The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-18

been permitted to go through the House
without a yea and nay vote. But I'M
mediately on the dreaded call OF the
yeas and nays which would put them on
record the more timorous mem bers have
precipitately run under cover OF lodged,
and after standing up valiantly for clerks
one moment, have with equal positive
ness recorded their votes against clerks
| the next.
When the Opportunity Came.
A more opportune time was selected
| last March, however, at the close of the
Fifty-second Congress, to accomplish the
long-desired object for the benefit of the
| succeeding Congress, the Fifty-third,
when it could not be justly charged that
the members had voted money directly
into their own pockets. A joint resolu-
ton, subt,y drawn, to which no valid
objection could be urged, providing
| simply to reimburse such members as
| should employ outside assistance for the
amount of their actual outlay, was intro
duced and called up in the last week. 1t
passed the House in a jiffy, was agreed
to by the Senate and sent to the White
| House, receiving the signature of Presi-
dent Harrison in approval among the
| last acts signed by him. Under it's pro-
vlSlOuS WneQ congress Is HUI III SOcoloh
| there can be no pay for clerk hire, and no
sinecure for the clerk, since it is assumed
that representatives can attend to their
own correspondence when none OF their
time is diverted to purely legislative
| work.
! Since the present session began the
| Congressman have been in high feather
on account of this acquisition of clerks
Some have brought bright young men
of their acquaintance from their districts
and installed them here in permanent
| way as their private secretaries. Others
| have made arrangements with resident
| stenographers and typewriters, male and
| female, to take their dications regularly
| and to run errands besides. Others still
| have distributed their work among sew
| eral individuals, turning their letters,
| for instance, over to stenographer,
| their pension calls and applications to
some young lawyer practicing before the
bureau, and their documents and speech
es to page boys, hangers-on in the depart
| ments, or..to friends or relatives elsewhere
| in the city. By q decision of the first
| comptroller the persons who do the work
are in no sense officers of the government
on that account, and consequently any
| member or delegate can hire any NUM- Der
of people to do his work, and likewise
any number of mem bers or delegates
can hire the same person or persons.
| Under this system expert stenographers
and pension attorneys will be able to
secure comfortable monthly stipend
| from several congressman at once by DO
| ing their work in com bination at stated
hours in the day; In fact, Congress
duly incorporated under the laws of the
| District Of Columbia to pursue this very
| sort of business and incidentally, OF
course to pick up 500 from each patron
monthly. But the personal and conf
Dental quality OF portion Of the mail
received and sent out by Congressman
| from achieving shining success, al
| though at first glance there would seem
| to be rich field for it here. AS to the
| Congressman themselves they have been
enjoying more leisure in the past month
than ever before during session, and
they feel fresher and better equipped for
engaging in the more attractive lines
of legislative work. They are already
sounding the praises of the new system,
and, under the circumstances, it has
probably come to stay.
Western Letter Writers.
In passing it is interesting to note the
striking differences in amount and degree
that characterize the correspondence of
Representatives from different sections
of the country. The mail of Representa-
tives from the New England and South
Atlantic States is comparatively light,
that of Representatives from the Middle
States is moderate, or from fair to
middling," and that Of the Western,
Northwestern and Southwestern States is
exceedingly heavy. In other words, it
seems that the people Of the older States
particularly of the thirteen original States
which had their existence before the
Union was established, lean but lightly
upon the federal government and have
but few wants to express in correspond
ence with their Representatives at Wash
ington. while residents of the newerStates,
whose State governments were erected
simultaneously with their admission in
to the Union, are apt to look to Washing
ton for nearly everything they. want. In
the old States along the Atlantic sea-
board the people by instinct and tradition
rely upon themselves and upon their
State government, while in the later adj
mitted States, especially those beyond
Illinois to the north, south and west, as
Missouri, the people appear by custom to
be more dependent on the general gov
eminent.
Particularly is this the case in States
where conditions of acute unrest and
dissatisfaction prevail, from industrial or
financial causes. There the people have
become habituaIly clamorous in their
demands upon Congressman to procure
them pensions, sustenance and situa-
tions, to remedy and redress their wrongs
real or imagined, to Tighten the burdens,
to mitigate their woes and to do other
things by legislation and influence at
Washington which can only be done by
the. exertion of individual effort and in
dependence Again, on the other hand,
the Southern people in the main bother
their Congressman very little by writing
letters -Washington Star.