The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-05-21
WASHINGTON LETTER
tFrom our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, ID. O., MAY 1S, 1885,


Congressman express themseve,
differently as to the results of the fal
elections. Many of the old member,
have announced their intention to re
tire, and many of the new ones talk in
differently about coming back. A few
of them say they would not make al
effort to return. They claim that tb,
position of Representative is no
profitable, and that, for mere expert
ence, single term is sufficient. A
Western Member, who will not be re
turned, said he fully appreciated tn,
honor of being in Congress, but his
business at home had suffered so much
by this honor, that with all the fascina
ton of the beautiful city of Washing
ton, he did not enjoy living in hi,
trunk.
On the other hand there are many
members of the Forty Ninth who de
sire above everything else to be mem
bers of the Flflieth Congress. These
are now on the anxious bench, nervous
ly hoping 10 secure the Reimbursement,
of their constituents. Several members
have been made happy in this way
during the past few days.
All week long the House Judiciary
Committee has been listening to argu
ments for and against additional legis.
lation in Utah. The longest of these
pleas was that of the istinguished
lawyer, Mr.. Jeff. Chandler He had
special indignation to bestow on those
people who go to Utah, who do not
live there, yet stir up strife and infame
the country in order to gain notoriety.
Said he: care we to be driven by a
storm of prejudicei Prejudice has
darkened the history of this country
from the beginning"
Miss Kate Field, who sat by aud
heard all that was said upon the sub
ject, has made some caustic remarks in
reply. According to this reasonin g,
'said she," because l do not have my
own throat cut, l must raise no cry
when my neighbor's throat is cut She
says if this country Is a nation, what
concerns one portion, concerns all, and
it is about time for the people to realize
that when the Rocky Mountains take
poison, the Atlantic seaboard must call
in the doctors. She also thinks that
people living outside of Utah, who ask
tor legislation to do away with treason
and polygamv in that Territory, may
be more unsel6sh in their opposition to
the Mormon church than the attorneys
paid to defend it.
A Congressman who was discussing
the labor troubles said; II make it a
business to vote for every labor bill or
resolution that comes up. 1t makes no
difference to me what its merits are. |
C annot afford to do anything else
He added that large numbers of his
constituents are members of labor or
ganizations and if he took any other
course he would have to spend all of
his time in explanation thai would not
be satisfactory. He thinks the most
exasperating thing in our politics is
the tendency to misrepresent motives
and actions and that the only self pro-
lection is to be in opposition to popular
sentiment as little as possible. He &C,
knowledged that it was not a self-re-
specting confession, "but," continued
he, "you can only protect yourself from
demagogues by being modified dem.
agogue yourself"
Nothing resurrects like a pension
bill. If Congress were to pass bill TO
pay an additional pension to the sur
vivors OF the Rev olutionary war there
is very little doubt but that more ''sur-
vivors' would turn up in a couple of
months than there were men in the
Continer tai army. If the blu should
be enlarged so as to include those left
over from the French and Indian war.
it is not entirely unfair to suppose that
a goodly number of these veterans of
the last century would come out of the
past loaded down with papers and petl-
tions.
1t would perhaps be going too far to
say that one-third of the immense draft
which is being annually made upon the
public treasury for this purpose is paid
ousto claims fraudulently based, but
that a great deal of money goes in this
way is beyond question.
Senator Vest, of Missouri, has been
expressing himself to the Senate in re-
gard to pensions. He thinks the ankle
ty of both political parties and the
cupidity of pension claim agents are
responsible for so much pension legis-
Iation. He does not believe it is de-
manded by the volunteer soldiers of
the country. The astute and purchased
intellect of claim agents, cormorants
and curbstone lawyers in Washington
was constontly contriving new devices
for increasing pensions by which to fill
their own pockets.
He animadverted with severity on
the "nebulosity'' of the estimates made
by different persons as TO the amount
that the general Pension bill would
take from the Treasury. He asserted
that the amount was beyond the ken
of mortal man.