The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-03-08
CONGRESS HAS ADJOURNED

considered good or oao, IS 10"
sealed book for all time. 1t was an
historical Congress-the Spanish War
Congress-. While there are some
blotches and blemishes upon its re-
cord, its good deeds out number its
bad ones. In its last hours, It did
some neble aud unexpected deeds OF
fairness and even-handed justice.
Among these, the rivival OF the grade
of Admiral for George Dewey, aud
the refusal to sanction the conspiracy
Of the Navy Department against COM
modore W. S. Schley come in for
honorable mention. George Dewey
is now the full hedged Admiral OF the
American Navy-The first one We
have had since the Office lapsed with
the death OF Admiral Porter; and
Rear Admiral Schley was confirmed
with a rank two numbers ahead Of
his would-be robber, Rear Admiral
Sampson, who was compelled to take
his place (where he properly belong
ed) two numbers below. So that
SchleY now ranks with major-gen-
eral of the army while Sampson ranks
with brigadier-general. This leaves
these two officers in the same relative
positions to each other that they had
when the Spanish-A@erican war be-
gan. No one objected to Secretary
Long having his brother-in'law Cap
tain ". T. Sampson, promoted; but
nearly everybody objected to his
working most fragrant and palpa-
bic injustice upon another officer to
that end. Next to Admiral Dewey
himself, there was no other man who
came out of the war with as firm q
hold upon the admiration and afec-
ton of the whole body of the Ameri-
can public mind as did Admiral Win
field Scott Schiey.
Admiral Dewey is now our highest
officer in either the American army
or Navy, with the comfortable income
of $14,500 a year; but our highest
officer in the Army is only a major
general, Nelson A. Miles. 1t is no
fault Of General Miles himself that
Congress did not feel itself called up
on to revive the grade of General Of
the Army; for he was not given any
chance whatever of winning golden
Iaurels for himself. The determina-
ton and steady purpose of the Sec
retary of war was to see to 1t that
General Miles did not come out OF
the war with any additional honors
over what naturally came;to him by
virtue of his position as the nominal
head OF the army. The word nomi-
nal is rsed ad7isedly; for Gen. Miles
position was that of subordinate
during the recent war. Mr. Alger
made Gen. Corbin (Gen. Milesjunior)
practically hfs official superior
throughout the war; and not only
did so but actually aided and prompt
ed measures which were calculated
and expressly intended to make the
position Of the ranking major-general
anything but comfortable.
There is one thing for which the
Fifty-Fifth Congress was distinguish
ed above all of its predecessors, and
that is the total amount of money ap-
propriated BY it. The totals to the
credit of the last FIVE Congresses fol-
low: the Fifty-First appropriated the
handsome sum Of $l,035, ,6SO,l09, and
won distinction as the first billion
dollar Congress; the Fifty-Second
reached the billion mark with S1,027,
l04,547, but fell little short of its
predecessor; the Fifty Third (being a
Democratic) Congress fell little
short of the billion mark with $685.
239,205; the Fifty-Fourth beat all of
its predecessors with 81 ,043,437, ,01S-
leaving the Fiftv-Fifth Congress to
break all previous records with the
astounding sum Of sl,570,S49,57S-
over billion and half If the e1-
cess of this last Congress over its i'm
mediate predecessor be set down as
the total cost of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war, we find that the war cost US
fally a half billion dollars.
Some OF the most important foot
notes to the last hours ofthis last Con-
gress are interesting: the Democratic
leader Bailey, seeing that he was a
leader only in name aud not in fact
bowed himself down and out and
gave up the empty honor in conse-
quence of his failure to get the major
itv of his democratic colleages to sus-
tain him in an effort TO declare the
seats of Gen. Joseph Wheeler and
other members who accepted commits
sions in the voluntary army vacant.