The morning times., 1896-06-07
CONGRESS F|FTYYEARS AGO
Measures Discussed Similar to
Current Issues.
GIANTS WERE IN DEBATE
Jefferson Davis, Daniel Webster,
Calhoun, Douglas, Thurman and
Stephens Were Members.
GIANTS WERE IN DEBATE

Fifty years ago last week a famous
Congress was deliberating up on Capitol
Hill. 1t was not so distinguished in
achievement as in personnel, but it had
| many great questions on its hands.
glance back TO the records OF fifty
years ago this week shows many inter
estn2 analogies in the working OF the
business of the national houses then and
| now. In general way the same topics
engross both sessions with half a cen
tury intervening.
consideration uppermOst in the minds
OF the Senate and members, as shown by
an outline of procedure was adjournment.
The patriotic gentlemen who regard the
American home as the best thing in the
world, were anxious TO get there. The
Iwenty-ninth Congress also had a bound
airy dispute on. 1t was not a Venezuelan
line, but, strangely enough, it was with
The British over the boundary of Oregon.
Financial deficiencies stared them In the
lace, and as the present Congress has TO
WreStle with the war i'll Cuba, the Twenty
| ninth had Mexico on its hands There is
evidence that history repeats itself In the
perennial presence then as now of the
tariff bill and pension questions. The
first thing Monday morning, June /,
1916, in the Senate was a petition for a
pension; the last consideration Saturday
night, June 6, was permanent adjourn
ment.
In that week they had many claims pre-
snnted for reimbursement for supplies fur
nished Indians. and canal trusts gave them
the same trouble that the railroads do, now
that Indians and canals are pasSe and out of
the fashion plates.
In the spring of 1886 there were twenty
six States in the Union against forty-six
now. The whole House of Representa-
tiyes numbered but 224 members. There
are 436 members at present The Capitol
as 1t stands at present was within several
years of completion, and the Senate CON
vened in what is now the Supreme Court
room and the II use occupied the present
Statuary Hall.
SENATOR'S WHO ARE FAMOUS.
II was famous gathering. Names now
famous and historical, if net immortal .
were inscribed on the roster e legislators
Vice President George NJ Dallas was the
least conspicuous # the body of men ovcr
whom he presided. No commentary is
rn"eSSHrv in calling attention to Daniel
Webster, John C. Calhoun, Tom Benton oil
| the other Tom" Tom Corwin. Jno A . Dix,
father of the Gotham divine, Morgan Dix
sat IN tins Senate. He is well remembered
for his famous dispatch to New Orleans in
| obey: IF any one attempts to haul down
the American flag shoot him on the spot."
Another distinguished father of diStin-
gulShed son was Simon Cameron of Penn
| Sylvania, parent of Senator Don Cameron.
The elder Cameron was a Democrat. \
name that looms up cOnSpicuouSly is that
of lie W. CaSS OF Michigan He was Demo
cratic nominee for the Presidency in 1S4S
but Zachariah Taylor, fresh from the laurelS
OF the Mexican war, defeated him ove:-
whemingly CaSS while a member of the
Ohio legislature, framed the law which
enabled the authorities to arrest the men
of Aaron Burr's reasonable expedition
There was Clay's successor. John j . Crit
tenden. termed by his compeerS 1.-The most
able debater in the Senate" Samuel Phelps,
father of the late minister to Great Britain;
| Daniel Sturgeon, the silent Senator, and
others of less note.
MEMBERS WE ALL KNOW.
On the House side there were even
more brilliant names-nameS that at once
force themselves upon the attention are,
jefferson Davis, Hannibal Hamlin, who
was later Vice President of the Union when
lis former colleague was president of the
COnfederacy; Robert Winthrop, a descend
ent of Colonial Gov. John Win throp;
Alexander Stephens, Gcorgia's greatest
son; Stephen A. Douglas, the nations, as
the recently-deceased grand old man of the
Democratic party, aud John Slidell, Of
Louisiana, the great apostle of State SOW
ereignty, whom Mexico refused to accept
as minister from this country.
TomorruT viii be June l. Ii is a Coin
cidence that fifty years ago tomorrow
morning was also June l. There is no
one about the Capitol to tell about how
Jeff. Davis came up the hill on foot, or
min n -ltI N Il
eron in a shay. n III
There is not even q living witness ac-
ccsSible to tell what happened after the pre-
siding Officers of the two Houses had rap
ped their assemblies to order. Capt. Bas-
sett might have contributed some inter-
estng "reminiscences. However, there is
a witness who, though mute, speaks. 1t
is the old files of the Congressional Globe
The Globe was the anteccdent of the Con-
gressional Record but it was printed on
private presses, and did not appear oftener
than twice week.
The north boundary line of the then
Territory OF Oregon was the occasion of a
magnificent speech by Cass, of Michigan,
against Tom Benton on Monday. But Ben
ton was as wise in his genera ton rs the
skillful contrOverSialistS in ours, and he
knew the value OF Il cool head, tempered
with little humor. He rose deliberately
after CaSs pyrotechnic peroration, in which
he had invoked all the virtues and powers
and called on the earth and heaven, and
asked the Wolverine If he had ever been
in fox hunt. 1t is only by written history
that Cass shook his head but the laugh must
have been furious. Then Benton said that
he had not either, but he had learned that
one of the rules Of the sport was not to
ride on both sides of the Saplings. With
this opening wedge. the gifted man from
Missouri demonstrated his retaliative force
in way that utterly squeIched Cass. Cass'
speech was, by the way, in reply to one
OF the greatest efforts of Tom Benton's
career, his speech OF the Saturday preced-
ing on the explanations leading to the
discovery of Oregon. He had a grandiose
way contemplating OF remark suggestive of
a dgnified 'hemr' behind his hand. For in
stance in this speech he had to introduce
some English data. Having finished he re-