Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-03-05
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COME, HIGH AND. CONGRESS RE-
FUSES TO .cHEAPEN, i,,sr


Funerals and Obituaries = 3snate and
House Decline to Omit .Them-GrOwth
of the rCOmmlssary Supplies
Some Recent ExtrayaGances. n, A.
Especial Correspondence Globe7Democrat(
washington. Senator PETER has 500
newspaper comments on his congress
sionaI funeral bill. Not one Of these
comments is unfavorable. The bill has
come before the senate three times and
been sidetracked three times ON parlia-
mentary pretexts. 1t will never pass.
Statesmen cling to their perquisites,' in
death as in life. Congressional eulogies
are as farcical as congressional funerals
are scandalous. In the house a rev
days ago heroic effort was made to do
away with the congressional eulogies.
1t commanded just thirty-one votes.
Those voting in the negative numbered
100. This division took place on the
heels of a statement from the former
chairman of the committee on printing
that in a single congress the bill for
printing eulogies Of deceased members
had cost over S1OO,O 900. The house had
a funny time in discussing the proposed
! reform.
Mr.. Lacey, of Iowa, told of constlt-
uent who had written asking for some
memorial addresses, because, as ne SAID
there was nothing he read with SO mucn
pleasure as the obituaries of congress
men," Oaughter)
"The whole country is about in the
same mind" commented Mr.. Walker, OF
Massachusetts, and there was announcer
roar of great laughter.
Mr.. Curtis, of New York, told now one
of these memorial addresses had
transformed venerable bachelor OF
mature years into married man with
wife and many children. daughter
I need hardly say that this account OF
the deceased member somewhat as
turbed his friends at home, who had al
WAYS supposed that their distinguished
representative at Washington mad pur'
sued an entirely different course Of
life" (Great laughter)
Having had their jokes, the statesmen
voted down the proposition to stop oe
livering eulogies to empty seats ana IN
dorsed the continued printing OF them
with steel-plate engravings, in somDer'
colored books, at a cost OF $5O,OOO o.
thereabouts annually.
The eulogles will be delivered ant
the funerals will go on after the Ole
nlan. 1t has cost us up to date ovel
500 900 to bury dead senators. Senator
PETERS bill does not propose that sena
torial deaths shall be ignored. 1t pro
vides that when a senator or represen
tative dies at Washington, the brancf
of which he is a member shall appoin
a committee Ito properly prepare ant
incase the body of the deceased and Tor
ward it in charge of a sergeant-at-arm
to the home of the deceased and deliVel
II to his family or to his relatives
This is to be done at government eX
nense. hut mo action or proceeding re
nuiring the expenditure OF pubic
money other than is herein provided
for. shall be taken" This is the pro
posed legislation which the press 81
unanimously indorses. Senator Haw
lev Of Connecticut, Senator Mills o
Texas Senator Faulkner of West Vir
einia and Senator Mitchell Of Oregon
have in turn found parliamentary OBJ
iections which have prevented a vote
on the bill. Doubtless some other sen
ators will be ready the next time tht
hill comes up as unfinished business
to shunt it out of the way. One day
the bill was to be considered at
o'clock. That day the senate adjourned
at 1:48.
Where Senator PETER finds an unan-
swerable argument is in the growing eX'
travagance in attending these funerals
I'd to 1847 there had been forty-eight
deaths of senators, and in only eleven
Of these cases was the senate called
upon to spend any money. When sena-
tors died at their homes or during a
recess of the senate, it was not deemed
necessary for the government to turn
undertaken. Now, however, no sena-
torial death is allowed to escape the
contingent fund. Down to 1S47 no SEN
atorial funeral cost as much as $1,000.
Since 1877 every senator but one who
has died has been buried at government
expense. 1t is perhaps worthy Of men
ton that the last senatorial death be-
fore 1877 which did not cost the govern
ment anything was that Of Lewis V.
Bogy of Missouri. Mrs. Leland Stan
ford did not permit the senate to pay
any of the bills of her husbands flu
neral, but the Hearst obsequies cost the
government $21,S22.55.
Some Of the more recent congress
sional funerals illustrate the elasticity
of the expense accounts. When Repre-
sentative Houk of Ohio dropped dead
during the last congress, he was given
casket that cost $3.50, to which was
added a copper lining at cost of 500
more. A brick grave and a marble
slab we're put in by the thrifty ceme-
terry management in Ohio. 1t cost
$937.24 to take the committee from
washington TO DAYTON and back, and