Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-10
MAY ULTIMATELY PREVAIL
The Distribution Of Appropriation Bills ID
the Senate.
Tint Method Approved by Experience
I'm the H0usc-Was First =
Reaisted There.

The rostponenient until next winter Of
the question of disnantling the Senate APP
preparation committee, to use Me-. Hales
felicitous expression. may not mean the ul-
innate defeat of the proposition. In the
end it may prevail. 1t las many support
ers, and brought forward as it will. be then,
shcrn Of some of the enbarrassments that
were found to beset ii now, Senator's may
be willing 10 record themselves with entire
freedom from extraneous considerations.
The Practice Approved.
There would appear to be no reason why
the practice CT the House with regard to
the appropriation bills should not he the
practice of the Senate. The practice stands
approved by experience. This work of the
House is swiftly and satisfactorily done.
Under the cid system, when enc committee
handled all of the supply bills, service
that committee, while it conferred much
distinction on man end was gladly I'M
deftaken, was yet a species of slavery.
From the day the estimates were first taken
up, till the day the last of the bills was
repo, ted to the House, members of the conf
mittee rae 10 time for anything else They
We're all but locked TO the committee table,
ike galley slaves to the oar. The distribu-
ton of the bills has relaxed the tension,
and even improves the work of enabling it
to be done without any driving The bills
are reported in good time. and there is
floor of the House
The Change Was Resisted.
1t is recalled. however, that this change,
now 80 generally approved, was resisted
when first proposed. And, furthermore It
is not the offspring of business pure and
simple but of factionaE fight in the ranks
Of the democracy over the tariff issue In
the Forty-eighth Congress, Mr.. Carlisle
after defeating MIN for Speaker. appointed
Mr. Randall chairman of the appropriations
committee of the House That committee
then controlled all of the supply bills of
Congress and under the rules was the
autocrat of the House in the matter of the
right Of way for its business The chair
man could sidetrack other measures to suit
himself whenever he might choose to do So
Randall and the Tariff.
Complaint was made of Chairman Randall
| by the tariff reformers. They charged him
with using his place to defeat the Morrison
| horizontal tariff bill, although specifications
| were not forthcoming. When the Forty
| ninth Congress was organizing, Mr.. Carlisle
was asked not to reappoint Mr.. Randall to
appropriations. The tariff fight was to be
| renewed, and 1t was urged that Mr.. Randall
| as an aggressive prctectionist, ought not to
hold place carrying 50 much power. But
| Mr.. Carlisle would not humiliate his old
| rival. Then was devised the scheme of SUBJ
| ordinating the committee by distributing the
| Hofh IL WIS Charged with among Otner COM
| mittees. and this, after time. was carried
Echoes of That Scrap.
Echoes of that scrap, with the attending
suggestions, had their influence on Fri
days vote in the Senate There was no
analogy proper between the case OF Mr.
Randal IL and that Of Mr.. Allison, but the
fact that personal considerations were
somewhat involved in the one as they had
been in the other was taken into account.
Mr.. Allison is a very popular man in the
Senate, and has made great reputation
as chairman of appropriations. He would
serve with distinction on any committee.
He would not disappear from view if the
appropriations committee were to be wiped
out altogether. But 1t was thought TO be
hardly advisable to make any change now
when no misuse of his place was being
| urged against Mr.. Allison. and when his
prominence presidential candidate
might give the change a significance
I either intended nor desired
To Come Up Next Winter.
The matter therefore, goes over without
prejudice as the lawyers say. When Con-
gross meets mex. winter Mr.. Allison will
either be Presiient-elect Of the United
| States else entirely out of all presi-
! dental calculation s, and in either event his
attractive personality will no longer stand
| in the way of decision Of this question.