Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-05-08
THE NATIONAL CAPITOL.
The Eight Hour Movement-Senator Man.
ilg's Health-The Great Pension
Swindle-Senator Beck on the
Tariff
From our REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.

lulS ID Ill0 udy lIldt bllo MOI kIueh vi
Washington propose that their demand
for the eight hour rule shall go into
effect. One OF them said to me: "This
is nota strike. The workman will sim
ply discharge himself and leave rather
than work ten hours. He will then be
an unimployed workman and not
striker. He will be locked out by the
the employers. What we propose to
do,' continued he ''is to go to work on
Monday as usual. We will work eight
hours. If the bosses do not chose to
employ us at eight hours day, we will
pick up our tools and leave. We will
not prevent other men from working,
and there will be no disorder and vio-
lence, but we will present solid, UNI
yielding 'front.'"
The secretary OF the Treasury, who
has been so near to deaths door for the
past month, is at work again. l do not
mean that he is we'll or at his desk. He
is only able to sit up and take drive
occasionally. But he intrests himself
with affairs at his department and
discusses business questions with such
officials as Treasurer Jordan and AS
sistant Secretary Fairchild. There is
no truth in the report that he had signi-
fed to the President his intention OF re-
firing from Office. On the contrary, it
is known that he earnestly desires and
fully intends to remain at the head of
the Treasury which he has so ably di-
rected for the past year. The appre-
hension OF his friends now is that he
will undertake to resume his official
duties before he is physically able.
I asked a prominent western Repre-
sentative what he thought of the new
Congressional Democratic Executive
Committee. He answered that the Sc
lection OF Senator Kenna as chairman
was most excellent one. "We had so
much faith in the executive ability of
Senator" continued he, "that he was
the choice Of most of us, but he has
enough to do as chairman OF the Ma
tional Executive Committee, and de-
clined to serve in this capacity. He
will aid us in other ways, however, and
Senator Kenna is young, active, vigor-
Gus and capable OF doing a great deal
of hard work. The West Virginia
Senator made his mark first in the
House of Representatives, where he
worked hard and spoke we'll. His
speech on the cLrancy question was one
of the text books of the party during the
Congressional campaign of 1873, and he
is in:sympathy with his party now on
nearly every question.
1t is not creditable to the Republi.
cans in Congress that it should devolve
on southern member to try to check
the waste of public money on pension
appropriations. This is field Of re-
form into which few Congressman care
to venture, and the action of south
ern man is particularly liable to mis-.
construction, in taking the much-dread
ed step. But the northern men are
afraid it would mean the loss OF thous-
ands OF votes for them at home, and
denunciation abroad.
There is scarcely subject which tries
the courage and conscience OF the aver
age Congressman as that of pension
legislation. Every member has his
own scheme to advance, and feels tina
he cannot afford to refuse to help thu
scheme OF his associates. Consequent,
good and bad schemes are huddled to
gether and nobody has the hardihood tt
try to assert them Every Friday even
ing in its special pension session, tn
House passes from fifty to hundred
pension bills. Last week, you remem
Der, the&enate passed four hundred Q
them in batch without reading one o
them. The Senators sat talking ant
writing while the farce way going on
apparently oblivlous OF the fact that tn
U. S. Treasury was not inexhaus tible
and that every dollar taken out of it ha
to be put in it by a tax. The pension
business as it is carried on in Congress
is swindle Of the worst sort, and MI
Tillman, OF South Carolina, is the ma
who is credited with the intention o
exposing it to the country.
The Senators had little tariff talk
few days ago. 1t was the first chanc
they have had this session Of reproduc
ing their views on the protective tart
system, and the occasion was regarde
with all the pleasure OF novelty. Ser
ator Beck was making n warm defenc
of the course OF the Postmaster Ger
eral in his dispute with the Pacific Ma
and other steamship companies. II
arose with the intention OF speaking on
hour lint ,uhar ho Was toi,chod I'M n