The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-09
CONGRESSIONAL BILLS.
COURSE OF A BILL DURING CON
SHERATON AND PASSAGE

NUSSU-Ane EnRrOSSlng ana Printing
of Ihem-Some Amusing aud Some
Dangerous Errors in Engrossing-A
Bill that Closed All the Marine Hospi-
tals-The Longest Bill ever Passed
by Congress-The Shortest.
From the Nelu York star.
When congress adjourned for the hon-
days there had been introduced in the
House of Representa- ives nearly 1000 bills,
and in the Senate of the u tied States more
than l.60). T4ey ran all the way from the
private relief or pension bill of forty or
fifty words to the bills for the revision of
the tariff or for the admission of new
states, containing thousands of words each.
These bills as they were introduced were
sent TO the government printing Office to no
printed for reference and for the use Of
members. However uuimportant meas
ure, it is always sent to the printer, unless
the senator or member who introduces 1
asks that it lie on the table without being
printed, and this does not happen in more
than score of cases during an e tire con-
greSs. So small a proportion of tho bills
introduced pass either house of co lgress
that it seems almost a waste of public
money to print the thousan Dis and tens of
thousands of copies that are eventually to
DE thrown into the scrap heap. Butno rule
could be established which would dscrim.-
nate justly etween the measures of lite
Importance and those of general interest,
and no one can tell in advance what bills
VIII pass and what meas Tres will never
reach a serious consideration. There Is one
set of clerks in house and senate that would
DO willing to pay good rou nj sum for IN
formation at the begl ming of the SESSION Of
congress as to the bills that will pass and
those which will be neglected These are
the Gle KS who copy the bills that pass
either house, and afterward copy the COM
pleted bills Tn vt have passed both houses Of
congress- The man who receives at the
hands of his Congressman printed copy of
the bill in which he is Interested, and
whicl has been introduced at his request.
feels as he looks at it that the IN assure is al
most a law. If he knew tho hsto y of a
bill in congress he would lose much of his
enthusiasm.
The reas IN the copying clerks would well
come with joy an assurance of the bills
that are to pass and those that are to fail Is
that with this Information they would be
able to distribute their labor so equally
over the days congress is in session that
their lives would be a continuous round of
pie tsure, Instead of being, during greater
pc ton OF the year, what Mr.. Mantaliui
would have described as a "denniton
grind" Congress works in spasms. The
senate will taNe two weeks to debate a bill
which the copying clerks could finish copy
ing in half hour, and then will pass in
two hours enough measures to keep them
busy with their peas for three Or four days.
The engrossing of these bills is one of the
most delicate duties with which any ON
ploye of either House Is tasked. A single
mistake made III copying bill may 10 id to
, almost endless complications. The first
copies of bills are made on heavy white
paper. This is after they have passed one
house Suppose 1. bill has passed the Senate.
Some amendments have been made and it
is not at all like the original text. The
clerks take the copy as it is handed to them,
) aud carefully ira lscrlbe it, inserting each
punctuation mark at its appropriate place,
aud being extremel careful in the dis ribu-
ton of apitals. The bill in manuscript is
taken to tho president of the Senate and
then to the secretary, and these official
atfiX their signatures on the assurance of
some member of the COMMITTEES on en-
crossed bills that he has compared it with
the original AMI that the Transcription /,
HAWKES.. The bill thus signed and attested
is taken to the House by Secretary McCook
aud delivered into the custody of tina body.
| Ii it is afterward passed by the House with
out amendment that fact is recorded on il
and 1t is carried back to the Senate with the
gnatures of the speaker and the clerk of
the House. Then it Is enrolled on parch-
meat-English p ircnment-compared with
) | the original by a member of the committee
on ear lied bills, again signed, and sent TO
the President.
The number of bills introduced in the
Senate in the last congress was 1000, the
number of Joint reSol utlous 145. Tae num-
n than n a IN lttfi Gi1G
pass d by the So ate was 1,l27, a I'd the
numuer Indefinitely postponed or referred
to the court OF claims 554. Ine remainder
were entirely wit out consideration. Each
of these ,127 bills and lint resolutions as
soon as it was agreed to was sent to the en-
crossing clerks, who copied it carefully.
One man coul very easily have done all of
TINS copying if he had been allowed to bs-
Il on 4. WI n the begnn ng Of the session,
and to complete 1T any tins before the ad
Jourlment, but unf rtunately the senate
insists upon passing bills when the fancy
sslZ9s it, and the result Is that the engross-
ing clerks are kept without work for long
period and are tDen flooded with more than
theF can ate to- April 81, 1886, the
Senatep s,ed 3S4 bills-13G Senate bills and
243 noase bills. They were all copied aud
carried over to the House tue next day, to
gether with the work of the 221 making
total Of nearly 400 bills copied within Two
days. In the last congress tne Senate
p9s,ed--Feb 16, 1S8S-10O Senate and eight
House bills; but the record If April II,
1886, remains Untouched, and probably will
SO remain for many years Tue a mount Of
manual LABOR in the copying of such a
great number of bill is hard 10 re ilizs aad
the strain which the copying clerk u der
goes in keeping accurately and minutely to
the text is enormous.
Some amusing and some dangerous
err RS have crep5 into measures which have
a sed the two houses of congress, through
the unequal pressure of work in the last
days OF the session. S me of the
most important appropriation bills are
pa sed in the last moments Of an expiring
} congress, aud they must be care
fully copied and compared before
they are signed, ami this work
must be done in time To get them TO the
President for his cons deration. In the
: Forty-eighth congress the deficiency appro-
pria.loD DILL falle1 because its passage was
} so long delayed that there was not time to
/ copy it before the final adjournment of the
two houses. Usually the clerks are able to
anticipate at least a part Of the Dill under
cons .defation, and sometimes when there is
little ubt Of the bil'S passage they ca n
) antic pa G it all. Isaw III the clerks desk a
few days ago the copies in manuscript Of a
number Of b lis that have never b. q
called up for consideration. II by SOM
mlscnance they are not passed. the manu-
script will be thrown away; IL they are