The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-01-03
CONGRESS CLAD
OF THE HOLIDAYS
Early Weeks of Session Have
Beer Dull and Tedious, With
Routine Business.
By Ernest q. Walker.
Mail Special to The Advertiser.)


WASHINGTON, December IL. -
Away! Awayl That is once more the
spirit of the hour at Washington. The
official and congressional multitudes,
who came pouring into the city little
over two short weeks ago are spr1ntlng
for the union station. There Is eager
ness in every eye for the schedule of
outgoing trains and for the time of
arrival home. strange transformation
for so short while.
But congress has tired of industry
and hearkened back to the old tradl-
ton that two weeks of application De-
fore the Christmas holidays suflices. And
two weeks of hard, unremitting toll
there has been. Much has really been
accomplished-more than congress usu-
ally gets done before lndulging In the
! Yuletide cheer. Two appropriation bills
and big ones at that-are to be count
ed up to the credit of the house and
sent along to the senate for considera-
ton. These are the legislative, execu-
tive and judicial bill and the Indian APP
preparation bill, while the postoflce
appropriation bill is ready to take up
That makes good stunt for the period
before the holidays. 1t should be com
paratively easy for the house to tinisl
its work by March 4.
Too Much Routine.
The haste for the getaway, however
is due in some measure to the lack OF
real, live, interesting activities at the
Capitol. 1t is all routine and such +;
flood of it that your member of con
gress, as a rule pays mighty slight at
tention. There are no fights in the ap
preparation bills. No policies are up 70
determination in congress. Republican,
are preparing to close out and Demo
Gratis are not ready to push their prep
arations for coming in. There is pre-
cious little political planning and pre-
cious little politics still to be talket
about and some of the more resties
personages have been asking what il
the Dickens they were staying at Wash
ington for anyhow.
| A Dreary Trial.
Senate interest has absolutely peter
ed out. The Robert w. Archibald i'm
parchment trial has been running there
An impeachment trial is a matter o
curiosity for tourists and other visitors
who drop into the galleries for a rey
minutes to see what it is like and t
be able to say that they beheld the sen
ate sitting as court of Impeachment
But it is a dreary spectacle, with hard
ly more than n half dozen "jurors,
meaning the senators, on the floor, an
the examination and cross examination
of witnesses being just as monotonou
as such affairs are in any courtroom
Senators simply would not stay in thei
places all day long for that kind o
performance. They went back into til
cloakrooms to smoke cigar and swa
conversation, or they "hiked" ava
to their offices and stuck there till tn
quorum bells called them out again.
But the trial has served a good pun
pose, however uncomfortable and ur
fortunate it may have been for Judg
Archibald, the defendant. 1t has oc
cupied the time of the senate and KEEP
il out of mischief. The calendar of tn
J senate, like the calendar of the house
| is crowded with bad bills. There is fe
= lowship among the advocates Of thOs
: measures and, especially in the senate
1t sometimes is not difficult 20 &c
those measures through--providod onl
there is time. But thus far there ha
not been time. -Four or FIVE hours
day tho senate has been drilling alon
with the Archibald impeachment tria
, and mighty little opportunity there bn
been TO ego on the calendar" as th
phrase IN the senate runs.
SO II Is that the bad bills are sti
4 on the calendar The days of the sessio
/ (and of the eopgfos) are dying alon
} ana By midJanunry, when Il Is expeet
20 the Archibald impeachment trial wl
hnyo been closed and the verdict renf
"a cred, there viii Dc small opportunity 4
d dispose of those measures which rnll
should not be- enacted into lHW
Plenty Of Time.
n Nas ih.a feeling thar congress Nj
plenty uf time 90 d.apaar ~ hiI. ifa lrt
+ tmHtt lufIneH which lnsmnd rths
aH early adjournment To- tho h0iiiaF
b Aaa matter N fad lnsfai 81 afipuf
) HF fhHHiaf congress could lHst
iNrIl lAio nprtel tIll HHtHllHy M n