Morning journal and courier., 1888-02-15
Fiftieth Congress--First Session.
WAsH1NcToN. Feb. IA,

to the causes of the inefficient mail service | was taken up and MT. Plumb, who had in- trodaced it. said the service was bad bad beyond any previous record. He sent to the clerks desk and had read several extracts from Kansas newspapers showing the de- fectlve mail service in that State.
 MT. Platt said that the trouble was not confined to the West and that scarcely day
 passed without his receiving letters from
 Connecticut making similar complaints. He
 read letter from publishing house in Nor
 walk speaking of the ':apparent disorganiza-
 tion of the whole postal system of the coun-
 ry" and ascribing it to the removal of expe-
 trienced route agents.
 After some more discussion the resolution
 went over without action.
 The Blair educational bill was then taken
 up as the unfinished business and MT. Flaw
 ley addressed the Senate in opposition to it.
 There was very large sum of money, he
 said, involved in the bill but that was
 comparatively small considerations. The de-
 lenders of the bill had been obliged to de-
 velop their theories of the constitutions and
 these theories had so much foothold nowa-
 days, not only among people who discussed
 such matters superfeially, but even among
 men of eminence and of supposed legal learn
 ing. that one was led to think whether the
 country was not on the eve of 8 serious de
 parture from that theory of the relations be-
 tween the federal government and the States
 to which the people had been giving alle-
 glance for century. Discussing the details
 of the bill and commenting upon it's require
 ments to report to the Secretary of the Inter
 for on the school system of each State he
 said the only response which the
 Governor of Connecticut could make was
 1T have the honor to refer you to the history
 of this commonwealth for the last one hun
 dred and fifty years to show you that it has never been in the habit of reporting to any
 one how treat the people of this State"
 He considered the bill as judgment entered
 up against the common school system of the
 country and against the system of local self
 government, declaring that on the whole
 they had been failure. If there was one
 thing that distinguished the local and con
 stitutional history of the country as colonies
 and States it was the grand theory of decen-
 tralization inherited from Saxon ancestors
 If there was any excuse for the bill to be
 found in the constitution it was under the
 general welfare" but not single one of
 the commentators on the constitution has giv-
 en the slightest color to the construc
 tion which the great senator from
 New York gave to that clause.
 He might be regarded as an undu1y strong
 States rights man, but he stood on the
 ground of the constitutional convention of
 every convention held since then to adopt
 State constitution. He stood on the ground
 of every great writer on the constitution; on
 the ground of the Supreme court from the first day to the present; on the ground on which history, laws, constitutions legal brain and the whole people had been and on which they must be until there was com- plete upset of the whole theory of govern- ment, that theory being decentralization, local control all over the country, but supreme majesty and power in the great cen ter. State rights properly understood were the salvation of the constitution. If the the ory of government was to be changed there should be great national convention and it should be declared that it might be possible for Congress in it's discretion to take charge of any matter when it might deem it for the general welfare to do so. But the best peo- pie to run the common schools were the peo- pie of the States, of the countries and of the districts If the people could not get up the requisite desire and zeal to, conduct educa- | ton then the whole experiment of free gov ernment was a failure. It was an old saying and one worthy of belief that self help was the best of all help. the inexhaustible pocket of Uncle Sam would not be worth twenty-five cents on the dollar. He knew that many educators and school teachers were warm friends of the bill. and to them he paid his tribute of profound re- spect and affection. But Senators had to look over the whole field not for year, not for ten years, or for hundred years, and with them the final judgment of the ques- tion rested. All the great educators were not, however, in favor of the bill, many of the most prominent of them (from | whose letters he read some extracts) were op- posed to it. In conclusion he said c In my judgment this bill--glorious as the cause is fascinating, as the arguments in favor of ed ucational ways are-is @ bill creeping into controlling interests which from Plymouth | Rock up to this day have been under local control and wisely so. It is a bill to pro mote mendicancy, to cultivate beggars. It is bill declaring the failure of local self Oov oATf n nf ho inf of the people. It falsely declares the bank ruptcy of the States, which before our very eyes are rich and growing. It makes an in effeetual if not false pretence of temporary it is the beginning of a permanent policy, of a permanent new rela- tion between the federal government and the States. It never will go back and never will diminish, but it's influence will grow. hope the bill will be defeated. wish that every senator would vote upon it just exactly as he feels about it and not as being bound by resolutions of State legisla- lures or previous committals anything of that sort. The longer the bill is thought of and talked of the weaker it grows and the nearer to constitutional rights and justice the ing to see the bill defeated by any of the con- stitutional means, whether by the House, by the Senate or by the President"
 The bill went over till tomorrow. Senators Hale and Berry intimatipg their intention to speak upon it.
 The Senate bill to provide for an Indian school at Carson City, Nev., was passed.
 The bill to provide for the compulsory ed uoation of Indian children was taken from the calendar and discussed at length by Sen ators Davis, Teller, Cockrell and Vest.
 Without disposing of the bill the Senate, on motion of MT. Beck, proceeded to execu tive business and at 4:40 adjourned.
 HoUsE.-Mr. Morrow of California, from the committee on foreign affairs, reported joint resolution to enable the President to | extend to certain inhabitants of Japan suita- I ble recognition of their humane treatment of ! the survivors of the crew of the American l bark Cashmere; committee of the whole.
 A bill was reported and referred to the 1 committee of the whole for the erection of 8 public building at Lowell, Mass.
 The House then went into committee of | the whole on the urgency deficiency bill, l which was dismissed until o'clock when the l House adjourned.