The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-02-03
the NATIONAL CAPITAL.
How Mr.. Reed Makes the other
Side of the House Unhappy,
And Renders the Debates Amusing
to His Brother Republicans.
sharp Sayings to Brighten the Pages
of the Record.
Especial TO the Press.l

way to study him is in the Congressional
Record. 1t is not often that his name is at
tached to a long speech, but 1t appears all
through the Record, from day to day, at.
tached to keen, sharp comments and re-
marks. which are useful, both to show his
own party how to steer their business
through the House and to draw new atten-
tion to the bulls and blunders of the other
side.
This can only be seen by watching and
noting carefully the verbatim reports of the
debates in the House. They show where he
puts in, flashes in it might be said, at inter-
walls, sharp shots, that put the barb on words
of his colleagues, and make sting for the
attacks that are in progress. Take the Rec
| ord of Monday Public Printer Benedict
was being investigated. To help himself he
had set up the old cry that Mr.. Rounds, his
predecessor, had paid big price for ink.
Gen. Cutcheon was saying: 1T seemed to
me singular that so many discharges should
be made when the printing ordered by this
House was largely in arrears, because, Mr..
Speaker, l knew, and we all knew, that
more than thousand bills that had been in
troduced in this House a week before had
not yet come to the file-room; we knew that
| we had not yet received the first complete
| copy of the Congressional Directory for this
session, although nearly sixty days had
elapsed from the time of assembling; we al
so knew that the rules of the House, which
we had amended weeks before, had not been
returned to us, and have not yet been re-
turned, so that we are not, even now, able to
inspect the amended rules under which we
| are acting we knew also that of all the
| pending bills we had not report upon a
single one printed in time for inspection be-
fore acting upon the bill to which it related" I"
MIR. Reed-But the Printer has spent much
less for ink than his predecessor spent.
| Laughter
Then again. later, when the Democrats,
hopeless of defending Benedict in any way,
were trying to retort by hitting at the late
Mr.. Rounds, the debate ran on in this
way:
Mr. Springer-I move to strike out of the
resolution the following words;
That committee of five members Of the House
| be appointed by the Speaker pro tenapore TO in
yestigate and report upon the management of the
| public printing office.
And to insert in lieu thereof the follow
| ing:
That the letter of the public printer in answer
to the resolution of the House be referred 10 the
| committee on printing and printed, and the COM
mittee on printing be instructed TO make a thor
oueh investigation of the administration OF the
government printing office during the ineumben-
cy Of the present occupant and that Of his prede-
cessor and to report to the House at the earliest
possible.
Mr.. Reed.-Why are you putting in the
predecessor of the government printer? !?
There is no complaint about him. How win
investigating person who is dead help us
to get the documents we are waiting for?
Mr.. Springer-The proposition is to in
vestigate the administration of the Office un-
der the present public printer and his pre-
decessor.
Mr.. Reed.-But we are not interested in
his predecessor. What we want is to get our
documents quicker; Now, do not make
partisan matter of this Laughter.
Mr.. Springer-There is no partisanship in
it at all. am always delighted to hear the
|.gentleman from Maine on that subject. He
never can understand the right of anybody
else to be partisan; but when he wants to
act the partisan it is all right.
Mr.. Reed-Oh, well, my partisanship is of
such mild character that it is hardly to De
called by that name. Renewed laughter.l
Mr.: Springer-f your are going to inveSti-
Mr.. Reed-What we want is to get our doc
uments quicker.
On Tuesday, the Democrats after great
deal of proving back and fourth, passed an
order declaring that on the several public
building bill days which had just been fixed,
no diatory motions were to be entertained:
The resolution providing for this was agreed
to. Then this scrap of debate.
Mr.. Reed-Mr. Speaker
Mr.: .Dibble moved to reconsider the vote
U no oa
agreed to-; and also moved that the motion
to reconsider be laid on the table.
The latter motion was agreed to.
The Speaker pro tem.-The gentleman
from Maine (Mr. Reed addressed the chair.
Mr.. Reed-I think Mr.. Speaker, that per-
haps the time for observation has passed,
only am glad to see the Democratic House
change the rules In the same manner that
seemed SO violent to them in election cases.
1t shews that they progress.
The Republicans r0ared, for those who
knew anything about it, knew that when a
Republican House made the same decision
| about dilatory motions in election cases to
| prevent flibustering, a howl went up all
| deed. VAN.
The Sand Lot Orator.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2.-Denis Kearney to-
day addressed the House committee on for
eign affairs in advocacy of additional legisla-
tion to restrict Chinese immigration. Kear-
ney exhibited map showing the Chinese
districts of San Francisco and said that
Chinese to the number of $4,000 now occu-
pied the entire pioneer district They had
erected Joss house close to the leading
Catholic church. He made personal refer
ence to Mr.. Hit of Illinois, member of
the committee, den0uncing him for his an
tagonism to the efforts to stop Chinese i'm
migration. 1t was his intention TO stump
Hits district against him for Congress and
pelt him with cats. Kearney dwelt with
great emphasis on the fact that Chinese i'm
migration Is increasing at the rate of 40, 900
year, the Chinese landing at Vancouver.
Speaker CarIIsIe's Health.
Speaker Carlisle returned from Fort Mon
roe yesterday much better for his trip. He
is still weak, however, for lack of exertion'
and his physician tells him that he must be
very careful or he will have pneumonia. He
took short walk in the afternoon yester-
day. He said to a reporter when he returned: ::
81 am well, but weak. need more outdoor
exercise. My physician tells me that l must
not 90 to Atlanta and Macon next week, and
l am afraid / must obey him." The Speaker
said the same thing to Messrs: Colquitt and
Blount, who called on him. They are hope
full that he may be persuaded to go later, but
this seems very doubtful.
The Departments Reply.
1t is stated at the War Department that
the reply to Mr.. Boutells battle-fag resofu-
tion will be transmitted to the House before
the end of this week. The Secretary of War
will in the communication admit that it was
determined to return all the flags at time
when it was thought that no law rendering
such an act illegal was in existence, but inn
mediately upon the discovery Of such a law
the executive order directing a return was
revoked. 1t will be admitted that some of
the flags we're returned during the interim
Some of the flags have also been returned to
individuals during the present administra-
tion, and this, too, will be admitted. The
reply will include many requests for the re-
turn of the flags coming from individuals
and Organizations. The argument will be
advanced that there is nothing in the law
recurring the flags in the possession of the
War Department to be placed on public ex-
hibition. The law does require that the
Navy Department keep its flags on exhibi-
bition. but as it has none, the requirements
of tine law can hardly be complied with. of
course it will be admitted in reply that the
do tnu for tha AZ