Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-07-16
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

Wri item and compiled for the HERALD.
Fer years the Senate and House
Of Representatives have been drift
ing apart, and the separation be-
com es constantly wider. Nothing
can be palmer than the lack of
cordiality, might almost say lack
of respect which exists between
the members of the Houses. Ten
years ago nothing was more com
mon than to see twenty or twenty
five Senators on the floor of the
House engaged either in business
or social conversation with Mem
bers Of that body. And similar
visits of Members of the House to
the other end of the Capitol were
just as frequent. Ever since then
such intercourse has been growing
less and less each year, and now
Member of the Senate on the floor
Of the House, or a Member OF the
House on the floor of the Senate,
is a rarity. The most frequent
visitors to the House from the
other end of the Capitol are the
Texas and Kentuckey Senators,
but even they are seldom seen
there.
asked Democratic Congress
man the cause of these strained re-
lations. "There are many" said he,
land laughingly) Zone probably
ought not TO be told. But you
recollect that the Senate used to
make rather free of its contingent
fund. 1t had coolers of lemonade
and tubs OF Apolinaris water al
ways on hand during warm wealth
er. Well we on this side were
more economical. We did not
have coolers of lemonade or tubs
of iced Apollinaris, and we ac-
quired a habit Of dropping over to
the Senate and partaking of what
was there. We were rather regular
in that habit. Finally the Senate
shut down on us and that made
some of us mad. But of course
that was a little thing. Another
little but yet larger cause of cool
ness between the members of the
two bodies was the refusal of the
Senate to admit ex- Members of the
House to its floor. We followed
by refusing to admit ex.Senators
to the privileges of our floor. AS
| said, those are small things in
themselves, but they showed a
growing exclusiveness on the part
Of the Senate, which was very
irritating to the House, which is
certainly very Democratic body"
But he held that the main cause
of the breach between the two
Houses rested in the fact that
while the House is directly from
the people, the Senators are not
chosen by the people, but by the
States. "The Senator's" he said,
shave become the representatives
of the Interests not of the people;'
and added he, "they have become
the representatives OF corporations |
toO.D
There is deep mutiny in Con-
gress over the Presidents whole /
sale bombardment Of pension bills. |
n lively time is expected to day /
when an effort will be made to /
override his vetOes. While the /
Presidents course was being crit. |
cised in the House a few days /
since, Representative Conger of |
Iowa, resented the language used I
by the President in his veto mess
ages as throwing slurs upon the
motives of Congress and as insult
ing to the Union soldier. Mr..
Bayne Of Pennsylvania, took the
same view, and suggested that the
Democrats who stood by the
vetoes would have their manhood
very severely taxed.
Mr.. Cannon, of Illinois, read IN
the vetOes the story that, while
Cleveland was President, there
would be no further pension legis-
lation. There were great questions
in this country calling for the at
teution of the Executive, yet the
President brushed them all aside
and appeared anxious to cater to
nobody except that little solid
knot that came from the solid
South. He wanted to get their APP
plause; they cast solid votes in
nominating conventions. There he
stood looking through agimlet hole
with a magnifying glass hunting
for excuses and heaping derisiOn