The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-09
PaIsifHing the Record.


AZ the House Las shown disinciina-
tion to correct the many abuses which
have grown out Of the manner in which
the Congressional ReoOrd has been used.
under the privilege accorded to members
to correct speeches after they have been
delivered, and under that other ver.7
farcicaI custom Of allowing members to
print speeches which hare never beer
heard from the lips of mortal man, We
append an article on the subject from
the PhiIadelphia Ledger. Il there Is
anything to be said on the other side of
the question We would ike 70 hear IL:
Nearly everybody is aware Of the
wretched squabbles that occur in the
House and senate, because Of the abuse
Of the Congressman privileges TO ''Fevise'
his speech before it is printed in the
Congressional Record, or TO print in that
publication speeches" that were never
spoken at all. These are not new occur.
rences, but are. the more disereditable
because they are old. 1t is but short
time since the decent people of the
country were mortified by the utterly
unwarrantcd and disgraceful language
used By Senator Ingalls,, of, Kansas over
alleged interpretations made in the
Record of debates by Senator Brown, of
Georgia. Mr.. Brown had exceeded the
fair limits of revision" as many Con-
gresham had done before him; the abuse
Ut the privilege involved words of re-
preach concerning Mr.. Ingalls,, which
the latter would have been entirely right
in properly protesting against, and III
asking to have publicly branded as
interpretations; but this did not warrant
ingalls, in railing, as he did, like a very
drap.
That miserable scene in the Senate Is
but just fading from the pnblic memory,
when another occurs in the House, grow
lug out of speech that was not deliver
ed on the foor at all, but was published
Just the same as If it had been delivered,
under the scandalous custem of "leaye
to print" This undeliyered piece oil
oratory quoted at length a newspaper
clipping which contained what is
charged as being a, falsehood against
Senator logan, to the effect that he is
the owner of eighty thousand acres of
what was public lands. For time this
charge in the unspoken speech was
either wholly overlooked, or was. not
thought to be worthy of denial. Since
General Logan's nomination for the Vice
Presidency, however it has been brought
to the surface, and is held TO be an
attack that cannot DO allowed to go
by without challenge and refutation. 1t
is now explicitly denied, with the added
statement that General Logan owns no
land, public or private, except his
family homestead in Illinois, and the
occasion of this denial was made another
scene in Congress, and caused loss OF
time at a period of the session when
waste of time means serious public
loss.
There is no need to go into the par
ticulars of the alteration in the House,
since they were published as recently as
last Saturday; but comment is again IN
order upon the whole subject. The "leave
to print, anything in All official publ
cation in the false guise of speech spoken
in debate in Congress should be abolish
ed altogether, and clause in one Of the
pending appropriation bills provides for
prohibiting the abuse, but as the clause
is contested it is doubtful if it viii get
through. The right of revision should
be limited to what is necessary to makc
straight what would otherwise be gram
maticalIy crooked lines, and what Is cal
culated to make the sense clear where it
would be obscure if left uncorrected
Except in such minor particulars as
need not be mentioned the two kinds of
revision Just noted should be the only
ones allowed. The official Reporters
usually attend to the first of them as
well as to the dropping out of illiteracy
generally, leaving only the true sense
Tor the revision of the speakers re-
spectively. In all other respects the
Official report of the debates should be
literal transcript of words actually
spoken in debate on The floor of the
Senate or House, and this is what II
would be if the reporters were not inter.
fered with. The Senate and House
have two official records of their proceed
ings. One is the Journal which records
ali that is lone and only what is done u
and the other the Congressional Record,
which was intended to be record of all
that is said and only what is said. The
former is a truthful record; the latter
is not this puEports to be 4 re,batim re-
port of the debates-the truth, the
lchole and nothing but the truth. In the
main it is SO; nearly always when pub
Iished, as the reporters furnish the copy;
but i'll many notable instances it Is not.
It should be as trustworthy as the
Journal, and is usually made so. It
would startle even the Congressman who
slme speeches out of the
whole cloth sud tinker up Others to suit
their purposes, if the Journal contained
a thousandth part of the fabrications
that the Congressional Record does.
This latter faisifies all round the COM
pass. 1t publishes not only what was
never spoken, but snppresses what was
actually uttered. 1t IS not an uncon
mon thing for Congressman to publish |
in his leave to print speech, words |
that he would have been Immediately |
called to account about if uttered in the |
hearing of the House but, under shell
ter of the leaves to print abuse, he |
escapes 1t is using mild terms to say |
this is mot uncommon" for it is quite
frequent. Again, it occurs that Sena,.
Tor or Representative, who has replied
to remarks of a.:preceding speaker, finds, |
to his astt nishment and vexation, that |
the remarks upon which he based his
reply are not published in his adver
sary's revised" report of the speech at
ALL And again, the very b. art and |
substance of a harangue is suppressed
ous and out; the loose-tongued orator |
having ii more lucid interval become
or afraid of what he spouted |
out boldly to the House and to the
country. All that sort of fabrication,
revision" and suppression is extremely |
and. in fact, somewhat
iisgraeful. It should be reformed
BY the total prohibition of
leave to print, and the restriction of
he right Of revision within the plain
md square lines above indicated.