Year: 1870

| In the Senate on Monday resolution was


passed prohibiting in future the publication Of
| speeches in the Congressional Globe not actu-
ally delivered in Congress. Mr. Anthony
stated that the custom of printing such
speeches had never prevailed in the Senate,
and so we may infer that the Senate is legis-
lating exclusively for the House. Whether the
House will agree to the resolution is matter
yet to be decided.


| The Congressional Globe, instead of being
faithful record Of Congressional proceedings,


has become of late years vehicle in great
part for undelivered speeches. 1t is almost
| impossible to read the Globe and retain cor
rect notion of what was actually said in Con-
gress. The newspapers of the day give fair
and impartial report of what is actually done,
and therein make better record than the
Globe. We ought to have some bound volume
as journal Of the proceedings of Congress,
but the abuses of the Globe ought to be cor
rected, or the Globe itself ought to be abolished.
These undelivered speeches have an advantage
In personality that would not be permitted in
the halls. They are sometimes unworthy
attacks that parliamentary decorum would not
permit. Recently Mr.. Mungen published
speech, never delivered, in which, it is charged,
he made use of the most obscene and infamous
illusions to member of the Senate. This
latter instance has received the especial atten-
ton of the House, and a resolution has been
passed directing report as to whether he has
abused his privilege and is deserving Of CEN
sure. We hope that he will receive a repri-
mand that will serve to keep the pages of the
Globe clean in future.


We have one faint misgiving about the result
of the adoption of this rule directing speeches
to be printed only after having been delivered.
Will there be more speeches delivered? ''Its
pleasant, sure. to see ones name in print" and
some of our backwoods Solons cannot resist
the temptation of seeing their names in the


Globe or in the great dailies. 1t is political
life to many of them. Heretofore they have
kept up record by publishing their speeches
undelivered in the Globe To be sure nobody
read them but the Hon. Mr.. Pogram himself,
or the quill driver who wrote them for him.
But there was Pogram's record. He could go
nome 10 his CONSTITUENTS anu Clalm duOtuef
election on the ground of what he said in the
Globe on high tariff or the whiskey interests.
He could send home numerous Globes, with
Pogram's name and speech, to his county
authorities, who were naturally proud of
Pograms success, and Pogram made his little
political point. The public in general were
never brought face to face with Pograms
speech and never would have known he was
in the House except by seeing his name in the
yeas OF nays. Now, will the Pograms give
up their records and go before their consttu-
ents without any, or will they insist on actually
delivering the speeches which otherwise may
no longer be published in the Globe? Will
Mullins and Garret Davis and John Morrissey,
the dummies Of Congress, be driven into
making long speeches, or will they quietly
consent to be forgotten by their constituents?
Are we, the public in general, to be compelled
to listen to these speeches, and is the public
| business to stand still while they are de-
| livered?