Show erom hrom nin nia tho th we naw kaw borit ro ri limet limer blaim apish APT af gl 51 61 13 imbecility OR TREACHERY congress met nineteen weeks ago gold which is the only real barometer oc of national credit and public confidence then bold sold fifty fetty two per cent over the money of 0 the government it now sells at seventy seventh four foun per cent over what has been the cause of this weakening of the national credit not disaster in the field we have had none not any loss of our military strength our armies have never been stronger than today to day not any diminution of the resources of the north northern industry was never BO so active or BO so profitable what thenis then is the cause of it the cause causa is to be found in the 11 bouth south wing of the national capitol there and ind nowhere else it lies in the flagrant unfaithfulness of those who were sent bent there to be the representatives senta tives of the people the constitution declares that all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives it thus devolved upon that branch of congress the special responsibility of maintaining the public credit the executive branch of the government through its financial head bead mr chase on the fourth day of the session presen presenta presented tl ed a detailed and clear statement of the financial necessities of the government and urged in strong language that they should be early provided for it declared and unquestionable truth that measures of taxation must be the he chief means of effecting this laying down doan the broad principle it is hardly too much perhaps hardly enough to bay aay that every dollar raised for the extraordinary expenditures or reduction of debt is worth two tiro in the increased value of national securities and increased facilities for tor the negotiation of indispensable loans the executive did its full daty duty in exhibiting hi the financial situation and in invoking prompt legislative action to meet its require mens with with all these tremendous responsibilities resting upon it the house of representatives has yet done nothing december up to christmas it spent ebent in introducing resolutions and letting lettin 1 ox off a large amount of buncombe peni geni generally brally against the re rebellion belion it then adjourned for twelve days without any decent reason there can be no decent reason why congressmen alone of all public beri seri senat senai arsts its ra in the land and alone of all beope e above the conditi gil cri of loafers should abandon all work for fir twelve days when the old year goes out and the new year comes in the merchant or the lawyer or the mechanic who should quit business or work for so long a time with no better reason would be despised january was largely employed in concocting concoct ing and spouting in over some more resolutions ons ona toward g the latter part ot of the month mouth there was some blood and thunder talk about confiscation and a decision to branch out in that line as am soon as there was an opening the e subject was w as about as appropriate to I 1 the a actual situation as if it had related to property in the moon in february the main attention was given to the whisky tax A pretty good beginning gin gln nin I 1 g was made toward putting patting a proper tax on this article but in a little time by bomi somi some bome unaccountable influence the whisky interests carried the he day so nothing was made by that the other matter taken in hand band was the senate enrollment bill which the senate had passed in order to give the torm form T law lav practical effect the house nullified it all by reducing the commutation back from four hundred to three hundred dollars and by making kin that commutation exempt for three years instead of for the particular draft in march a bill for the establishment of a bureau for freedmen was passed the little gold bill waa was taken up and arid rejected bya strong vote and with characteristic consistency was passed a few days afterward by a vote just as a strong the bill regulating and perfecting secretary chases system of national banks bans was taken up and over with all borta aorta at of incongruous amendments and turned into such a piece of botch work that it was k kicked out of doors in disgust since april came in we ire have had a foray upon the camden and amboy railroad that has come to nothing a fulmination of loud words against the emperor napoleons operations in mexico and a quixotic disgraceful raid against the freedom of debate we defy any man in that house to put his finger on a solitary measure passed by it calculated cited to increase the financial strength of the gove government one iota the thing has not been seriously attempted the nineteen weeks have haye been utterly wasted in empty epe ape sch eco making or in dawdling over irrelevant matters or in working positive tide tiie mil mii mischief chief the body has shirked all serious work upon no question save when as in longs case some uncommon folly was to be committed have more than two thirds of the members voted voled and for machof much of the time it has hns been almost impossible to keep up a quorum in the fa tace face ce of such flagitious unfaithfulness on the part of the legislative branch to which the financial concerns of the country are especial especially y in trusted the wonder is that our financial credit has not been even more grievously weakened that there is not even a wider hiatus between gold and greenback the people have been patient under this up to the uttermost point ot of endurance we warn the house to set about their proper business if they care to escape an outburst of indignation that would politically ruin every man of them the american people eople beyond all free istel people that ever ex existed are tolerant ot of imposition but it is not in their nature not in human nature to bear quietly such faithlessness in a cridis crisis so tearful fearful they know full fall well that the only danger tn in this struggle of the government is the financial danger and that this danger must be fatal unless there be timely and wise action anthe on the martof part of their public servants they know too that the prices of all the necessaries of life are daily becoming more burdensome an and add must become insupportable unless the currency is adjusted to a sounder bounder basis they know that it is the business of congress and especially of the popular branch of congress to protect the public credit and remedy every financial evil they intend to hold bold the house to that responsibility lity they do not intend that their business and industry shall be smothered with worthless paper that their children shall be bowed down by a mountain of debt that their brothers in the field shall shail abed their blood for nought that the flag of the country shall go down in ruin ani and disgrace and they do not intend to put up with this remissness in the national capitol which they are fast learning to look upon not as mere remissness but as infamous treachery |