The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-03-03
THE FIFTIETH CONGRESS.

The Fiftieth congress will be thing of
of the past before another issue of The
HERALD makes its appearance. 1t would
be better for the members if this congress
could be forgotten.
We believe 1t is but voicing the popular
sentiment to say that of all modern con-
crosses, this one is entitled to least praise.
1t has talked more and done less than any
of its predecessors. 1t has been conspicu-
Gus for one thing-having held the longest
session on record. But there was
no credit in the distinction, be-
cause the session was needlessly
drawn out by a discussion from which
everybody realized that nothing could
come. The introduction of the Mills bill was
equivalent to an announcement that the
measure would pass the house of repre-
sentatives, and the certainty was just as
great that the bill would be defeated in the
senate. a vote on the passage in the house
the day succeeding the introduction of the
bill would have resulted exactly as the vote
did when taken many months afterward
1t was said that the debate would educate
the people, and so it might if the
people had had the time and inclination
to read what the congressman said, which
they did not. An intelligent lecturer will
do more towards educating the people than
the continuous talk of 325 congressman.
The months of the long session were dc
liberately and willfully wasted, and every
member knew they would be.
Then the present session, restricted by
law to three months, has been largely
given up to efforts to avoid doing anything
1t is true, provision has been made for
the admission to the Union of four
territories. This is something to show for
the time employed; but the measure came
too late to bring with it any praise for the
congress which didn't have the shrewdness
to know when to act.
The general contempt which is and will
be felt for the Fiftieth congress is not due
to the absence of capable men in the body
AS matter of fact the house was full
of able men, the body comparing
favorably with any previous cham
her. The trouble was, the men
PLAYED politician rather than statesmen.
They were scheming for the success of po-
litical parties instead of working for the
best interests of the country; and they
were not adopts in the business, but
bunglerr We refer more particularly to
the democrats who have Numbered almost
to their destruction. If it were not for the
grand and everlasting principles on which
it is founded the party would have been
brought to ruin by the clumsy conduct of
it's members in this congress. There may
have been some legislation of an important
character by the Fiftieth congress, but if
so the fact has escaped us.
Congressman were not entirely response
b for this comparative blank in the his
tory of national law-making. The senate
was controlled by one party which was OPP
posed to the executive and bent on
doing all in its power to make his admins
tration a failure; the majority in the house
was powerless, for the reason that the SEN
ate stood between it and proper legislation,
and neither party dared do anything
lest it might result in advantage to
the enemy. The situation was one
that would necessarily be unfortunate if
not disastrous in a legislative sense, and it
was that situation, rather than lack of
intelligence on the part of the members,
which has given this congress such an ugly
record.
Better work will be done when the legis-
lative and executive departments of the
government are in political harmony, hence
we are glad that, Harrison having been
elected president, the republicans will have
control of both houses of the next congress.