Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-12-02
CONGRESS AGAIN
AT THE OLD STAND.
fcepyright. 1900, by Amos ]. Cum
ssivs, fninRs.)


mings.)
washington. ID. c.. Dec. 1.-THE
whirliEig OF events is again dropping
Congress into the wings of the Capitol.
The nation is on the Gui vive. 1t will
watch its proceedings with interest.
Curious events preceded 1t, curious
events await 1t, and curious events will
inevitably follow it. a President has
been chosen; a new Congress elected.
All the emotions that can stir the
human heart entered into the contest
Wholesome, vile. virtuous and vicious.
The new President is not new, put the
new Congressional machine awaits
trial. The old machine is to run three
months longer. 1t has been cleaned
and renovated by the results OF the
election Its cogs valves, cylinders,
pumps and pistons are still in line
working order. Its steel screws ana
plates shine like silver. and its brass
ornaments have lost none of their lus-
ter. To-day the great fly-wheel OF leg
tSlatton is poised on It's axle awaiting
the action of the man at the lever. On
Monday 1t Will move as easily and
gracefully as the down of a dandelion.
The chief engineer of the House left
dubuque a week ago. and has been
porting over the work before him. divid-
Ing his time between his hotel and the
Capitol. A glance at the calendar of
the House will give an idea of the work
before him. 1t contains already four
special orders, Isl bills reported to the
Committee, of the Whole House on the
State of the Union; o. on the House
calendar and 457 bills on the private
calendar. If all these bills are passed.
and the amount of money appropriated
in them added to the amount required
by the regular appropriation bills, the
government will be obliged to take adj
vantage of the bankruptcy law. And
still the sixty committees of the House
will continue to grind out bills until
the LIST day of March, at least doubling
the number already on the calendar.
On June last Mr.. Cannon summed
up the appropriations made by the
first session of the present congress as
S709. T29,47689. If this session does as
we'll as the last. the sum total will be
81, 419, 45S, 953.7S. Add to this the irriga-
tion, the ship subsidy, the river and
harbor, the public buildings bill, the
Nicaragua canal bill, all of which are
being strongly pressed, and the outlook
can be by no means reassuring. Aside
from this. everybody is looking for
reduction of taxes. The brewers are
making an earnest effort to secure a
repeal of the tax of 81 per barrel on
beer. They claim that it is double
war tax. because the dollar imposed
during the civil war has never been
removed. There is also n strong pres
sure for the repeal of the stamp tax
on checks patent medicines. legal doc
uments negotiable notes. marriage con-
tracts and burial certificates. The rev.
enue is said to exceed the expenses by
more than SOC. 600 year. This eX-
cess, however, would be quickly wiped
out by the irrigation and other bills
just mentioned.
Aside from these great augur7,
thousand little gimlets are boring into
the treasury. The speaker must care
fully survey the situation. He is, ipSo
facto, the great brake on legislation.
The rules give him the power TO con-
troll legislation in the house, and he Is
responsible for Its excuses. His Judg-
ment ought not to be warped by his
lions. With the volume of appropria-
tions now confronting him. aside from
numerous additional perplexities. the
outlook is appalling. Certainly 1t is
not roseate. 1t took six months last
year to appropriate $709. 729, 4I6S9. If
the same sum or more is appropriated
this year it must be done in less than
three months.
But Chief Engineer Henderson has
an experienced corps of assistant engi-
neers. They have already been at work
applying their oil cans here and there,
and furnishing the bearings of the ma
chinery at every point. Serene Payne,
fortnight ago, was overhauling the
valves of the ways and means COM
mittee, and lubricating it's machinery.
John Dalzell, Albert j. Hopkins.
Charles H. Grosvenor. Charles A. Rus
sell, George w. Steele, James y. Taw-
ney, Samuel w. Mccall and Chester /.
Long Officiated as oilers and wipers
: Serene Payne is a skilled congress-
ional, machinist. He thoroughly under
stands parliamentary intricacieS, and
II yVh a n n
or a screw so as to avoid friction. He
keeps his eye on the safcty-valve, and
never lets the water run low in the
boiler. He has been in the employ of
the house for sixteen years, and he is
q perennial candidate for governor of
New York. If his familiarity with
the New York machine was as perfect
as his familiarity with the congress
ional machinery, he would probably
have been governor many years ago.
The minority members of the COM
mittee, as usual. will be invited to look
at his job after 1t is completed. iona
than p. Dolliver, an experienced en-
gineer, has discharged himself from
the working force. and roamed into
more dignified body OF workingmen in
the United States senate with no in
crease in wages, but shorter hours,
greater opportunities, and more pom
derous honors.
It looks as if the brewers would hard
1y be able to extract much of the es-
sence OF comfort from the political
moraIizers of the ways and means. The
oilers, cleaners, and polishers of the
minority may secure time to express
their Indignation on the floor OF the
house, but even this is problematical
Nor. can the brewers cast more than n
wistful eye to the senate. It's prohi-
bition tendencies are even stronger
than those In the house. and there are