The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-19
srApTr1Nc CARELEssNEss.

When the country discovered few
months ago that section % Of the Ding
ley bill would, if carried out, literally
put an end to the shipment Of goods
into the United States in bond from
foreign countries, the fact itself was
not as startling and disturbing as the
other fact that such legislation should
have been approved by both houses of
congress and the president of the Unit
ed States, apparently without the
knowledge of any human being ex-
cept the skillful manipulation who
framed it. 1t indicated an inattentlon
and Indifference to their duty on the
part of legislators such as was hardly
believed possible. Nearly 800 men
should have scanned every line OF an
act of such Importance as this, which
had been under consideration for
months. and in which a simple inter-
polation Or omission might change the
fortunes of vast industries and add or
subtract millions of dollars from prl-
vate revenues or from the public treas
ury. We are beginning to see that
this was not mere accident, but belongs
to and is a part of the general decay
of public spirit and of the devotion OF
representatives to their plain and sim
pie duty.
Another illustration has come to
light which is scarcely less remarka-
BILE. In an act relating to pelasic seal
ing. whose intention and purpose was
supposed to be simply to prohibit
American citizens from engaging In
this traffic, and which has gone
through both houses, it is now found
that there is a section forbidding the
importation of sealskins into the Unit
ed States under any conditions. That
it may appear that this was not par
donable oversight, or because the mat
ter in question was skillfully concealed
in some portion of the bill apparently
relating to another subject, we give it
in full:
That the importation into the United States
by any person whatsoever OF fur sealsklns
whether raw dressed dyed or manufactured,
is hereby prohibited, and all such articles I'M
norted after this act shall take erect snall
not be permitted to be exported, but snail De
seized and destroyed by tne proper oiAeeis Vi
the United States.
There is no ambiguity of language
about this, or of intent. 1t proves on
the face of it that no man who either
read the bill in question or listened to
the reading of it could be ignorant of
IFS immense Importance. Yet we are
now informed that it went through
| both houses and went to the president
without any member of the house or
the senate. as far as the public is in
formed, being aware of its existence.
| If is Individually true that the average
congressman has ceased to regard him.
self as responsible in any particular
sense for any given piece of legislation.
He has his Interests" to look after,
and they are attended to carefully He
must see that private bills relating to
! his constituency are framed, put
| through committee and, if possible,
! log-rolled through the house. He must
| give ear to the similar private bills
fathered by his associates, which he is
obliged to support as the price of Sc
| curing their votes for his favorite
| measures. He has to attend carefully
| to the making up Of appropriation
| lists to see that his district is not for
| gotten, and that the largest possible
| amounts of money shall be ordered ex-
| nended there. This being done, he, as
a rule, regards his duty discharged. He
| is not in any proper sense representa-
| tive in congress Of the United States,
| nor is he even a representative of the
state from which he halls. He repre-
sents his district, and if the wants
| and desires of that district are attend
| ed to he feels that he will be forgiven
though everything else is neglected.
| Such an attitude is inevitable
| as a consequence of the prevailing
| character of the recent work of con-