The advocate., 1890-08-27
WHAT ARE CONGRESslIEN ELECTED AND
PAID FOR9

FAlD tUh
The members of this Congress are surely max.
Ingan honest effort tO attend tO the Interests NJ
the country by remaining Nc their post Of duty
through these long summer days, ana even YET
there Is no hint OF adjournment.
SO writes an editor OF western paper,
Let as see what the facts are.
Picking up the Congressional Record
Of August -, / find that nearly the en-
tire session was spent in an attempt TO
get vote on referring back to the COM
mittee bill which had already con
sumed three days in an effort 10 pass III;
the yeas and nays being taken no less
than hve times at this one session, and
neither time did a quorum vote.
The last vote was on motion TO ad-
journ because there was no quorum, and
the vote stood, yeas 100, nays A, not yot-
ing IA.
Speaking OF the impossibility Of secur-
ing o quorum local paper says tone
hundred and iorty-eight members We're
announced as paired, they Of course hav-
ing left the city,
Turning TO the House calendar we find
about 1900 bills awaiting actionl These
include every subject, even some Of the
annual appropriation bills, bills for pub
lie buildings all over the country; some
1900 private bills, many OF which are To
pay judgments rendered by the court OF
claims, and others for money, property
and services furnished the government
years and years ago, and some Of which
have been favorably reported four and
five times. And yet they can not be acted
on because there is no quorum, even un
der the new rule which authorizes the
speaker to count all present, whether vot
ing or not
It is a daily remark that not one il
fifty, probably not one in hundred, will
pass, because Of want OF time, and ye
here is 175 members absent day after day
and week after week. Even when quo
rum is in the building there is not quo
rum in the hall, and when a call Of tht
House Is ordered the officers are sen
scurrying about in search Of absent mem
bers. The following from the specia
correspondent Of the New York 7ribUn
Of August II, and who being on thu
ground ought to know, may account TO
this in part at least, lie says;
There has been n suspicion that the cause O
absenteeIsm alluded tO might be found IN On
attractions OF n restaurant within short diS
tanGe OF the Capitol, and the suspicion may be 4
some extent well founded. But another cause
alleged tO exist, and TO have been discovered
It is card playing In the committee rooms whe
the House Is In session Poker and whist are Oh
attractions which have become so seductive n
20 have made grave statesmen forget their lllte
even In times Ot emergency II Is not alegG
that AN the offenders are republicans or demo
Gratis, but on the contrary, II Is asserted tina
both parties are about equally represented. PEI
hapgltmlght be ~ we'll To have the games di'
continued for n time, or at least suspended du
ing the daily sessions OF the House,
In view Of these statements thus pull
licly made, ,'and'the absence of member
as shown by the daily record, It woul
seem that this matter ought to be take
up among their constituents, and th'
among the pledges hereafter exacted 9
candidates should be one to remain
their place and attend to their duty.
Il is an infamous outrage that publ
business should be thus neglected; and
grows yearly worse. **
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