Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-12-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Written and compiled for the HERALD.

Written and compiled for the HERALD.
Congress is itself again. There
is no promise of the Forty-Ninth
covering itself over with any thick
er veneer of dignity and decolum
than did its predecessor. Ii is to
be the same old circus with every
prospect of brilliant season. The
second week of the session finds the
House in a regular Democratic
family quarrel, in which personal
tiles are the chief arguments inter
changed.
The struggle for a change in the
present organization of the House
and its methods of doing business
has been going on during the en-
tire week, with no certainty as to
when it will end. There is great
deal of feeling among Mem eIs on
this subject, and as the debate Is
personal in character, it is unusual
" interesting. Underneath the
dry talk about the rules there is
sharp antagonism to Mr.. Randall,
the Chairman of the Committee
on Appropriations. 1t is aimed as
n retaliatory blow rom the author
of the deceased Horizontal tariff
bill. 1t is to punish Mr.. Randall
for beating Mr.. Morrison with his
obstructive appropriation bills in
the last Congress.
The adoption of the new code of
rules would deprive Mr.. Randall OF
much of his power by distributing
the Appropriation bills among the
other Committees. 1t would in
crease the number of Committees
having the power to make appro-
priation from three to eight.
The Pennsylvania autocrat points
out the danger which he thinks
will result from this apportionment
of money power, and says if 1t be
done, the day of wasteful extrav-
agance and all its attendant cor
ruptions is near at hand.
Representative Holman, OF In
diana, who, because of hisparsimo-
ny in providing for public needs,
has been called by his friends one
of the watch dogs of the Treasury,
assists Mr.. Randall in conducting
the opposition to change of rules.
They have on their side some such
men as Mcmillan, of Tennessee;
Hammond, of Georgia; Herbert,
of Alabama; w. w. Phelps, of New
Jersey; Burnes, of Missouri; For
ney, of Alabama; Long, of Mas
sachusetts, and Hepburn, of Iowa.
The prominent Member from New
York, Mr.. Hiscock, made a long
and able argument in favor of a
change of rules. He said those
who oppose a distribution of APP
preparation bills do so on the theory
that the majority ofthe House can
not be trusted to get their hands
into the public Treasury. When
he closed he was heartily applaud
ed OH both sides of the House, and
was forced to hold an lmpromptu
reception in order to receive thanks
and congratulations.
Mr.. Welborn, Of Texas, who is
said to look like Daniel Webster,
made a thrilling short Grafton
about the mischievOus domination
of the House by a haDdful of men.
Representative Gibson, of West
Virginia, said he did not believe
that the fifteen Members on the
Appropriations committee held all
the wisdom and honesty in the
House. Nine-tenths of the Mem
bers were practically disfranchls-
ed under the present system. lie
had yet to discover that either Mr..
Holman or Randall had objected
to an appropriation for their own
states.
Congress Reed, of Maine, the
chosen leader OF the Republican
minority, asked why the House
could not be trusted with scatter
ing out the bills. The Appropria.
tions Committee, he contended, had
not done its duty, or the nation
would not now be without Navy,
and our coasts without detenses.
Increased appropriations, he said,
were not evils if they conferred any
benefit on the people.
Mr.. Randall has Deen under the
necessity of resenting many per
sonal remarks during this debate,
and thus the important but dull
question of rules has provoked
lively fight.
In the Senate end of the Capitol
Prohibition has been discussed,
and two bills have been passed,
the last being the Presidential sue
cession bill. The subject of pro-
hibiting the sale of liquor i'll the |
Capitol restaurants led to a sharp |
discussion. One Senator charged
that others, who had not the cour-
age of their appetites, would have
whisky in their committee rooms,
while they voted to exclude it from
the restaurants. There were sew
eral sharp thrusts, and Senator In
gals made some satirical remarks,
during which he said the Senate
was straining at gnats and swallow
ing camels. He sent to the clerks