Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-04
SENATORIAL PREcEDENTS.

letc-nIr. Wnnnmaker ms a Literary
Censor-The Pure In Lircraiurc-ToI-
stofs Works Annlyzrd.
rFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT;
WAsHNGToN. August a-There is need of
first class funerals in the Senate of the
United States. The first should be that of
Precedent. 1t should not be buried. for, like
Shakespeare's tanner, it would lie long years in
! the ground before 1t would rot. 1t should be
cremated, that it might be disposed of finally
and forever beyond the possibility of an odor.
30 long as the precedent of allowing unlimited
speechmaking Is in existence so long will
speeches. be made for the sole purpose of vast
Ing time, or merely for pamphlet circulation In
the state which is represented by the Senator
making the speech to assist towards that Sena-
tors reelection. The waste of time in Con-
gress by the making Of speeches Is matter for
public action and condemnation. 1t is an abuse
tnat In country used to revolution would ex-
cite revolution at once. We are long suffer-
ing people. and possibly little obtuse. and
we therefore endure the infiiction OF these
tedious old fools' when we ought
to drive them out of Congress with dagger OF
lath. Even under the improved rules ad opted
at the instance of Speaker Reed, and bravely
enforced by him in the face OF . storm OF
wrath based on ignorance or Misrepresentation,
too much time is wasted in the making OF
speeches. In the Senate more than one-half
of the session is absolutely lost in this way.
Most Congressman admit that speech-making
should be reformed out of existence, but each
one wants the reform to begin with someone
else than himself. Congressional speech-inak-
ing Is OF no earthly use except to please the
vanity of the speaker. Not vote is changed
by it. Nobody is educated by IL. Reading
people in this corner Of the world are as
III r. tt s..A~ Nlrr
as Senators of the United States. Give them
the proposed law and they will dissect 1t as
infallhly as the clevgest Congressman of them
all. Certainly they would be less liable to
purposes.
"A prominent member of Congress the other
day said the time Is rapidly approaching when
there would be no general debate. A Dill
would be called UP and put upon Its passage
after brief explanation from the person given
charge of 1t in committee. Amendments would
be In order, but only the barest explanation OF
be allowed, and, moreover, only legitimate
amendments. Now, when speeches are in
order on amendments under the fve-mlnute
rule, member can usually get in little bum
the last word" This is an amendment" and
speaking to it, the member may branch off to
any subject under the sun. In the House these
new rules, but in the Senate they are dragging
along at snaips pace on the tariff bills and,
as Mr.. Blair says, will not reach the
end of the bill before November at the
the influence of the old fogy Republican MEM
bers, who humble themselves In the dust before
the joss of Precedent. and ara willing to let
important legislation fail rather than disturb
the ancient custom OF permitting all Senators
to make fools of themselves to the top of their
bent with their jaws. And let me say right
here that there Is no State Of the Union better
served by its Senators than the State of Penn
syivania, and one of the reasons is that they
waste no time making speeches to infict upon
their constituents. or to hear themselves talk.
be done by personal and confidential contact,
and not by speeches delivered In the Senate
for party or theatrical effect. This is the way
the Pennsylvania Senators work. But the Sem
ate is changing in character.
Senators Elected By Popular Vote.
COME first class funerals have already taken
place and more are soon to come. The
Western blood, the brqsd and practical brain of
the prairies and mouttain slopes, never be-
logged by the cobwebs of sentiment ana GUS
tom, too frank to be guilty of the snivel and
hypocrisy of Senatorial dignity" is bringing
new and purer atmosphere to the repulsively
Solemn precinct of the Senate chamber, and the
younger men who are taking the place of the
old fossils of the East are very much of the
same temper. They want less cant and chin
HfusiG anu HOro anu 1Ho
Senate should be abolished entirely. 1t is a
more than useless excrescence, monstrosity in
this age of democracy. But IL it cannot be
abolished the members should be made elective
by the people. In that. if In nothing else am
in sympathy with the Patrons of Husbandry.
But where is Senator MitohslPs bill, introduced
long ago and providing for such popular cleo
ton? Buried deeper than the immortal Nc
Ginty. Few Of the older lot of Senators care to
run the gauntlet of popular election. They
know the Legislatures, some of them to their
pecuniary cast. The people are vague, far
off, absolutely unknown quantity to them.
To turn for a moment 10 more picturesque
end of the Government / have Just had my
pious soul delighted lifted to the topmost
heights of supernal bliss, as 1t were. 6y the
news that Chicago postmaster has taken In
hand the morals of the country, and that he is
ably seconded by the Postoffice Department.
The wonder and regret is that Brother Wana-
maker did not take the initiative himself, and
that long ago. After the 'Kreutzer Sonata"
of Count Leo Tolstoi, has been sowr broadcast
throughout the country, and Just as the sales
have begun to fall away on account OF the nov
city being worn of, the Chicago postmaster.
the good Mr.. Tyner and thebetter Mr.. Wana-
maker, issue their edict that the book has been
listed in the moral index expurgatorius OF the
Postoffice Department. OF course this can
only have the effect to nightly increase the
sale of the wicked work, for it not only cannot
be prevented from passing through the mails,
but, if 1t could, it would be driven into the bags
of the express companies. and largely increase
the revenues of those corporations. 1t is the
old story OF Madam Eve and the Forbidden
Fruit.
But the copscienoes Of the Chicago postnas-
ter and OF Messrs. Wanamaker and Tyner are
clear, and that is q great satisfaction to all of
us. Moreover. it Is demonstrated that we are
not TO be left to our own crude judgments as to
what Is good for us to read. That is arranged
for us by Chicago postmaster, who. witty
Messrs. Wanamaker and Tyner, is assured that
he is divlnely delegated to decide what is good
for the mind of the American public IN the
way Of literature. This is the most tre-
comforting thing that has hanpened
within my short career. Once IN London. at
one of the delightful afternoons" of q lady OF
literary distinction, had the good fortune to
meet the Hon. Mr.. Pigott, the Queens censor.
l met with awe and trembling that omnipo,,
tence which decided what books and plays and
operas were tit for the British public, !
The Censor md the Ccnsured.
7 POUND Pigott jolly, beef.fed Englishman |
who had refined appreciation Of good din |
ners ana actresses particularly the stars OF the
corps de ballet, and deplorably lax in his ideas |
as to what was moral and immoral at the book |
sellers or on the stage. Our postofhce eensors
are not built that way. Pigott. being bald |
himself. winked at the nude in art and litera-
ture with fiery peculiar wink. A vast city of |
dwellings, where the most abandoned sort OF |
abandon reigns supreme, lies within eye-snot
and ear-shot of the building Of the Chicago
or see? Nay, his first venture into the domain
of the moralist is to inform his superior officer
that to his Immaculate mind, the ''Kreutzer
Sonata" is a book that falls under the ban Of
the law against transmitting indecent litera-
ture through the mails.
have heard that it Is the verdict OF many of
the grandest and purest and ablest of the
women and men of this country and of other
that this book of Tolstofs is the |
Ioftiest truest, if the most terrible, essay ever
pepned on this Yexed subject Of the marriage
relation. But this must weigh for nothing with
US in the light of the declaration of the infall-