Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-03-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From Our REGULAR Corresnond

WASHINGTON. March. 4.-The man
who says the present House of Repre-
sentatives isa do-nothing body, either
makes wilful misstatement or is ig-
norant of the facts, which speak for
themselves. The work of the House
is far ahead of that of the House of the
last Congress at the same period. For
instance, it has al ready passed three
appropriation bills-the Urgent Def
cheney, the Military Academy and the
lndian-and is making rapid progress
on the fourth one-the District of Col
umbla-while the first appropriation
bill was not passed by the House of the
last Congress until the 2lst of March.
Besides this the reporting of three tar
1T bills as early as the first of March is
something unheard of in Congressional
history. In addition to what has been
done on the floor of the House there is
the hard work done by the committees
which have never been farther advanc-
ed in any first session. To give a clear
idea of how far this work is advanced.
Representative Calchings stated tnat
if it were necessary every one of the
appropriation bills, except the general
deficiency, which is necessarily the last
one taken up by the committee, could
be reported to the House within a week,
Instead of being slow, the majority of
tho House have proven themselves
hustlers, when compared with their re.
publican predecessors.
Next Monday the House will vote on
the resolution reported by the commit
tee on Rules naming the 90, % and "a
of March for the consideration of the
free coinage bill. If this resolution is
adopted,.as now seems probable, not
withstanding the talk of combination
OF republicans and anti-silver demo-
Gratis to defeat it, the passage of the
free coinage bill may be set down as
certain.
"How long," asked a Democratic
Senator" "will Congress consent to hold
it's daily sittings, of but a few hours
each in a building it knew to be unsafe
and unhealthy? Not long, you may be
sure. Look at the speed with which
resolution ordering an examination by
experts was rushed through a short
time ago, upon Il bare newspaper init
nation that the sewerage of the Capitol
was in bad condition. And yet, year
after year it leaves three thousand men
and women-the employees of tie Gov
ernmen Printing Of1ice-in a building
which has been described by sanitary
experts as Il death-trap. and by archi-
tects and builders lis a fire-trap. Now
this isn't consistent. One class of gov
ernment employees are not entitled to
safe and healthy place to work in, any
more than any other Glass; There's
good sense in these remarks, even in
this year Of retrenchment and reform
in public expenditures, and it would be
good politics" for the democrats to
provide (what the republicans have
neglected to do) for new Government
Printing Office building; it would en-
phasize the claim always made by the
the democratic party, that it is the
friend of the Wage-worker.
The democratic leaders Of the House
have been unfortunate in having i'm
portant Legislative plans upset by ILL
ness during the present session. It
had been all arranged that Immediately
after the reports upon the three tariff
bills-free wool free binding twine and
free cotton ties and bagging-were pre-
sented to the House, the free wool bill
should be called up and the tariff de-
bate opened with set speech by Mr..
Springer. The reports were made on
Tuesday, but owing to the serious ill
ness Of Mr.. Springer the opening of
the debate had to be postponed until
next Tuesday, when Mr.. McMillin will
lead off for the Democrats.
Representative Mills is confined to
his bed with painful attack of erysip-
elias in the ankles. and his physicians
say he will not be able to resume his
duties for a week or two.
It is now estimated that the total
amount Of the regular appropriations
that will be passed by the present Con-
gress will be about S65, ,O0O, 600 less than
what was appropriated at the last ses-
sion Of the last congress. That means
one dollar less for every man, woman
and child in the United States.
Speaker Crisp says he proposes to al
low each member Of the House to do
his own voting, Notwithstanding the
decision of the supreme court in favor
Of Reeds counted quorum A thing
may be legal and yet not be right.
''One year from today" said Senator
Hill this morning, Il shall attend the
Inauguration of democratic presi-
Il ~ +