The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-10
PATIENCE IT'S OWN REWARD.
why Hope Long Deferred Maketh the
Heart Sick
From the Ne,0 York Sun.

ways very busy just before the opening OF
a new congress. They can rarely secure
them without the action Of congress. They
;mnortune their representatives to intro
duce their bills and press them to passage.
The bills, mayhap have been before half a
dozen congresses and have usually died in
committee.
A bill may have passed one house and
not have gone through the other. 1t may
have been amended in the Senate after
passing the House and have been referred
10 a committee Of conference. The COM
mittee Of conference may have failed to
agree If they did agree their report NAV
not have been taken up. Nathaniel Mckay
at the last congress was very unucky. For
years be had been urging the passage of a
claim bill carrying about S70,G00 In the
last congress Gov. Long took hold of it and
showed it through the House with a good
majority. 1t passed the Senate without
amendment and was sent to the President.
Grover Cleveland vetoed it. Mckay claims
TO have got square since then He AYERS
that he spent thousands of dollars in defeat
ing Cleveland.
There is a claim bill now before the House
known as the Emory bill. 1t had its origin
in a machine for testing the strength of iron,
steel, and other metals. Emory is said to
u0NC AhNChbCQ 1uO Of0u IL ulQeE Il COl-
tract with the government. The considsra-
ton Of the bill has already taken up two
days of the time of the House, and since
these lines were written has passed the
House.
When representative is importuned by a
constituent to introduce a bill and to keep
an eye on it, he usually assents. The bill,
in nine cases out Of ten, will be for the ben
eft Of somebody who lives outside OF his
district Scores will urge him to introduce
personal bills. He will have them sent to
him through.the mails by friends who i'm
perfume him on behalf of their friends.
Occasionally he will get bill from the
friend OF friend who will urge him to
favor a friend of the friend of the first
friend. Friendship, in such cases, reaches
as remote degrees as Scotch cousinship.
If the representative is at all con-
spicuous and good natured, he will have his
hands full For some time he may be able
TO keep the run of the bills in his mind. but
in the end all will become confused. He
will find himself hardly able to tell one from
the other. he may receive dozen urgent
letters concerning each bill, but he will
have no idea as to which bill the letter re-
fers. The bills themselves usually remain
IN his desk until after the speaker has been
elected AID the committees appointed. Then
they will all ba thrown into the House in
lump. IlikuLGbA OG1S tldDSbQ DSlOF9 any
were introduced in the present congress. Thea
over 1000 were dumped into the hopper
in one day. The floodgates were opened
before the appointment of committees.
Tho object was to secure the printing of the
bills during the holiday recess. Ali bills
are printed and a member is entitled TO five
copies each. If he wants more he has to
skirmish for them. A s. note will secure
an excellent skirInisher. As soon as the
hills aro int Il, e.
propriate committees. Each member has
before him at his table in the committee
room file of the bills referred to his COM
mittee. IL takes the committee one or two
weeks to get to work. The bills of those
who have claims against the government
for damages sustained in the late war are
referred to the committee on war claims.
Other claim bills go TO what is known as
the committee on claims.
Claims for the renewals Of patents and
copyright cases go to the committee on
patents They usually stand as much chance
of seeing daylight as Mammoth Cave fishes.
The chairman of the present committee is
Ben Butterworth of Ohio. He has been a
commissioner of patents. The man that
can pull the wool over Ben's eyes could
jump from the top of the Washington mon
ument without injury.
There are hundreds of claim bills on file
committee is fairly organized the clerk sorts
them out, and they are referred to sub
committees Ill patches. The subcommittee
sometimes divide them among the indivId-
ual members. Each bill, however, is SUE
jected to careful scrutiny. 1t must be
backed by testimony that would be received
in court of justice. If it is a claim
arising out of damages sustained in the
late war the committee will call upon
tho " 6anarfnQnt for info
If that department gives the measure a
black eye, it will have hard time in COM
mjttee. Claims for generalization and
damages incurred in navigation, and other
matters, will be referred to the secretary
of the treasury. His opinion will have a
good deal to do with the action of the COM
mittee. All the departments are in daily
communication with the committees. 1t is
no unusual thing for a cabinet officer to be
summoned to the capitol and questioned by
a committee.
Most. claimants think that half their work
Is done when their bills are introduced.
They leave the matter with their represent
tative, under the impression that his infiu-
ence can shove it out of committee without
regard to the facts in the case. Personal
influence alone can never do this The bill
must stand, more or less, upon its merits
The nerviest of committees would not dare
to report a bill to the House without some
legal basis for its action. Many claimants
send in bills simply asking that they may
go the court of claims and have the court
adjudicate their cases. There is Just as
much trouble getting bill of this kind out
of committee as there would be. in passing
one recognizing the claim and specifying
the amount to be paid.
A case in point: Nearly twenty years
ago congress passed an eight-hour act. IL
was signed by the President, and its intent
confirmed afterward by two presidential
proclamations Some JEALOUS government
officials in the Brooklyn navy yard and
elsewhere violated its provisions. They de-
cided that government employees must work
ten hours day instead of eight Many Of
these employees did this work under protest.
For years they have had bill before con-
gress simply asking that they be
allowed to 60 to the court of
claims to seek their rights. They want
extra pay for the extra two hours. In
the last congress the bill was talked TO
death in the morning hour. The chairman
OF the committee failed to press it after
that on the ground that it stood in the way
of other important labor bills that would
not develop opposition. The pen are press
ing the same bill in the present congress.
IL has had a rough time in committee, but
dar.
very few claim bills come out Of COM
hlVtee, even where the evidence of their