The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-03-08
WASHINGTON, MARCH 2, 'O7.

iuoL oCSSIOu VI INC III -HIHlu COu
gress, has been a vociferous an(
tumultous one. There have beer
sounds of forensic uproar by day
and night, wild and desperate
sorties of eloquence have beer
met on every hand by the doggeC
resistance of valorOus parliament
airy opposition, and throughout
the halls and galleries and up and
down the corridors has ceaseless
ly resounded the din of the strug
gle in the last ditch. Continu
ously the aids of the opposing co.
horts have rushed hither and yon
as if the fate of a nation rested
on their success in getting some
where and back in a second, and
every countenance has borne the
deep imprint of the stress of the
heaviest kind of heavy thinking.
Amid the turmoil and discord it
has not seemed possible that any
thing whatever could be accom-
plished, but out of the chaos,
has come results. They have not
always been such results as will
produce the greatest good for the
greatest number, nor such as the
leaders themselves most desired,
but in the last hours compromise
has been the rule and everyone
has taken the best it could get,
whether it just suited or not.
| am informed that we are to
have a continuous session of the
senate from this-Saturday-af-
ternoon to the minute of adjourn
ment at noon of Monday, and
Sunday will vn"~ likely be the
most important legislative day of
the session in both houses. Sun
day don't count much with Con
gress, except to do business in
case of necessity. 1t is mostly
used during a session for eulOgies
of the most perfunctory charac-
ter on deceased members. Only
those who are billed to speak are
present on the floor, while the
galleries are we'll filled by more
or less edited curiosity seekers
and colored gentry who there find
a place to get warm and doze.
Long evening sessions have been
held in both houses nearly every
evening of this week in a more or
less successful effort to make up
for the days and weeks lost in
utterly useless talk, and business
has been hustled to the limit.
At this hour it is almost i'm
possible to form anywhere near
an exact idea of what has been
done, except that the apprOpria-
ton bills have gone or will go
through in fairly satisfactory
shape. All have been slashed,
amended and compromised, but
this is always expected. Senator
Proctor's agriculturalr bill was
amended by his committee after
it came from the house so that
it made important changes in the
forestry and grazing laws of the
prairie and Pacific states, and this
at once kicked up all kinds of
trouble when it was brought into
the senate. Something like a
fillibuster against the bill in that
form was at once inaugurated,
and day after day the debate
ragged. In all the measure was
before the senate about a week
and a half before it was cOmpro-
missed and readjusted in such
shape as to allow of its passage.
This is probably the longest seige
the venerable Vermont Senator
ever withstood in engineering hi" /
annual bill through, and he was ;
much wearied by the seemingly
interminable wrangle. /
In the meantime two of the
largest and most important APP
preparation bills of the session {
were passed without a particle of t
friction or delay in an hour each i
at an evening sitting. These i
were the Naval and the River and '
Harbor bills, which usually re- |
Quire from one to two weeks each, '
and even then son'o+i"'ne lat /
ter is talked to death. This il |
Illustrates the uncertainties and |
what may be called the vagaries a
of congressional legislation. The a
House had passed all the apprO- t
priation bills but one before this i
week, having only left the Gen s
eral Deficiency, and consequently T
mas had plenty of time to give t
to that ship subsidy, conference e
reports and all the odds and ends a
Of a sessions close. On the other n
hand the senate, owing to the n
factious opposition of Tom, Dick W
and Harry to everything that C
came up and the necessity of n
consent to get any c
thing done, has hardly found d
lays, nights and Sundays sufi- il
,ient for its needs. c.
The House finally passed what 81
s known as the Esch bill, or eight t.
hour bill, regulating the hours of
abor of railroad train men. This IL
vas reported to the House as e1
for the bill forced c.
the senate by LaFollette, CT
INF the HOuse committee had re- II