The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-05-10
SEEN AND HEARD lin THE CAPITOL.
Distributing Seeds, an Important
Duty of the Statesman.
Wonderful Wisdom Sometimes Dis
Played In the Halls of Congress.
Impressive Scenes at the Funeral of
the Late Senator Beck.
Especial to the Press ]

Especial to the Press.l
| WASHINGTON, May 9.-"You have no idei
| of the queer requests that a Congressman
| gets from his constituents" said an employt
of the Agricultural Department the Other
day. Here is letter which was received
by one of your Maine Congressman the
1 other day, which he has sent to us with the
| request that we fill the vegetable part of it
Sion.
| Please send the following and oblige:
| Package Of wheat,
Package of rye (summer).
| Package of buckwheat
Paper of pole lima beans.
Paper of bush lima beans.
| papers sugar beets
papers of Danyers yellow onions.
| Wax bush bean.
Champion peas.
packages long green cucumberS.
packages musk melon
2packages sweet corn.
Smithsonian report.
Memorial address on Henry B. Anthony.
Memorial address on Hon. r. M. A. Hawk.
Respectfully,
OF course the Congressman must fill this
order, or come as near as he can to it, on
peril of losing his reputation as statesman
| If he does not.
The wisdom of members of Congress OF
the United States, like the wisdom of more
ordinary and humble people, is often very
wonderful when listened to by a person
with leisure and disposition to give it calm
and impartial attention. A United States
Senator, representing one of the largest and
most important states in the Union, has
gravely proposed in this Congress to loan
the Nations money out to the farmers of the
country at per cent, taking for security
farm mortgages. Other men, some of them
somewhat eminent in the country as we'll as
In the halls of Congress, would pay a pen
sion of $40 or $12 month to every man who
enlisted in the war. whether he was injured
by his service or not, whether he received a
bounty for enlisting or not. whether he is
nvrT-naedy or not. Other Congressman
.eisn w peheVe thot this country is going to
destruction so fast that it makes aftti, ,a,sr-,-
ence what is done. The Democrats are the
principal proprietors of this dismal view of
our national peril. Here is what Uncle "Ob-
jector" Holman of Indiana said the other
day:
The concentrated wealth and oyergrown estates
which our legislation has fostered are the rocks,
only partially concealed, in the pathway of our
ship of state. IT, in the future, the ship goes
down (Which l do not believe God in mercy to
created by acts Of Congress, with the arrogant as
sumption of power over legislative assemblies.
and the corrupting methods such estates natural
ly inspire In controlling public affairs, always fa
tai TO honest government, Will be found, by the
gerd5 yer Of I'M asfdry ste ae fatal burden un
The melancholy collector" declares in one
hot ba iy,1yc
serve our nation, but he does not fail to anti
cipate in the next the verdict of the coron-
er's jury. Another Democrat, young Mr..
Washington of Tennessee, who is a scion of
that Washington family to which the
"Father of his Country" belonged, thinks
these rich men are very dangerous fellows,
but he nevertheless thinks that they may be
utilized like other bad and dangerous things,
for he said the other day:
Had the soldiers not saved the Union the pluto
Gratis of today would have been wiped out Of ex
istence. 1t is peculiarly proper, therefore, that
they, out of their fixed incomes, derived largely
from United States bonds, which are non-taxable,
should be called upon to contribute to the support
of the veteran in his declining years, rather than
that the farmer and laborer, who, in the majority
of instances, Is as poor as the old soldier himself,
should be compelled to contribute further from
his scanty store.
1t has been commonly supposed that the
war against the Union was not war against
plutoerats but for the most complete and ar
rogant aristocracy of plutocrats that ever ex-
listed on this continent,-the slave-holding G
ollgarchy. Mr.. Fithian, of Illinois, is as GER
tain as the others that the plutocrats are de-
vouring the country and he is ready with a
remedy.
The accumulation of large fortunes is the hands
of few individuals in many instances is the re-
suit of class legislation and government paternal-
ISM The wealth of the nation is rapidly passing
into the hands of a few: hold that no man can
accumulate a million of dollars in a lifetime in
honest and legitimate pursuits. am, therefore,
in favor of a graduated income tax, exempting
those of moderate means and increasing the tax
prOportionately to the income. If had my way /
would make the man who owns two millions of
dollars give one to keep the other. Instead OF
making the poor and unfortunate bear the burden
OF taxation as is the case now, this wonld equal
iZe taxation and compel the millionaire to con-
tribute his share to the support OF the govern
ment.
1t will be noticed that Mr.. Fithian's rene.
dy, the income tax, with an increasing rate
as the income grows larger, is one that has
commended itself to many sensible and con-
servative people; but in his statement of the
remedy he has fallen victim to that habit
of gross exaggeration which seems to take
hold of so many members of Congress when
ever they touch upon the subject of pluto.
Gratis"
Old and experienced members say thai
nearly every Congress has its bugbear. The
'plutocrat" is the bugbeaI of this Congress
and the reason for the raid on him is that
the Kansas farmers are burning their corn.
1t is of course unfortunate for the Kansas
xuha n find no narlynt for thail
corn and are therefore compelled to use il
for fuel this year. But no one thinks of the
fact that the Kansas farmers would have tc
tocrats" of Boston built railroads through
Kansas, thus enabling the farmers to sen(
their corn to market and get a price for i
nine years out of ten. Furthermore grea
many of these Boston 'splutocrats" have los
| all the money they put into the Kansas road
| and are "plutocrats" no longer.
| The funeral of Senator Beck in the Senat
this week was an impressive ceremony
is one of the privileges-the last privilege
| of the Representative or Senator that, il
case of death while in office, he shall be bur
| led by the government from the hall of tn
body to which he has belonged and undel
| the supervision of the sergeant-at- arms. An,
| it is very impressive ceremonial that at
| tends one of these burials. The high officer
| of the government are invited, the diplo
mats and the Supreme Court; and the as
| sembly is one of the most distinguished OF
| the face of the earth.
| On this occasion the ceremonies took plac
| in the chamber of the Senate, which wa
draped appropriately for the occasion. Th
| Senate assembled at half past twelve. wit
| Senator ingalls, In the chair. In order t
| accommodate those invited to attend tn
| Senators were obliged to leave vacant tn
seats on the Democratic side of the cham
| ber, all the Democrats going over to the Re
| publican side where light camp chairs ha
been put in between the large Senate chairs
Some of these light chairs were a littl
too light; and just as the House of Repre-
sentatives were announced, Senator Plum
of Kansas, crashed to the floor. The fa
was attended with no damage, however. an
the impressiveness of the scene was MARIE
for moment only.
The Senate has been assembled shol
time when the assistant sergeant-at-armS
wearing white sash trimmed with blac
ana fastened at the shoulder by black an
white rosette, advances down the cent?
alsle toWard the President pro TEN, and afte
saiutlns win DOW, announces "the Speal
er ana the House OF Representatives" an