Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-03-04
A Great Absentee.

A Washington Newspaper correspond
ent has been examining the records OF
Cameron and Quay in Congress, and sums
mp ouay's record which began with the
Fiftieth Congress. as follows;
nFor both the Fiftieth and Fifty first
Congresses the figures are: present, 24o'
absent, SIS, showing an attendance at less
than one third of the total calls for the
yeas and nays. The sessions OF the two
Congresses extended through % months
During IA ofthese months Mr.. Quay an
swered to only 32 calls of the yeas and
nays. and did not respond to 262 calls. In
only five months of the % did he respond
to more such calls than he absented HIM
self from, the aggregate for these months
being, present 123; absent, SO,
During the remaining % months the
f;onres We're: Present, 125; absent 432
His best attendance was during August
and September. 1890, when he responded
to 70 calls for the yeas and nays and was
absent from Sc TIE Mckinley bill was
under consideration about this time in the
senate where il was deliberated on from
July 25 to September 10. During this Pc
riod one in which Pennsylvania best IN
terests were at stake and amendments
were being offered continually to the bill
Mr.. QUAY was absent from 60 calls for the
yeas and NAYS out of a total OF l3o.
great deal of important legislation
was enacted by the votes cast on the yea
and nav divisions in the Senate, from
which Mr.. Quay was absent. At present
we will only mention some OF the import,
ant measufes raised by the Flfueth ana
the first sefs sion of the Fifty first Congress
in the absence of Quay. The bill to a9-
thorize the.purchase of United States ponds
was discussed and amended in the Senate
on March 26 and April 8, 1888, and was
nassed ON April 5, 1885, On all these lat
ter Mr.. QUAY did not respond to any call
for the yeas and nays on this bill.
An effort is being industriously made to
rally the old soldiers to the support OF
"Conrade Quay" yet the latter did not
tn ink il worth while TO be present when,
on February q, 1888 the dependent pen
sion bill was discussed, amen led and pass
ed. He was again absent on May, IL. 1888
when the House bill was amended aud
passed in the Senate making widows pen
sions payable from the date of the Hus-
bands death.
Hs was also absent when, on March l9,
1888, the Senate passed the bill appproprl
ating 800, 900 to the erection of monu-
ment in Washington City to the negro
soldiers who fell while fighting for the pre-
servation of the Northern life in the war OF
the Rebellion.
Again. although he introduced the de-
nendent pension bill into the Senate in the
first session of the Fifty first Congress, it
was passed by the Senate in his absence,
on February 81, 1890, and when the final
vote on concurrence in committee report
of both Houses was taken on June 70,
1890, he was again absent.
Another instance of "Comrade" Quay's
devotion to the interests of the old soldiers
was his failure to be present on Aprl! 10,
1890. when the bill to authorize additional
pension examiners passed the Senate.
The bill to prohibit trusts and monopolles
passed the Senate on April 8, lo9o' anu
seain Mr. Quay's interest IN the common
people was not sufficient 10 make hlm De
present. The bill for the classification oil
worsted cloths as woolens passed the
Senate Nav 8, 1890. A large delegation
| of Philadelphia merchants visited Wash
| ington in behalf of this bill, but that was
not sufficient to induce Mr.. Quay to be
present and vote for it.
| On Nav %. 1890, when the naval appro
i priation bill was under discussion and the
question of an appropriation for the open
| ing Of League Island navy yard was
| touched upon, attention was called to the
! fact that neither of the Pennsylvania
Senators we're 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. Mr.. 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 import
ant bills at whose passage in the Fittieth
and first sessions Of the Fifty first 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.
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
raugement with some equally negligent
Senator on the other side of the House
that they will offset each others vote oy
the miserable devise of "pairing." Neither
party is performing his duty 10 ms con
srituents, 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 assumption that 1t had been earned
by faithful and continuous service during
the sessions of the Senate. Even when
Mr.. Quay has not been absent from Wash
ington he has, as the Pennsylvania Repub-
lican Associations address pertinently
puts it. diverted his time TO Office get
ting" for his personal followers, and has
remained away from the Senate on that
account. More than once the Senate haT
been unable to do business because OF Il
lack of quorum when he was among tho
list of absentees, and this was notably the
case during the struggle to pass the free
elections bills.