The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-25
PETITIONS TO CONGRESS.
the FLOOD or NAMES EYER FLOW-
ING 10 wxsHIyGIO ON.

Nam~s-Questions That Bring Requests
to Congressmen-Enect of Petitions.
WASHINGTON, Feb An the days Of our
forefathers much new legislation originated from
the id-as conveyed 10 Congress through petitions.
Any person, organization or State having In mind
some scheme for necdful legislation made that
fact known Ia Congress through a petition and
the subject was duly brought 10 the attention
Of tho national body, Such n communication
was treated with RESPECT But the action "
Congress in permitting the introduction Of a bill
ON any conceivable subject and authorizing It's
printing was a death blow " the Importance Of
petitions. No matter how visionary a person
may be. ne can now get his IDEAS embodied in a
bill and brought 10 the attention Of Congress,
True, 1t may be- buried in committee, but II has
become a Congressional document with the privi-
| lege Of being ranked through the mails 10 any
part Of the United States.
With the beginning 81 this custom the petition
lost its Importance and its life is now brief at best
!, has It's birth in som reform crusade II is circu-
lated md is growth trnderly nurtured Some morn
ius II turns UP in the mail of a member OF Con
| gress in Washington. II he followed his natural
impulse il would go to the waste basket Instead
1t is turned over TO the tender mercies OF a clerk.
That is generally the last the Congressman ever
sees Of II, The clerk hurnedly endorses on the
| back, Petition Of Richard Roe and others, asking
for the passage OF a bill" &c. Congress
never hears Of it, II is taken by the clerk to the
| document room and Joins a hundred or more others
| on all conceivable subjects. Here another clerk
prepares a brief notice Of il for insertion in the
Congressional Record, and the petition is sent
to the committee having charge Of legislation on
the special subject mentioned, presumably to
be considered solemnly by the m and at
! the end Of the session to be stored among the Gov
| ernment records,
From then on the petition is IN constant jeopardy.
| There is not one chance in n thousand that 1t
will ever be opened. Observant persons have
noted that an amazingly small proportion oi
the vast number Of such documents referred 10 the
the various committees are ever heard OF more
Even after petitions come from m and
reach the records rooms they have been known
to disappear in some mysterious manner, No
body seems TO know how; and, as a matter Of fact,
nobody cares
In spite Of this strange disappearance, 'hou-
sands upon thousands Of petitions are preserved
in the vaults and atucs Of the Capitol lown
among the foundations Il the building On 10th
the Senate and House sides are rooms piled high
with such documents some stained and rotten
with age, while others arr fresh from the outer
world, On the House side, Just of from the west
floor, there Is a continuous tier Of rooms each
fifteen or twenty feet long and eight or ten wide,
extending up and up 10 the very skylight II the
roof Shelves loaded with boxes flied with pci-
tons are ranged all along the sides.
Scarcely a problem that has interested the
people since the establishment of the Government
but finds its echo here. Vital questions that in
the past have stirred the country to the depths,
and even brought tho divided nation to conflict
at arms. are brought, freshly before the memory
At every turn uf the eye. Away up under the
roof on the House side are stacks and stacks
Of anu slavery petitions, introduced by John
Quincy \d0ms when he was in Congress. II was
Ndams'S HABIT in those days when . petition
received recognition u cali attention To the House
thereto and then embrace III" opportunity 70 talk
about il. In this way H. va, continually keeping
the sul !cct icforc Congress and the pubic. The
consequent feeling against him among the South
ern m"mters Vas bitter In the extreme.
Near the anti-slayery PETITIONS are rows and
rows Of petitions representing every Congress
from IN" Early days Of the Government until now.
A cnturH'i. brilged with a dozen steps.
Coming down To more recent days, one is struck
by the Increasing volume Of Petitions each question
brings forth. and suggesting the spread of The
petition habit. The volume Of anti pottery pcti.
tons, for instance, is enormous. Despite tho
lack u influence which n sirCl' petition carries,
such an o~uthurst Of public sentiment MS this mass
Of petitions represents could not IL withstooi,
and the Fifty first Congress took action which
proved the death Of lotteries IN ihIs .n'.Ir 'Hly
one man had the temerlly 70 vote rralrs, Tie
Anti Lottery hill.
Ia tha naNt nDra tha inca, to- .-.f4.
came 10 the 'front.' AM the cHHI ~ 90 see .l,Te re
sorted 10 petitions Ia Congres,. H. ''W York
State the Henry Neorg, men saI a Movement
that resulted in possibly the ftSt ui al he freak
petitions that are now sent 10 Congress from time
Ia time. Endorsements OF the single tar move
mcnt were solicited in every par, OF the country.
Nhen these were gathered together a great ga ~
bureau was constructei with a drawer for e. Cl
State. These State drawers were subdiyi III
for counties and these IN turn for towns aul
cities. Tic =, stem wss so complete that II could
~ shown almost Instantly whether O certain
person in a certain town hat endorsed the petition !
"i not and the signature found in the great mass
taining the names OF fully O.0)o persons, was
wheeled into the ilouse and wheeled out again. |
is now IN a room far down among lhr founda-
tious bnriel un Ter q weight Of worthless docu-
m"ntS and fas, losing any semhlancr 10 its orgi.
nal beauty.
More recon, are the thousands Of petitions
concerning ,arii Legislation; and again old
forms we're cmDloyal 10 bring the pnti' urs -
the attention of Congress. The collar mo- rs
81 Troy, y. Y, tGr instance, submitted a .-Ht ,
book, SHAPED like a colin, containing their yIaws
on the taTli. Then there is The great petition
sent in by a New York newspaper AL Euuol |
in two volumes. containing the nam - NJ sub
scrio'rS Ia the Sl30.000 fund h. provide the l}ar
th0ldi statue in New York harbor wth n prir,,ui
In a ~c1rrtior near the present resin; place 81 the
petition is a model Of the PEDESTAL ana statue.
Previous 10 the war with Spain, t0rgr'sS WAS !
dslugri with petitions urging intervention IN
Cuba One dav a Representative ma le q char
a~cteristic speech in the House and callcl rhs
attention 10 his colleagues Ia a monster petition
purrOrting 10 contain nearly i,O0N, 900 names
that he presented a. the sentiment Of the country
favortng intervention, The petition was mounted
IN q great Teel and was Respondent with american
and Cuban flags. For several DAYS il stood
in an a1lac-ni rom and was viewed by thousands.
Finally som. inQuistive clerks took upon them.
the petition WIS unrollei Tho entire centre was
found TO be a blank. Instead 81 millions Of names,
the ~retition contained. by actual count, but H. |
900 and the most Of these were evidently written
by half q dozen persons.
othing In the past has ever approached the
flood vi potitions sent In against the stating OF
Roberts Of ttah, Seven tons VI petitions had
bean received whenit was decided u keep him
out, and II ~ reported that forty tons more a"
scattered about the United States rcady - be sent
on. Possibly some Of them will nrver r. "r
here, now that the object Of th~ir waruiactH-'
has been attained. From tho uB. mr.. Il Con-
gress till . few DAYS ago niR msmb.r fsll"i
y receive anti iob'r ri, - ti'oCs N rv'rv ml!l.
For weeks th"v came 80 IN t thst tho dncum ut
clerk cJIi. not disDp 80 81 than,
Tn" opening ar closing Of tn" WOrlG'S Fair
NJ chicago on SUNDAYS ami. tn auttscalr,lg
bll, wcr" among tn qu 'st,unS that br ,ucht many