The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-08-13
CONGRESS ADJoURNS.
A Resume of the Work of the Session

Especial Dispatch to the Baltimore sun.
WASHINGTON, Aug. AS SION as the
Worlds Fair appropriation bill was out OF the
way Friday Congressman began to leave the
city and the exodus has been going on ever
since until it would probably be impossible to
find a score of Senators and Representatives
in the city today. The session of Congress
Just ended has not had so many exciting
scenes and incidents as some former sessions
notably the first session OF the last Congress,
when Speaker Reed rode rough shod over all
the rights of the minority, and showed no
more regard for the rules or precedents OF
parliamentary procedure than it he had been
a veritable Gar of Russia, but its work has
been done quietly and well, and though there
has seemed to be at times unnecessary delay
occasioned by the liberal rules and the great
consideration of Speaker Crisp for the rights
of the minority, no matter how small that
minority might be, the session was nearly two
months shorter than that Of Mr.. Reed S bus
mess Congress- The appropriation bills
were passed more promptly than for many
years previously and much important legisla-
lion of general character was enacted. As
compared with the extravagant appropriations
of the last Congress, the past session has been
very economical, for, leaving out of consider
alton the additional appropriations made ne
cessary by the acts of the last Congress, the
totals for this session are about $50, 600, 900
below those of the first session of the last
Congress, aud this in spite of the growth of
the government business in the meantime.
The worst feature about the extravaganza of
the Reed Congress is that it has made it una
voidable that every Congress that succeeds
it should be "bllion dollar Congress" I'M
til the time arrives when the Democrats shall
control both houses of Congress and the pres
idency, for it enacted laws requiring appro-
priations each year until they are repealed,
and they will remain upon the statute. books
as long as the Republican party controls any
one of the threee branches concerned in the
making of laws. Even then it will not be
possible to make any very substantial reduc
ton in the expenditures of the government
until the time comes when the pensioners be-
gin to die off more rapidly. With all that
has been written upon the subject of pension
expenditures, it is doubtful if the country full
ly appreciates the weight of the financial bur-
den placed upon the treasury at the behest
of the pension attorney in the enactment by
the Republican Congress of the dependent
pension law. 1t has so increased the total
cost of pensions, including the administration
of the pension Office and the cost of distribu
ton, that out Of every five dollars collected
by the federal government from the people
fully two dollars is expended in pensions, and
this amount is to go on increasing for five or
six years yet at the lowest calculation until,
to the very conservative estimate of
Senator German, it will reach $500, 900, 900,
exclusive of the cost of distribution, while
Mr. Dockary, of Missouri, has estimated the
final total at the enormous sum of S225, 000,
600. With the pension expenditures increas-
ing so rapidly and the business of the govern
ment expanding on account of the rapid
growth of the country i'll wealth and popula.
ton, it is apparent that there can be no very
decided reduction in appropriations, no mat
ter how economical Congress may he dis
posed to be.
THE TARIFF ISSUE.
The issue upon which the present House of
was elected was that of the
tariff, and the large Democratic majority was
largely the result of the revolt of the people
against the party that had loaded them down
with the cxactions of the Mckinley tariff, not
for the benefit of the federal treasury, but
avowedly for the benefit of the favored man
ufacturers and the gigantic trusts, which de
manded the exclusion of foreign producers
from the markets of the United States to en-
able them to increase their prices without
The House, under the lead of
Mr.. Springer, adopted the policy of attacking
the Mckinley bill in detail, in the hope that
the Senate would join with them in the pas,
sage of bills removing from the people some
of the more grIevous burdens of useless taxa
lion. but the hope was a vain one, aud though
the House passed bills putting wool on the free
list aud reducing the duties upon wooden goods
more than one.half of the present schedule,
reducing the duty on tinplate to cent u
pound and making it free two years after DC.
lober |, admitting free of duty cotton bagging,
for making cotton bagging, cotton
ties and gins, admitting free silver, lead, ore
and putting binding Irvine on the free list
all measures calculated to decrease the cost
of living in the United States and to increase
the prosperity Of the agricultural classes
not one OF them was even considered by the
Senate, but all 6lumber in the Senate com
mittee on liuance. The House also passed and
sent to the Senate, where they are still I'M
acted upon, bills for the admission of the
Territories of Arizona and New Mexico to
the Union; and for the establishment of
local government in the Territory of Utah.
A joint resolution providing for the amend
Ipent of the constitution SO rs to provide for
the election of Senators by the direct vote of
the people was iilibustered against and its
passage prevented by the Republicans simply
because it had Il provision in it that would
effectualiy prevent the application of the prin-
ciples of the force bill to the election of SEN
ators. The House refused TO pass the Bland
silver bill. and later in the session defeated
the Stewart free coinage bill, thus saving the
country from the deprecated currency that
the Republican Senate was willing to impose
upon it at the behest of the silver mine owners
of the West. The record is one the Demo
cratic party can well afford to go before the
country upon.
THE MARYLAND DELEGATION.
The work of the Maryland delegation in
the past session will compare very favorably
with that of the delegation from any other
State in the Union. In the Senate, Mr.. Cor
man has occupied post on the committee
on appropriations, requiring plenty of hard
work and the closest attention to detail, and
though not the senior Democrat upon that
most important committee, much of its hard
est work has fallen upon his shoulders He
is also member ofthe important committees
on commerce and interstate commerce, as
we'll as of the commlttees on printing and on
expenditures in the executive departments.
His most notable speech during the session
was delivered upon the naval appropriation
bill, when he warned the Democrats in Con.
gress that in spite of all the economy they
could practice the appropriations of the pres
ent Congress would equal those of the last.
This speech called forth considerable criti-
cism at the time from those who believed
with Mr.. Holman that the appropriations
ought to be reduced even to the extent of
embarrassing the government, but the totals
for the session have proved Senator German