1T was very similar in nearly all respect.
The Provisional Congress was a very abb,
body. l don't telieve l ever saw SO able
body of men such capacity as was that. rs
embers, you i'll remember, were appointed
not elected. Each State as it seeded an
pointed through lts convention members of
the Provisional Congress. 1t was critical
time and onein which everv one felt that the
very best mel should be held up at the front.
The result vas great body Of men A much
more remakable body of men than tba
which SUCCEEDED II which was chosen by the
people thesame as the present Congress Tn.
Senate cumpos OF thirty-twu members
and the H,use of something over one hundred.
perhaps, do not exactly remember. The
memO, r, were chosen in manner probably
the sam, as those of the Unitsd States. no
changeoeing made even in tho State Cou-
gressola districts.
or curse your first and most important duty
was tie RAISING of funds for csrrying on the
govenment aud the expenses OF the war?
"lss, that was very important duty,
thoagh we were supplied with funds in the
Site. Tben We issued large sums of Confed-
cate paper money based upon the faith of the
coniederate government, which was printed
oy our bureau of printing and engraving
which was issued ihe same as government
Money is now issued here.'
Yet, you OF Course had to raise monav nv
taxation in additiou?"
Yes, our taxes were very heavy, and were
'osled upon almost all enterprises and indus |
on nes There was an Income tax aud tax up- |
had whatfyery article introduced. Then we
were tiThes. EN- as taxes in kind. they
furnish one-tenth of wnducer was rsquired to /
way of provisions for the suppcoda - 2 the
There were tithe-gatherers who wefs>roupd1
among the farmers and producers aud stoIod
them at Convenient posts. We accumulated
many stores in that way. The resources OF the
Southern States we're verv great.It we had had
railroads as the North with which to transport
the supplies thus gath cred, l do not believe We
would ever have been beaten There was one
other mistake we made, which l now think
was a great error. There was introduced early
In the session of Congress proposition that the
Confederate congress should bay ali the cotton
iu the country and ship it to England, store it
there and hold it for the rise in price which
would naturally follow. l voted against that
measure, but now see that my vote against 1t
Wac u utctdhos Ouht DcOh o0OPboN AZ
would have created for us an immense tuud
bFoagSe Seahd sad f2aaa h46s 0y G8F
sions, we could not have been beaten"
"Will there ever be another Confederate
Congress, do you think?"
mo-" he answered with a laugh. 81 pre-
sumo not"
THE PLEURo-PNEUMoNIA BILL.
The House will probably dispose OF the pleu-
ro-Pneumonia bill early this week. There is
a great difference Of opinion as to its probable
fate. The Southern members continue their
vigorous opposition and will leave no stone un-
turned to defeat it, while nearly all on that
side of the House are opposed to proposition
which adds to the army OF office holders MI'
Poole of Indiana said yesterday in speaking OF
it, he thought the bill wonld probably pass in
some form though perhaps with some import
ant amendments. THE strongest point made
against the DILL is that it is to great extent
local in its character and intended for the BEN
eft of importers of fine stock rather than for
the good of the stock growers of the country
at large, but the people who are making this
complaiut do not stop TO think that they are
asking for legislation on local topics every day.
Take those Western and Southern members,
they are asking for appropriations for the Mis-
sisslppi river every day and we are giving them
millions Of dollars Tor that purpose. There Is
no rt ason why they should oppose the bill
which only appropriates lew thousand while
theirs asks for millions, and which is just as i'm
portant TO the country as theirs Is.
THE HOG.
The Commerce Committee bristles up when
ever the hog is mentioned. Reagan cannot
think of aDythind or listen to anything except
utter state commerce and his bill upon that
subject. Davis OF Chicago and Clardy OF ST.
Louis are racking their brains for some meth
cd of getting the retaliation measure which
they have prepared before the committee but
Reagan shuts them out at every attempt. he
is evidently determined TO have his inter state
commerce bill in the Hou>e before anything
else shall divert the attention OF the commit'
tee therefrom, then the hog may have a
chance. 1t is doubtful however whether the
re,aliatory proposition will go through the
committee in any form through it appears tc
have many friends in the House. Even Mr.
Davis its most ardent supporters is not enthus-
| iastic in regard to its prospect.
NATIONAL BANKS.
| The course of the House committee OF
banking and currency, toward the Potter bill
shows that no proposition looking to the issn
of low rate bonds for the special benefit OF III
national bank system is likely to get throug
this Congress Mr.. Potter's bill is prooabl
as acceptable proposition of this nature a
any that has yet been presented. II provide
| two per ceut long bond which the banks ma
nav on deposit to secure their circulation, an
which would put at rest the question OF bau
circulation aud securities for a long time. Th
committee are, however, unsltsrably oppose
to it and the chairman, Mr.. Buckner, is ou
spoken iu his denunciation of it. ait sha
never get through the committee, II can be-
it," he said sand think it is safe TO predi
that it is dead" "We do not want any legi
lation of this sort" "What will YOU do in 7
gard to the currency question Mr.. Stickney
stI cannot tell,' he answered, should THU
though that the Senate bill authorizing Il
issue OF bank notes up to the full face OF bon'
deposited would be more likely to become la
| than any other of the numer US proposition
offered to Congress. 1 do not expect my POI
, | tion to Oe accepted. did not expect so al
| time, merely offered it as an educator
| help public sentiment, without expecu1g ~
it would or would not be adopted. we Sna
do nothing at this end OF the Capicoi, until
, Senate acts, and while /, OF course, cam
i ~