The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-18
OPEN SENATE SECRETS
No Dearth of Information Con-
corning Executive Sessions.
SENATE METHODS HAVE CHANGED.
In Early Times All Its Sessions Were So
cret, Debate Was Limited and the House
Afforded the lest Field For Ambitious
Statesmen.

Statesmen.
WASHINGTON, Jan. ls.-[Special. AL
though the senate has for some time de-
Dated the Hawaiian treaty in executive
session, there does not appear to be any
dearth of information concerning what is
said In the discussion. Every day the
newspaper correspondents have had as
full reports as they cared for, and they
have been able to secure them without any
great trouble. In several instances the
senators who have made speeches have
themselves furnished written reports of
their remarks TO the press and in other
instances have been found only too willing
to repeat what they had said on the floor
of the senate. Notwithstanding this pub
LEFTY, great majority of the senators still
adhere to the opinion that tho secret ses-
sion Is good thing. They contend that
there Is no objection to part of the de-
bate being given to the press, but claim
that other parts, which 1t would not be to
the interest of the country to have made
public, can be more easily suppressed in
the secret than In the open session. This
is particularly true, they say, when the
discussion Is of a delicate international
nature. Even il garbled reports of what
Is SAID In secret session do get out they
carry no weight of authority with them,
while the same things said in open session
would of course be reported stenographic-
ally.
Secret Sessions In Early Times.
Mr. George Gorham, who was once sec
II k., 20 ,kc hao
found respect for that body and all its ira
ditions and customs, calls attention to the
fact that In its earlier years the senate sat
all the time In secret. Then the senate
was regarded as q sort of executive coun-
oil, view which was more or less war
ranted by the constitution. It was regard
ed as half advisory to the president, hav-
ing peculiar powers as to appointments
and az to treaties, and half legislative in
| that It co-operated with the house In the
| enactment of laws. The senate held all
| It's sessions In secret till 1894, when Bit
| ter contest over the seating Of Albert Gal
latin led to the doors being opened to the
| public. In the old days both the president
and members of the cabinet were In the
| habit Of visiting the senate for consulta-
| ton, and the body was then more of
| ministerial council than anything else.
| Our forefathers could not foresee the
| growth of the Union till instead Of 22
| senators, the number they had at the be-
| ginning, there should be 90 senator's on
| the floor.
] After the government was removed to
| Washington the senate sat In what Is now
| the supreme court chamber. No provision
was made for the public, and the sittings
| of the upper branch were for q long time
( very exclusive The little gallery which
/ now hangs above the bench behind which
| the supreme court sits was not erected till
| a much later day. 1t also transpires, much
| to the surprise of some senator's, that In
| the old days their branch of the national
| legislature had rule for limiting debate,
! and business and not speechmaking was
the order there. The great debates were,
as a rule, held In the house, and there 1t
| was thought ambitious young statesmen
| had the best chance for gaining reputa-
| ton. So much was this true that James
| Madison is said to have once declined a
| seat In the senate, and preferred one In
| the house, since 1t was in the latter body
he could do some good for himself. Now
| il Is quite the other way. In the senate
| one may speak as much as he likes, and IL
he has it In him to make reputation as an
|
| must sometimes wait for years for good
opening
| New Story Teller In the House.
| The recent civil service debate in the
house brought out quite number of clever
speakers and also the usual quota OF story
tellers. Congressman White of North Car
| olina, a new man in the house, made quite
reputation for his apt stories and Illus
| A. 81 DO hr
commended that the civil service law should
ut least DO modified, and he said no was
reminded of an incident which occurred
| while he was boy down south.
zone Sunday" said the congressman,
while all the members gathered about
the statesmen are like other people I'm lik-
ing a good story--'one Sunday / went to
| church. 1t was little slab church in an
oak thicket. got I'm and / heard the
| preacher praying. He prayed honestly
/ and fervently. He broke forth in all the
I eloouence of his soul % Lord, have
mercy upon sinnersl . Lord, wilt thou
| ourtail the devil in his mad careerP A
| GOOD old deacon over I'm the corner broke
in with, YES, good Lord, cut his tail clean
off, And IL / had my way" added the
| sneaker, At would cut the tail OF this civil
service devil of close behind its ears"
The senate has been discussing the bill
through which 1t Is proposed to arrange
| for taking the next census Of the United
States. / have the authority Of recog-
nized census expert, Carroll ID. Wright,
commissioner of labor, who closed up the
work of the last census, for the statements
that this country has never yet had what
might DO called good census. Its work
has always been marred by Inaccuracies,
sometimes through inefficiency, other
times through defect In the law providing
for It. asked Mr.. Wright II some foreign
countries did not take their enumerations
of population in single day, and he re-
piled that that was true, but that such
censuses were notoriously inaccurate and
misleading. In the opinion of experts the
United States needs permanent census
bureau, through which the organization OF
the machinery and perfection OF methods
NAV DO carried on all the time till we
reach the best possible results.
Clara Baritone Predicament.
Miss Clara Barton, the well known