Year: 1871

We trust Speaker Blaine will not postpone
the announcement of the House Committees
ill the second week OF the session, one of
the many Washington rumOrs says he intends.
We shall be disappointed if the first week
closes without bringing the long agony to an
crd. II is idle for the Speaker to delay with
the hope of so adjusting matters that every
body will bc pleased. Such q result is not
within tho bounds of possibility so long AZ
human nature retains its ambition and its
weakness.


We have been studying the Congress Dircc-
tory of late and we commend its careful
peru,;l to those gentlemen for whose use and
convenience il iS more especially compiled.
They will find that. adding up all the Com
mttces of the House. big. lithc, and mid
ding. the total number of places is just 347.
1t is obviously impossible, therefore, that each
honorable member can have two places for,
after giving each of the @i3 members one ap-
pointmcnt, there will be 104 places lcft--thus
allowing a second place for less than half the
members. When the Rebellion broke out ten
years ago the IIonse was reduced to about 1870
members, and it held at little more than this
until the last Congress, when our "crring
"brethrcn" all came back TO orr low
ing embrace. But in the last Congress
tho Speaker was allowed to increase
tho number on each Committee beyond the
magic fist ninc." This Congress, therefore,
is the first since the Republicans came into
power, in 1861, when q full House is to be ap-
portioned among the old regular Standing
Committees at their stated number of nine
each With nearly sixty additional aspirants
to satisfy from the same list of places, we do
not envy the Speaker his task. We urge him,
however, to promptitude in the decision, and
We commend to the members the double virtue
of cOnsiderateness and resignation.


We shall not offer the Speaker any large
amount of advice as to his selection of partic-
ular men for particular places. Aside from an
earnest request for strong Ways and Means
Committee, with Chairman fairly represent
ing American industry, and comprchending its
wants, we content ourselves with urging him to
be especially CAREFUL in appointing tho Commit
toe Of Claims. Always Committee of great i'm
pOrtance, it is now, in many aspects, the most
wegbty and responsible of the entire list.
The whole question of compensation for losses
entailcd by the war is opened for action by
the appointment OF the Southern Claims Com
mission, and we need Committee of Claims
that will not only thoroughly revise the work
Of that Commission, but will present in the
cearcst light the precise extent and the right
ful limit of our responsibility in the premises
TO do this well requires man of unqurs-
toned integrity, of great acuteness, and of
thorough skill in the law. For the Chairman
ship of Claims we trust the Speaker will &C.
lcct one of the ablest men of the House, and
let the entire membership of the Co,nnttee
be OF the $oundest timber. William b. Wash
burn has given the Committee strong name in
the XLIst Congress. Let it not be lowered in the
XLlld. The difference between the right kind
Of Committee of Claims and tho wrong kind
In tho XLIld Congress may ultimately be o
difference of more than one hundred millions
OF dollars TO tho Treasury Of the United
States.