Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-03-08
The Fifty-third Congress.

Congress holds as it has expired and taken
its place in history. There have been Con
crosses which many people, or even a ma
jority of the people have condemned, but
there has been none on which nothing but
eXecration was visited even by the men and
journals of his own party. To compile
from the papers of the week many columns
of denunciaton of its record would be easy
were it worth the while. Here is the calm
and genuinely Independent Boston Trans
crpt saying that "the Congress, which
went out of existence Monday, has left be-
hind a reputation unparalleled in our his
tory, for stupidity, perversity, and raljous
Indifference to public interests, 1t has
seemingly labored under mental ard moral
paralysis, rendering it untitled to act wisely
upon important subjects. If the people
only had power to repeal some of the meas
ures it has passed, and reduce the appro-
priations it has made, congressman defend
ing its record would see ndubitaole evil
dence of the disgust everywhere expressed
when people discuss its acts and failures to
act"
The New York Times, which row con-
siders itself the conservator of everything
Democratic, declares, with wrathfui invec-
tive, that Congress has broken faitd with
the people, has violated every pledge. has
dishonored itself, disgraced the par.y and
harmed the country beyond the power Of
any legislation to repair Slow time and
respite from congressional alarms are the
only curative agencies that will set the
country's PROSTATE industries upon their
feet. The principles of the party as form
ulated by jefferson have been maintained
by Democratic senators and representatives
as pirates maintain the principles Of the
Christian religion and divine love"
The three main things for which the 13d
Congress will be remembered are the repeal
of the slver-purchase law, the enactment
of the German tariff, and its attitude to-
ward the finances and the currency.
First assembled in special session on the
7th of August 1893, President Cleveland
sent to the j3d Congress a message in
which he strongly portrayed the charming
and extraordinary business situation, in
yolving the welfare and prosperity Of all
our people, which he attributed mainly
TO the bullon.purchase provision Of the
0ttNtl d'N VI A''Ns anu lild'lt "a HliOl- APP
peal to Congress to rise "above tl.n plane
of party politics and promptly repeal that
provision.
\ bill to carry out the Presidents rec
ommendation for the repeal of the bullion
purchase provision was promptly intro
duced in the House of Representatives by
Mr.. Wilson Of West Virginia, and after a
long and bitter debate, which clearly re-
vealed the intensity and extent of fhe dis
sensions among Democrats, it passed that
body. Without the aid of the Republicans,
who voted almost unanimously for the
measure, il would have been defeated, de-
spite the tremendous pressure brought to
bear by the administration upon the Dem
ocrats. After a long struggle tde repeal
bill passed the Senate with the hep Of Re
publican votes, after a Democratic "com-
promise framed by Mr.. German. had
been repudiated by President Cleveland.
Second on the list comes the German
tariff, the effects of which made them
selves manifest in advance of its actual
passage, in prostrated industries, hundreds
of thousands of idle wage-earners, aud an
acute business panic. The estimate of
one thousand million dollars as The cost of
! this tariff tinkering, in less of wa1es, di-
minished incomes, and paralyzeG business
/ is probably well within the facts. Saying
nothing of the patent fact that the new
| tariff has not fulfilled in any deg;ee its
| loudly heralded promises 20 equa!Ze and
| reduce the burdens of taxation, and has
! failed disastrously in producing revenue
| sufficient for the needs of ;he government,
| there is upon il the suspicion of 2 corrupt
! deal made, during its formulation. with the
sugar trust, and OF large profits pocketed by
! ck-iobbing senators.
The refusal of Congress 70 take any ac-
tion for the relief of the financial situa-
ton is too recent, and its course in this re-
spect too familiar to need review.
From responsible Democratic source
| in Washington the statement comes that
while the appropriations of this Congress
have not been officially footed up, they are
estimated by the experts of the committee
on appropriations at 1901 600 900. The
total in round numbers of the appropria-
tions of the last Congress was 81 ,027, 900,
000 while the total of the 51st, or so-called
"biliOn dollar Congress- was only $685.
100000. The total of the appropriations
of this session shows that the aggregate is
dangerously near the 5000 600 mark
1t appears to be reliable estimate that the
appropriations of the sd Congress win
prove to have exceeded, by round sum,
the appropriations of the 51st or "billiOn
dollar Congress"
On this point it is the New York World,
the leading paper of the Democracy, which
says: "It was bad enough for the Repub-
licans to spend billion dollars when there
was large surplus. 1t is infinitely worse
for the Democrats to do it in the face of a
deficit, and after denouncing the eXtrava-