The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-10-26
wasnina.nn Letter.
ttrom our regular correspondence
WAsHINGToN, d. c., Oct. %, 1898.

ttrom our regular correspondent.l
WASHINGTON, d. c., Oct. %, 1898.
That which seemed as far off as the Hes
perides has come. Congress has adjourn
ed sine dc. And all the startling things
that the sensationalists said would occur
when the committee should wait on the
President, did not occur. When the
House assembled on Saturday at II there
were sixteen members in Attendance. The
Speaker appointed Mcmillan, of Tennessee,
Ryan, of Kansas, and Clements, of Geor-
gia, a committee on the part Of the House
to wait on the President and inform him
that Congress stood ready to adjourn, if
he had no further communication to make.
AT 1880 the committee reported that the
President had no communication to make.
The rumored 'rebuke to the Senate" was
an idle tale. At 1 o'clock the Speaker de
clared the House adjoured sine die.
The Chaplain Of the Senate offered pray
er in the presence Of only ten Senators, In
gals, Cockrell. Paddock, Mitchell, Sauls-
bury, Teller, Allison, Blackburn, Reagan
and Sawyer. Allison and Salisbury were
appointed to join the House committee in
waiting on the President. While the COM
mittee was gone Senator Blackburn pre-
scented the minority report of the Civil Ser
vice committee, which was ordered to be
printed with the majority report. The
last bill of the session was introduced by
Mr.. Mitchell, and provided for the election
of Senators directly by the people. AS be-
ing the last thing that most Senators want,
it was appropriate that it should be the
final bill introduced.
Mr.. ingalls,, as presiding officer Of the
Senate, made a farewell speech of less than
200 words that must be classed as a model
of graceful oratory. The lank, specialized
figure then put on a %hideously long grey
overcoat, and disappeared across the
northern portion of the Capitol grounds,
very much in the manner of Ichabod Crane
when pursued by the phantom of his SUI
perstition. Bat the speech was. in all
truth, very neat.
1t was a wonderfully quiet adjournment.
The session died as a lone man drops from
hunger Oh a blind trail across the bad lands.
Comparatively, there were no spectators.
The hustle and excitement, the rushing
about of clerks and messengers, the cease
less babel of voices in the corridor, the
buzzing in the galleries. the roar of the
lobby, were all absent. There may have
been 200 persons in the Senate galleries. |
doubt if there were SO many in the House
galleries. And nobody wanted to buy any
body's vote, despite the shameful use of
money during this session. - which was so
much talked about.
After nearly eleven months o battle, Con-
gress has adjourned without action on the
tariff. 1t is ''an appeal to Caesar" Una
BILE to settle the question themselves, the
Legislators have gone to the people for a
verdict. The result was a forcgope con-
clusion a month ago. The real work Of
the session has been the defining of the
position Of each party on the tariff. In
that much success has been attained. Bnt
the battle between the factions in both
parties was fierce. The actual free traders
in the Democratic camp tried by every pos
sible means to induce the President to en-
dorse their cause in his message. The
Randall men were no less persuasive on
their part. Neither of the extreme wings
were endorsed II the result as is foreshad-
owed.
The great debate began early in April
and continued for two months. Everybody
spoke. Men who were already famous
were made yet more famous, and men who
never had a reputation earned their honors.
Some members who never had by any
chance whatever an original idea, or even
a good borrowed one, were moved by the
tariff spirit to speak, and houndered about
in a surf Of words, and came out to rest ON
the sands of sa tisfaction.
The dusky Sioux have followed the ex-
ample of Congress and started home. They
wanted $1.25 an acre for their lands, and
Secretary Villas only offered ST.. The Sec
rotary is of the opinion that his proposition
was rejected because the new law would
break up the chiefs authority and leave
those excellent gentlemen without a job.
Such an idea was, of course, peculiarly re-
pugnant to the savage breast. A chief
without a tribe to be chief Of, would be no
better than a cigar store Indian. And that
is what Mr.. Sitting Bull thinks.
Senator B~iackburn's minority report of
the Civil Service Committee is a rather
volnminous document, devoted not SO much
to a defense of the present administration,
as to an elaborate showing that the Dem
ocrats are no worse than the Republicans.
He takes occasion to remark that by a
strictly party vote, the Senate refused to en-
terinto any investigation of Affairs prior to
1885. Any claim that the principles of
civil service law are honestly observed in
this country, or ever were, or ever will be,
is amusing. There is no such thing as
o;rit ooru;on ,nrCuoF;.,, tNr5uaIkF