, 1894-09-29

the Senate in amending it into it's present
form. we do not doubt that the President and
the House of Representatives have done right
ly in accepting it as at least an inStalment of
the more liberal policy which TREY approve.
1t was tire lest Bill which they could obtain,
for 1t had become clear in the course of the
discussions between the two Houses of Con.
gress, that if it had been sent back to the
Senate it would not have been passed in an
amended or an unamended form. Gwen this
would have been better ttan a continuance Of
the unrest ag,l uncertainty Of the past six
months, when no one knew, what would be
done or what business transactions could be
entered upon with any safety. There is hone
now that trade will revive, and the general
confidence felt about the improved prospect
for the future is shown already in the higher
level Of prices reported from the Wal-strcet
Stock Exchange.
We publish this morning a very interes ing
letter from an American correspondent ON
the great tariff battle and it's lessons. 1t cor
reefs, some mistakes into which We trust very
few of our readers VIII have fallen, however
common they may be with the great MAORI
"ty of the people outside Of the United
States" But i'll its defence Of the conduct
OF the Senate in the great tariff battle " it
breaks new ground. 1t is not, we are inform
ed, the office Of the Senate to legislate for the
common good of the country. 1t is not for
this that it has been elected. and if it w re
to entertain such high-fown notions of patriot
ism it would fail in doing it's duty TO its
constituents, But we a e, perhaps, wrong in
thus speaking Of the Senate as in any sense q
collective body. 1t has "A collective name,
indeed, but the individual Senators who make
it up have no collective duties. The more hum.
BILE function of each one of them is to keen n
single eye on the interests Of his own State.
1t is these alone which he is to serve. and AZ
often rs they conflict with the common rood
it is the common good which mast give yyav
"Our country, rig t or wrong'-this policy
has been the boast and the reproaoh Of pro.
minent American politicians. Our Cores
spOndent's letter carries a like rule into inter
State politics. 1t asserts, with perfect truth.
that the Senate was constituted for fine de-
fence Of the smaller States against the over.
whelming preponderance Of the larger ones.
In the Lower House of Congress each State is
represented according to its population. The
election of the President is also determined
by a vote taken on a population basis. With
the Senate ii Is not SO. In that bOdv eAch
State is equally represented. Each sends two
Senators. New YOtk and Rhode Island, Pen
s~ylvania and Vermont, vastly as they differ in
population, are on the same footing in the
Senate. But it seems q little too much to CON
clude that, because the Senate was formed
with Il view to the defence of the weak, it's
members have no wider duties, and that the
United States, as a nation, have no claim on
their services. Such, however. seems in point
of fact TO be the case. The great Tariff
"battle' is the proof. Our Correspondent
holds that the Senators, in their G ,nductIOf il,
have been acting within their right, for they
have been each Of them rejecting the views
of the State which they were sent to Wash.
ington to protect. That they have been
within their legal right we must admit.
There is the same legal va idity for an honest
and for a corrupt vote, so hat if votes
were given for the benefit Of the Sugar Trust
they stand good none the less. But that the
obstructive Senators in the Tariff battle re-
flected the views Of their several States we
ale not equally sure. They unquestionably
reflected the views of some Interested sections
of their States, but what their States wished
for may be judged by the results of
the 9 ections to the Lower House. II they
chose freetraders to represent them it is diff
6cult to believe hat they were also rightly
represented by the protecticnist voters in the
Senate. We are in some doubt, therefore,,
whether the Senate ca be thought to have
rightly discharged even the narrow local
duty which is all that our Correspondent as