Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-08-19
REVIEW OF THE WORK OF CONGRESS

PnssS ms Deen hDiy hulhHNfi@'A pJ ii''i
William l. Wilson. ~ West Virginia. as
follows:
The Fundamental creed OF the Demo
cratic party L, that we are to work out our
prosperity moro by Individual effort than
by laws OF congress II Is not believer in
high government or In plentiful Legislation.
IL seeks 10 confne federal legislation in
the field prescribed for II by tho constitu.
ton, and il seeks to conflne all legislation
in limits where IL cannot invade the indi-
yidual freedom Of the citizen. To judge n
Democratic house, therefore, we must con-
slider not the quantity but the quality Of
the work IL has done.
With an adverse senate and an unfriendly
executive, 10 would have been mere bravo
do for the Democratic house 20 enter upon
any thorough course Of rcformatory legis-
lation. IL sought 10 relieve the burdens OF
tho taxpayer and To stimulate American
industry aud commerce by repeating the
most oppressive taxes OF the Mckinley bill
Having decided through It's committee To
attack tLat bill In detail rather than by
a general revision, 1t passed In turn six
tariff bills as followss Putting wool on tho
FREQ list and reducing tho dptles on woolen
goods putting binding twlna. cotton ttes
and cotton bagging M also machinery for
making cotton bagging. on the FREQ lHx
repeating duties on silver-lead orc and tin
plate, and limiting the amount OF wearing
apparel that can bc brought into the coun
try fire Of duty. These six bulls make up
n Substantial measure OF relief, aud they
oarry tho benefits OF tayif reform home to
the working people OF the country. They
would have been followed by other bills
had not tho senate shown its determination
to ignore all Of them. They led to u do
bate, especially tho wooden and tin plate
bills, that evoked large number Of very
good tariff reform speeches, excellent con
tributions to the campaign of education.
Any attempt to throw ridioule on them as
not bcing substantial fulflllment OF Dem
ocratic promises to tho people Ia met 10y an
assertion Of prominent Republican mem
Der Of the ways and means cornmitte that
they amount to virtual repeal OF the
Mckinley bill.
In the amount Of fts expenditures this
house has not been able TO reduce as much
az II expected the appropriations OF the
Fifty-nrst congress, because IL could not
repeal the laws of that congress that added
40 enormously to our annual budget To
be frank, tho dependent pension bin Of Mr..
Reeds congress added many millions 10
our yearly appropriations, and. IA all men
know, pension legislation never goes back
ward. So with tho subsidy and bounty
bills OF that congress, which this house
was powerless to repeal.
But while II has met honestly the 10
qnirements of these laws the house has
been In the main careful of its own ex-
penditures. IL has passed no new public
building bills. II has passed fewer private
bills carrying appropriations than any
recent congress, and it's private pension
bills have been more carefully scrutinizcd
TO separate tho good from tho bad
On the silver question the house declined
to pass the Bland bill and refused to take
up the Stewart bill Even those who be
lieved that there wac In these bills some
potential benefit TO tho people must admit
that tho Democratic party could not have
committed itself TO free coinage at the
ratio proposed In those bills without
throwing away every prospect Of success
In the presidential campaign and becoming
for the time being almost a southern and
sectional party. II was the highest politi
cal sagacity, whatever might have been the
merits Of the proposed Legislation, to avoid
% ohNP NttNfhh W usSiuPp tut puktl, tdbi
with that disruption firmly and perma-
nently 10 seat In power the protected PIN
tocracy. with full opportunity to plundcr
the people with new tariff bills and to sub
jugate them with force bills. Tho present
house does not suffer In any point In com
parison with tho last. 1t has had code OF
rules and an administration Of it's rulea
that did not become autocratio or partisan,
anH tha ti,,htu ~ he email t,,tnn.it,, - d.
publican and third party members have
been uniformly respected
II has been notably free from acrimoni
GUS debates, and its records nowhere show
the passionate and indignant protests Of a
wronged minority which marrcd the pro
ceedings Of the last house.
have mover known house In which
there has been less buncombe partisan do
batting or one in which there was less
effort TO manufacture campaign material
on the eve OF a national election.
II the house has been thwarted by the
senate In It's general work and In It's efforts
10 lessen the burdens Of the people, Il hos
given proof Of its desire to do both, and
has been always tender In ad.iina new
charges upon the treasury.
1t did not Increase tsxee. IL passed no
subsidy bill. IL voted no bounties. II
passed no bills TO overthrow elections In
tho statea ltvacated no Republican seats
for Democratic contestants, except I'm one
case, and that upon o practically unaf1i.
nous committee report IL did not rob the
minority Of their rights OF servilely sur
render its own rights into tho hands of its
speaker and its committee ON rules. II
under firm discipline and recognized lead.
ership " might have done all that " did
more expcditiously and hove edded other
aud even wiser measurs VI relief and re-
form, II still kept its work fairly abreast
with the progress of the senate, and II
showed once ngain how much safer for the
| country and how much nearer TO tho people
| IL n Democratic house than ono which rep.
resents tho great special interests of the
country. Those interests demand legisla.
tion for their own benefit, and demand I,
so imperiously thot parliamentary law
traditional usage, all the safeguards of FREE
legislation and of free elections must g,
down before them. The people Of tho ooun
try cannot again safely trust the house o