Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-01
On both occasions Mn Quay

concurred. On both occasions Mr quay
was absent
On March Z, 1888, the bill enforcing the
eight-hour law was voted on In the Senate,
yet MI. Quay had not sufficient Interest In
the workingmen affected to be present
On February 20, 1885, an amendment Vas
proposed to the Senate bill to incorporate
the District of Columbia" requiring that
the rails used should be of American manu-
facture. The amendment was passed, but
Mr.. Quay was absent a. usual
The bill to prohibit Chinese immigration
passed the Senate in MI. Quay's absence on
September z, 1888 The bill to refund the
direct tax was voted on In the Senate on
February 10, 1883, and Mr.. Quay was alb
sent, although Pennsylvania had q very
large pecuniary interest in its passage.
Trusts and Monopolics Forgotten.
The bill to prohibit trusts and monopolies
passed the Senate on April 8, 1890, and
again Mr.. Quay's interest in the common
people was not sufficient to make him be
present The bill for the classification Of
worsted cloths as woolens passed the Senate
May 8, 1890 A large delegation OF Phila-
delphia merchants visited Washington In
behalf of this bill, but that was not sufficient
to induce MI. Quay to be present and vote
for 1t.
On May %, 1890, when the naval appro-
priation bill was under discussion and the
question of an appropriation for the opening
of League Island navy yard wars touched
upon, attention was called to the fact that
neither of the Pennsylvania Senators were
present. and in fact, seemed to take very
little interest in the matter.
The Blair educational bill was long dis
cussed in the Senate. nearly every Senator
taking part in the debate. MI. Quay did
not say anything, nor was he present when
the final vote was taken, on March, 20, 1890,
when the bill was rejected by the Senate.
The above are only some of the important.
bills at whose passage in the Fiftieth and
first sessions of the Fifty-frst Congress Mr..
Quay failed to be present and vote His
friends will no doubt claim that he was
paired on many of the yea and nay votes,
but that makes very little difference.
Pairing a Poor Excuse.
A man cannot properly perform his duty
as a lawmaker who absents himself when
bills are discussed, amended and passed or
rejected, by going for weeks at time on
fishing and hunting excursions to Atlantic
City or Florida, and simply making an ar
rangement with some equally negligent
Senator on the other side of the House that
they will offset each others vote by the
miserable device of pairing" Neither
party is performing his duty to his con-
stituents, nor are they morally entitled to
draw one cent of salary from the peoples
money for the time thus wasted.
We have, however, yet to- hear that Mr..
Quay, although absent from over two-thirds
of the roll calls for the yeas and nays, has
covered back into the Treasury any part of
the salary which was paid him on the as
sumption that it had been earned by faith
full and continuous service during the ses-
sions of the Senate Even when Mr.. Quay
has not been absent from Washington he
has, as the Pennsylvania Republican Asso-
cations address pertinently puts it, ''di-
verted his time to Office getting" for his
personal followers, and has remained away
from the Senate on that account. More
than once the Senate has been unable to do
business because of lack of a quorum when
he was among the list of the absentees, and
this was notably the case during the strug-
gle to pass the free elections bill.