Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1910-05-04
From Washington.
Washington. May 4

Insurgents 10 the House are taking no
chances with the railroad bill. A certain
coteries Of tue "progressives" are meet
| iue every evening aud discussing the
measure among themselves, section by
. section. They formulate amendments oy
which ell sgree to stand when the mat
ter shall come up 10 the House. These
ant ndmenta are. maDifolded and eact
participant 10 the conferences Is given
] COW, Then, when The section of the bill
which it is desired to amend is read In
the House, each and every iDsurget
| who attends the evening conferences,
| arises. The idea Is that with peFbsps
half dozeo or more men clsmoring FOL
! recognition, the speaker is bound tosrec
| ogpiz, some one and be Of course pre-
SCENTS the amendment which each OF thu
others has ready to present. The scheme
was adopted IN order to assure consider
alton of the changes decided upon BY
the insurgeut leaders. Mr.. Bennett tht
republican regular who is cbsirmsn Of
the committee of the whole for the con-
sideration of the bill, Isn't particularly
! anxious to recognize insurgents, but
where there are several shouting for
| recognition, be is forced t. And, uu-
der the scheme OF duplicate amendment
none of The insurgents care who is cred
tied with the amendment, so long as II
gets up for consideration.
4 O.lIara haa thu AinHifu 0f the rnpur
bers of that august tribunal, the
Supreme Court oil the United States,
been 30 ruf ID as by the scliou OF Caleb
r. Layton, auditor for the treasury, IN
holding up the voucher for 81 ,44S.9 "a
turned 10 by Marshal Wright for the ex
l peuses OF tue members OF the court 10
attending the funeral at Albany Of the
| late Associate Justice Peckhsm. To
appreciate the extent OF their indigns-
ton 1t is only necessary to point Gu
that every voucher OF the Marshal OF the
court is subject TO the approval Of the
chief Justice. The one In question re.
ceived ibis necessary sttes.ation. The
court Is supreme and Is the last resort
In ell questions Of the interpre-
tation of lsw Ia this country,
vet here comes along minor law officer
of one of the government departments,
| whose opinions are never 6ual, and who
questions the legal interprt tstion placed
upon 40 appropriation bill by Obiei
Justice FolleI. Fortunately the comp
troller of the treasury, the reviewing
su.bority of sll auditors decisions, step
ped into the breach and prevented any
serious damage. But the opinion OF the
Supreme Court justices Of Auditor Lay.
TN, II 1t could be put 10 prirt, would
make mighty interesting reading. One
result OF this incident will probably be
| to make the court more determined than
ever 10 abandon the iime-honored prsc-
tice OF attending In body the funerals
OF their deceased colleagues. 1t has been
noticeable that on such occasions 10 the
pat the appearance of the Supreme
Court itself has been the centre attrac.
ton rather than the cssket containing
the remains Of the dead justice aud this
is extremely distssleiul to the justices.
Among the items 10 the bill rendered BY
MsrsbAl Wright for the Albany trip to al
tend the Peckhsm funeral was one for fifty
fares to that place aud ut1rD, 1872; rem.
tai parlor csr for four days, $l02;
rental OF dining car, four days, $3.50;
commissary supplies, $l4S 80; hotel bill
and carriages at Albany, 1898 SO and
some miscellaneous expenses. Chief
Justice Fuller approved of the payment
Of these expensts out OF the spproprla-
ion for miscellaneous expenses of United
States Courts. Toe au iitor declared that
be could fad no authority for the ply.
ment of transportation and sub
sisteuce expenses cut Of this luod.
Comptroller Tracewell, on the contrary,
held that IS the voucher bal been ap-
proved by both the chief Justice and the
attorney general the payment OF the
expenses was entirely legitimate, espec-
Tally as payments from that fund were
by Congress left to the approval Of the
attorney general. He also pointed out
that the Supreme Court bad always been
recognized IS having authority to reeu
lsts its miscellaneous expresses. Several
other csses, be noted, among them
81, 277 for the iuuersl of Associate JUS
tIce Matthews, a similar .um for the obse.
quies OF Associate Justices Miller aud
Bradley, and t2,066 for those OF Asso.
ciste Justice Lamar.
Blame for the condition Of affairs
over the railroad bill is openly being
placed by the regulars al the door Of
the president. They rage because he
has not only been indifferent to the
situation 10 Congress bot that be seems
to have no sonse Of responsibility for
the troubles that have come upon the
party. When the president, being
called at Plttsburg over the long dis
tauce telephone, lightly answered that
the wrecking Of the railroad bill could
be charged to the ipsurgeot, toe leaders
of the regulars were in mood to throw
up their hands aud surrender tho entire
legislative programme. Then MIR. Tsft's
suggestion that "some kind OF a bill'
could be passed sdded to their discourage
ment. They have been reused to the
pitch Of declaring that they will read the
riot scl to Mr.. TAFT when be gets to town.