Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-11
THE SOCIALIST CRAZE.
Its Talking Power May Be Increas-
ing, but Not Its Voting Power.
OTHER PEOPLES MONEY.
why the Expenditures OF the Government in
All Its Branches Are ExtravaGant-The
Next Congress VIII Be Economical, Accord
ing to MI Holman.
Written for The Evening Star.


that the happiness Of mankind would be as
sured If all men and women were slaves Of q
central government which would hire them,
tax them, pay their wages. select their trades,
direct their work, cut their Clothes locate their
homes, plan their houses and decide when and
whom they could marry and how many chill
dren they might have. These theorists spell
government with big &c" and regard it as a
rich and indulgent but much neglected grand
mother, quite able and willing to pamper all
the children in the family and stuff them with
sugar plurns if they will only climb into her
bountiful lap. They think of government as an
entity quite separate from the people and in no
way dependent on them-as a juicy orange to
be squeezed, fat goose to be plucked.a vast
| fountain to be forever drank from without at
all diminishing its flow.
do not think that government officials in
Washington generally or very numerously hold
| this lunatic view of human affairs, but some OF
| them do, and more than one Representative
| swept in on the November blizzard will give
them mouthpiece in Congress next winter.
INCREASING IN WIND, NOT VOTING POWER.
One morning this very week talked with an
e1-cabinet minister on this subject Probably
ought not more definitely to identify him,
but he said in substances:
| Il do not fear any revolution Of any sort.
| SOCIALISM Is increasing us VIM power, Dut NOT
| its voting power. The government will nos In
crease its functions materially during our life
| time. The government is always an extrava-
CANT manager. The German railroads, owned
and run by government, are the most expen-
| sive and the worst in the world. The English
| telegraph system, owned and managed by gov
| eminent, carries messages at about three times
| the cost of our messages by the Western Union,
and yet 1T imposes deficit on the British treas
ury of five or six million dollars every year."
| "Our government does better carrying the
| mails, i ventured to say.
| Not very much" persisted the cabinet min
| lister. I'm the first place, government doesn't
| carry the mails, and never has carried them a
| foot. 1t hires private corporations to carry
them. All it does is to distribute letters and it
does this 80 extensively as to lose four or five
millions a year"
1 asked him if he had heard of a syndicate of
rich men in New York who had offered the gov
eminent bonus to be allowed to carry and
| distribute the mail as well as it is now done.
| NO, l haven't" he said; but shouldn't
wonder if private managers could do it at q
profit. But it wouldn't do at all. The people
would never tolerate a private corporation in
charge of their letters. with all that that
| implies. Think, however Of the state OF things
that would exist with an army of half million
men running the railroads and telegraphs of
| the land. All paid by the government and all
| constantly demanding of a compliant Congress
more pay and less work and a bigger army !.
]
| locomotives as inefficient possible, rs to
need more of them. They would take off the
air brakes the first thing and brake the trains
by hand, insisting that the hand method would
| do better work.
| EXPENSES OF LEGISLATION.
| called on Congressman Holman and asked
him about the expenses of legislation.
| Both the House and Senate are extrava-
CANT" he said, lin a good many ways. The
| purse strings will be held tighter than usual
| next session. estimate that at least $780,
900 be and will be saved by the next
| Congress as compared with this. The Forty
third Congress had spent about S1S4, 000. 900 u
| session, but when the Forty-fourth Congress
] got hold OF the reins We saved .29, 000. 900 tie
| first session and S34 900 900 the second session
Perhaps it is an incident without special signif-
canoe that l was chairman of the appropria-
| tions committee during that Congress, but
such is the fact. During the Fifty-second Con-
gress We ought to save at least twice as much,
| and am sure that we will do it.
| IF you are chairman Of appropriations
again. queried.
NO, l predict without reserve The con-
tingency you speak of is highly improbable.
| I'm not in the line of succession"
| But Morrison was not In the line of success
sion,' 1 suggested, lin that same Forty-fourth
Congress. Cox and Wood were the legitimate
heirs to the Craftsmanship of the ways and
means committee, we: Morrison got it.
| HOW KERR CUT THE GoRDIAN KNOT.
''Yes," said Mr.. Holman, but that was very
exceptional. Kerr was Tremendously worried
over the quarrel of Cox and Wood One night
was walked at o'clock by violent ringing at
my door bell The messenger brought a note
summoning me to the bedside of Speaker Kerr.
/ hurried over there, for l thought he was 60
| ing to die He a very sick man and had
| lain in an unconscious or delirious condition
| 1ftrl no aya InU II
lucid. He said he had concluded to cut the
| Gordian knot by ignoring both Cox and Wood
and appointing Morrison. 1t solved the diff
| Guilty"
| WELL" I said, ''most of the predestined
chairmen Of committees of the Fifty-second
Congress are southerners, while majority of
| all the democratic members are from the
north. So there will have to be a new shuttle
and deal after Springer is made Speaker, and
the trump marked appropriations will fall to
| you"
He laughed and thanked me, but remarked
that had better not bank on it.
| POINTS FROM A REPUBLICAN SENATOR.
Two days later l met republican Senator in
his committee room. still lingering in the de-
serted chamber, and asked him some questions
"Don't mention my name" he said, ''for it is
unpopular to be an economist, but I'll give you
| some points.
The whole mischief he went on, ''arises
from the influence of spending other people S
money. 1t induces recklessness as q matter of
course. There is not a bureau of the govern
ment that might not be run for half what it
. costs now. 1t isn't in average human nature
to be frugal with time paper or furniture or
| transportation, which somebody else pays for,
especially if that somebody else is the my sterous
nonentity known as the government
| Look at this, said the Senator, taking up
the published reports of the Senate and House
for number of years and rapidly running
| down the columns.
| 1T takes twenty-five able-bodied men all the
| time to clean and varnish the Senate furniture;
| and that does not include the INFINITE repairs.
A jeweler is paid $500 year under contract
Just to wind up the few clocks here and keep
| them going: yet run down these columns and
you will see to repairing clock, S5;' ito clean
ing clock, 80. &c, to large amount In De-
cember last alone thirty-eight Senate clocks
| all there are, Ibelieve-were repaired for Sl41
"You will notice. further, that the congress
sional towels washed and ironed by one or
two men, and with great impartiality. In Oc-
tober, 1887, seventy-eight dozen towels were
washed at SO cents dozen, or S39, and in No
yembsr LOG dozen, or S53, while Congress was
not in session at ALL and there were probably
| not four Congressman in Washington. 1t was
the same in every month. Why on earth did
the half q dozen watchmen on deck want / ,272
fresh towels each month?
CAR TICKETS AND IcE
"In those same two months when Congress