Nevada County picayune., 1888-12-12
WASHINGTON TOPICS.
Weekly Budget of News From the
 lationai Capital.
rI,rom our Special Correspondent.l

WASHINGTON, D. C, Dec. :, 1888.
 The House yesterday by unani-
 nous consent took up the direct tax
 bill. which caused the long dead lock
 last spring. It is expected that it
 will be passed. but hopes are ex- pressed by its opponents that MT.
 Cleveland will veto it.
 Senator Blackburn, owing to the
 wide advertisement of his recent mis- understanding with Judge Rucker, has been the center of attraction to
 the visitors in the Senate gallery this week. He positively refuses to talk about Che matter, but his friends re- gard it. as ended-at least that Is what they say.
 Senator Harris, by motion to lay the Senate bill on the table, brought out the fact that the Republican Sen ators will will vote sohdiy in favor of that measure. notwithstanding the
 fact that several of them are known to be bitterly opposed to certain sec
 lions of lhe bill Several eXplana-
 tions are given for this action by par
 ties who profess tO know. One is
 that Harrison has stated that he
 wants the bill passed at this session, and that those Republicans who are opposed to it are afraid to vote against it, lest they thereby lose their share of patronage under the new ad- Another is, that they know the bill will not pass the House, and only vote for it to keep up ap- pearance of harmony ill the Republi- can ranks until after Harrison is ln- angurated, leaving the quarrel that is believed by many to be inevitable over the tariff, until the next session, when they will control both House and Senate
 The Presidents message was an able statement of the position of the Democratic party on the tariff and other matters of importance: the ideas expressed therein could not nave been improved. Statements like the following from the message are ponderous with statesman-like wisdom: He mocks the people who proposes that the Government shall protect the rich, and they in turn shall care for the laboring poor. Any intermediary between the people and their Government, or the least dele gation of the care and protection the owes to the humblest citizen in the land, makes the boast of free institutions a glittering delu- sion and the pretended boon of citizenship shameless inn position. "EXtravagant ap- of public money with all their demoralizing consequences should not be tolerated, either as a means of relieving the treasury of it's present surplus, or as furnishing pre- text for resisting a proper reduction. in tariff rates. 1t cannot be denied that the selfish and private interests which are so consistently heard when efforts are made to deal in a just and comprehensive manner with our tariff laws, are related to, if not largely responsible for, the sen timent largely prevailing among the people, that the general Government is the fountain of individual and pri vate aid; that it may be expected to relieve with paternal care and dis tress of citizens and communities, and that from the fitness of it's treas ury, it should, upon the slightly pos ,ible preteNt of promoting the gener- al good, apply public funds to the benefit of localities and individuals. Nor can 1t be denied that there is a growing assumption that is against the Government and in favor of pri- vate claims and interests, the usual rules and limitations of business prin- ripIes and just dealings should be waived. These ideas have been un- happily much encouraged by legisla- tive acquiescence. Relief from con tracts made with the Government is too easily accorded in favor of the citizen. The failure to support claims against the Government by proof k often supplied by no better than the wealth of the Government and the poverty of the claimant, Gratuities in the form of pensions are granted upon no oth- CT real ground than the needy condition of the applicant, or for reasons less valid; and large sums are expended for public buildings and other improvements upon repre- sentations scarcely claimed to be re- lated to public needs and necessi- ties.
 Mir. Harnson's backbone is likely to suffer q severe strain between now and the 4th of March. The Repub- lican leaders here have determined upon having am extra session of the Fiity-irst Congress called 10 meet late in March or early in April. There ls not the slightest necessity of an extra session; the Republicans ac- knowledge that their only object in having it called is to gain the six Senators and as many Representa- tives as South Dakota, Montana and W Washington, when admitted as States, shall be entitled to. They have de- cided that owning to their very mar TOW margin in both Houses, this ac- tion is necessary in order to enable