News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-01-28
From WASHINGTON.
Correspondence of the News and Citizen.]
WASHINGTON, D. c.,
Jan. 19, 1886.


from the President, and advocate con-
tinued coinage.
The majority of the House of Rep
resentatives, coerced by the contin-
gency of possible Republican restora-
ton before 1888, adopted the meas
ure they once rejected, and now the
Hoar Presidential Succession bill is
ready for the Presidents signature.
The first division of the session on
party lines, took place over this bill,
leading to little fillibustering and
several roll calls.
The opinion prevails among public
men of all political shades that the
present session will be likely to be
the liveliest for many years, although
it may not be marked by much legisla-
ton beyond its appropriation bills. 1t
is thought there is no chance of the
House and Senate agreeing to any
general tariff bill, and on all questions
of currency and coinage there is
great diversity of opinion in both par
ties.
Some of the ablest leaders Of the
Republican party are in the Senate,
and as the Republicans retain control
of that body, they will protect and
promote the interests of the party.
Still it will be almost impossible for
any measure, of distinctively party
character, to become law during the
life of the Forty-ninth Congress. The
Democratic majority in the House,
and the Republican majority in the
Senate, each stands as an effective bar
to party legislation.
There can be no bargain, no COM
promise, no agreement or arrange
ment by which any bill intended mere
ly to carry out the pledges of the cam
paign platform, and manufacture po-
litical capital can escape defeat. The
most inexperienced new member
knows this as well as the veteran
member, and the country knows it so
thoroughly that it will not be disposed
to tolerate waste of time in attempts
at the impossible. For this reason,
the Democrats, who are getting ready
to agitate certain questions that prom
Use no practical results, have been adj
monished to let them alone, and take
up subjects on which both parties can
agree.
In Senatorial Republican caucus,
the relations between the President
and Senate were discussed, and the
action to be taken upon his nomina-
tions in cases of suspension, and par
ticularly, the course to be pursued in
regard to obtaining explanation for
removals and appointments. 1t was
practically decided that if the Presi-
dent and heads of departments do not
produce the required information, the
nominations are to be shelved for the
present. ssWe can stand it-as long
as the President can," said one of the
Senators, land if there is a dead
lock, we are prepared for it."
Notwithstanding all that has been
said and written on the subject of
Civil Service appointments, the pres
sure as is great now as it has ever
been. Office seekers pay no attention
to what is said to them by their Con-
gressional friends, and refuse to be-
lieve that the hands Of Congress are
in any way tied by the civil service
law. Some of them refuse to take
''no" for an answer, and continue to
harass their endorsers day and night.
Senators have been discussing Des-
potism, in connection with the Judicial
Salary bill. One section of the bill
provides that no person related with
in the degree of first cousin to Judge
of the United States shall be appoint
ed by such Judge to any position in
his court, and it also legislates out of
office men who, by experience and
training, had perhaps come to be the
most capable and efficient persons
who could be found to fill the office.
If so much was said of kinsmen who
had appointed kinsmen to office, he
thought Senators should remember
that they had provided for their own
sons and other relatives in the same
way. ''Eyen this reform administra-
tion," continued the Senator from
Vermont, -"this reform administra-
ton, the picture of purity and grace,
and everything that is lovely, has sent
to the Senate for confirmation the
nominations of father and son to
the same place, to exercise the func-
tons of TWO offices, the one under the
other"
On Saturday afternoon social fes-
tivity at the White House was inter-
rupted by the announcement of the
sudden death of Miss Bayard, the
eldest daughter of the Secretary of
State. She was to have assisted at
Miss Cleveland's reception at 8 o'clock
p. M, and when at 2 o'clock she was
called to dress for this occasion, she
was found lying on the bed dead from
heart disease.
Major General John Watts de
Peyster will contribute to the Maya
zine of American History for Febru-
airy most instructive article on