The National tribune., 1885-11-26
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
The Weeks Beings at the Ma
tiCnal Capital
THE COMING SESSION OF CONGRESS.

December. This Will be the long SSsSloL, ahN
many matters of public interest VIII come up
for action Washington in Winter is the Mecca
of the politicians and the pilgrimage has fairly
begun. A few Congressman are here, although
the most of them arc waiting TO partake OF the
Thanksgiving dinner at their own hresides.
The lawgvers do not differ materially from
other mortas in this respect.
Vice-President Hendricks and wife are here
for the Winter They have taken up their
quarters at the Arlington. Speaker Carlisle
and wife are domiciled in the same rooms they
occupied last Winter at the Riggs. Mr.. carlisle
is looking poorly. He is just recovering from
q fit of severe illness, and is not in good con
dition, physically, TO enter upon the laDorS oil
the Winter. Fortunately for him he will not
have to GO through such contest for the
Speakership as he did two years ago. That was
enough TO exhaust the energies of the average
man. There will be no Democratic opposition
to Mr.. Carlisle's reelection as Speaker. his
pre-eminent fairness in all his rulings renders
him in every way acceptable TO the Repuo!lcahs
that is TO say. as long as they are forced, py
virtue of their being in the minority, 10 SIT ana
see a Democrat WELD the gavel, there is no gem
tleman On that side of the House whom they
would rather see in that position than Mr. Car
Isle.
1T is probable that there will be little contest
over the other offices that make up the organ
ization of the House. Col. Leedom, Of ONO,
~
reelected Sergeant at Arms and Clerk, respect
lively The only struggle is for the position OF
Doorkeeper to fill the vacancy created By the
death of Col. Wintersmith, of Texas. Nearly
all of the subordinate officials and deputies will
be the same as in the last Congress.
1t is likely that Congress viii get to work
much more promptly than two years ago. AT
that time the Standing Committees were not
appointed until just before the holiday recess,
SO that the wheels of legislation were not really
set in motion until about the 10th OF January.
Now, assured of his reelection to the position
of Speaker, Mr.. Carlisle can have the commit
tees made up at once, and thus put the great
mill in order for immediate grinding.
The Senators now here are Allison, of Iowa;
Berry and Jones, Ark; Blair, n. H.; Camden,
w. Va; Coekrell and Vest, Mo-; Conger, Mich, !;
Dolph. Ore; Edmunds and Morrill,, VT; Glib
son, La: German, Md; Logan, H.; Morgan and
Pugh, Ala; Sherman, Ohio; Vance, n. C.; Van
Wyck, Neb Voorhees,, Ind. Among the lead
ing members of the House here are Herbert,
Ala: Dunn. Ark; Springer and Morrison, ILL.,;
Holman, Maison, Ward and Kleiner, Ind; Muir
ply, Iowa; King. La; Phelps and McAdoo. n.
J.: James y. Y; Seney, Wilkins and Hill, Ohio;
Wellborn and Mills, Tex; Barbour, Va: Will
son and Gibson, w. Va.
Nothing in connection with the approaching
session has awakened a more lively interest
among the members than the proposition TO
change the rules which govern the parliament
ary proceedings. Without at this time going
into a detailed explanation, Twill suffice to say
that the rules as they have existed with prac-
tically no change for 20 years-inherited by
each succeeding Congress, with the sanction of
long usage-are much better calculated to de-
Law than TO expedite business. OF course the
rights of the minority should receive due con-
sideration, but it cannot justly be claimed that
factious few should be permitted to almost
entirely block the wheels of legislation for days
and weeks at time. Yet this has occurred
again and again under the present system.
More than 5000 bills were introduced in the
last Congress. Of these less than 400 became
laws 1t is just as well that some of them were
left" bGt very many measures of great pub
lie interest, TO say nothing of hundreds Of
meritorious private bills, were swamped in the
chaotic mass. and got no further than the Ca
pacious pigeon-holes of the committee rooms.
The long and barren sessions Of Congress are
in a great measure chargeable to the inequita-
BILE system of rules. The members themselves
are not to blame. They are generally anxious
to get their measures through, not only for the
merit they possess. but as means Of making
themselves solid " with their constituents
Week after week and month after month they
strive and struggle and scramble to get their
bills up for action, only to find themselves con-
stantly baffied. There are very large number
of private bills for the payment of claims due
to officers and soldiers of the late war, many of
which have been before Congress for years.
Owing TO the clog of business these bills are,
time and again, dumped into the waste pile
after Congress adjourns, to be introduced at
each succeeding session and meet a like fate.
Most of these soldiers claims are just and
Should be paid; but they never will be under
the present parliamentary system.
Perhaps the most important of the proposed
changes is in regard to the annual appropria-
items. Now these are all kept in the hands of
10 fop no I,asr If oh ha
comes at times an almost absolute autocrat, as
appropriatiou bills have the right of way"
against all other legislation. If the Chairman
of the Committee on Appropriations chooses to
act the part of an obstructiOnist, he can use
these bills with grest effect to delay and defeat
measures which he may see fit TO oppose. BY
way of illustration may be cited the fact that
in the last Congress MIR. Randall. Chairman OF
this Committee was pointedly and repeatedly
charged by the friends of tariff reform with
having used the power of his position to en-
barTass the famous Morrison tariff reduction
bill
1t is now proposed to place each appropria-
ticn bill wholly in the hands of the regular
COMMITTEES on the branch Of the Government
to which the Bill belongs. 1t is imagined by
Some that this proposition is the outgrowth Of
a jealousy Of the growing power and influence
of Mr.. Randall. Whether or not this feeling
may exist 10 greater or less extent no harm
not prove satisfactory it will be easy to drop
back into the old method.
WORK OF THE EDUCATIONAL BUREAU.
The Bureau Of Education is preparing q
work. the first volume of which will be issued
in a short time, which will be welcome addi.
tion TO educational literature. 1t is work Oh
art and industry in schools, colleges, and insti
tutions of public training. 1t is replete with
practical knowledge, which will form basis fol
these studies in public schools The major por
tion of the contents is new, and has been col
leeted and edited with considerable trouble and
care. Much delay has been experienced in Sc
curing its publication, owing to insuhciency Of
appropriations or its use in other branches OF
the Interior Department, under which the
Bureau OF Education is placed, but it will be
issued now as a'Senate document.
The work of compiling this immense col
lection of matter and statistics has been con
Quoted, under the supervision Of Commissioner
Eaton, by Col j. Edwards. The Fundamental
ides Of the work is that universal teaching in
all public schools of the elements of industrial
drawing is an essential part Of any general sys
ten Of public education. The work contain.
reports Of the system followed in English in
stitutiOns, and those of other countries, relat
ing TO technical instruction and the history O.
the progress of industrial and fine arts Their,
are several original papers in the work dealinl
with the advance Of this science and its proba
bic effect as text book for school uses
The matter, however is not confined to ar
alone. but takes in the instruction of agricul
tural colleges aud traces the relation of sucl