ious
that such committees did nothing and could do nothing, and their
futility, save as dispensers of patronage, had been demonstrated in a
startling manner by the effect of the Acts of July 12, 1870, and June
20, 1874, requiring all unused appropriations to be paid into the
Treasury. The amounts thus turned into the Treasury aggregated
$174,000,000 and in a single bureau there was an unexpended balance of
$36,000,000, which had accumulated for a quarter of a century because
Congress had not been advised that no appropriation was needed. Mr.
Springer remarked that, during the ten years in which he had been a
member of Congress, he had observed with regard to these committees
"that in nearly all cases, after their appointment, organization, and
the election of a clerk, the committee practically ceased to exist, and
nothing further is done." William R. Morrison at once came to the
rescue of the endangered sinecures and argued that even although these
committees had been inactive in the past they "constituted the eyes, the
ears, and the hands of the House." In consequence, after a short debate
Mr. Springer's motion was rejected without a division.

The arrangements subsequently made to provide time and opportunity
for general legislation, turned out in practice to be quite futile and
indeed they were never more than a mere formal pretense. It was quite
obvious, therefore, that the new rules tended only to make the situation
worse than before. Thomas Ryan of Kansas told the plain truth when he
said: "You do not propose to remedy any of those things of which you
complain by any of the rules you have brought forward. You propose to
clothe eight committees with the same power, with the same temptation
and capacity to abuse it. You multiply eightfold the very evils of which
you complain." James H. Blount of Georgia sought to mitigate the
evils of the situation by giving a number of other committees the same
privilege as the appropriation committees, but this proposal at once
raised a storm, for appropriation committees had leave to report at any
time, and to extend the privilege would prevent expeditious handling
of appropriation bills. Mr. Blount's motion was, therefore, voted down
without a division.

While in the debate, the pretense of facilitating routine business was
ordinarily kept up; occasional intimations of actual ulterior purpose
leaked out, as when John B. Storm of Pennsylvania remarked that it was a
valuable fea