Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1882 — DOINGS OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

DOINGS OF CONGRESS.

A bill for the sale of the Miami lands in Kansas was passed by the Senate on Feb. 13th, and a measure was introduced for the disposition of the Fort Larned reservation in Kansas. The bill for the relief of Samson Goliath, which involves the right of Congress to remit the sentence of a court-martial, was recommitted at the request of Mr. Logan, Mr. Ingalls introduced an act to adjust the claims of the confederated Peoria Indians of Kansas, and Mr. Hill a bill to provide suitable agricultural lands for the Southern Utes. Mr. Vest made a favorable report on the bill for a public building at Jefferson City, and Mr. Harns introduced a similar measure for Chattanooga. The Senate in executive session, after some discussion, confirmed the appointment of Col, Rucker as Quartermaster General. In the House Mr. Davis introduced a resolution calling on the Secretary of War for correspondence and other information in regard to encroachments upon the harbor of Chicago. A resolution was adopted celling for facts concerning the perils of American missionaries in Persia. Mr. Young introduced a bill to create the office of Mining Commissioner, with a salary of $4,000. Mr. Herndon proposed a constitutional amendment limiting the number of members of the House to 325. The Bupplejnental Census bill was passed. For two and *a half hours the clerks were kept busy reading bills. Among them were measures to prohibit polygamists from voting or holding office in the Territories, for a ship canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi, to reduce the whisky tax to 50 cents per gallon, to aid in erecting monuments on Revolutionary battle-fields, to abolish the national banks, and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among cattle. Mr. McDill introduced a bill in the Senate, on the 14th, appropriating SIOO,OOO for the purchase of governors to regulate the flow of gas in public buildings. Mr. Edmunds was defeated in an attempt to take up the Anti-Polygamv bill out of its regular order. Mr. Vance made a speech deploring the high-protective policy of the Government as retarding the growth of the South. Among the nominations sent to the Senate by President Arthur were those of John C. New, of Indiana, to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury ; E. H. Nevin, Jr., to be Surveyor of Customs at Philadelphia ; Moses M. Drew, to be Marshal for California; and H. M. Van Arman, of San Francisco, to be Secretary of the Territory of Arizona. In the House, Mr. Willetts reported a bill to prevent polygamists from holding civil office in the Territories or serving as Delegates in Congress. Mr. Orth made an adverse report on the resolution of Mr. Robinson calling on’the Attorney General for an opinion as to the suspension of tbe writ of habeas corpus in Great Britain. The Apportionment bill was taken up, and Mr. Oates argued in favor of fixing the number of Representatives at 250. Mr. Herbert desired to speak on the question, but the confusion in the hall prevented his being heard, and the House adjourned. Mr. Jackson introduced a bill in the Senate on the 15th appropriating $150,000 to make good the loss sustained at the hands of Federal troons, in 1864, by the Methodist bookhouse at Nashville. A resolution was passed to provide messengers for seven leading committees at $1,400 per year. The Antipolygamy bill was debated for two hours. The report of the commission on the cattle plague was sent to the Senate by the Secretary of the Treasury. It shows that no lung disease exists in the western centers of live-stock traffic. Four Dutch cows imported into Massachusetts brought a plague; which was eradicated in six years at a cost of $77,000. In the House • a bill was introduced by the Committee on Agriculture making the Department of Agriculture an executive department of the Government, greatly extending its powers and duties, and providing for a Secretary of Agriculture who shall receive the same salary as is paid to chiefs of other executive departments.* The Appropriation bill was discussed in the House.

The United States Senate took up the antipolygamybill on the 16th. Mr. Vest denounced it as a bill of attainder. Mr. Pendleton objected to the feature excluding known polygamists from the jury-tox. Mr. Sherman thought it was nearly time for a revelation against polygamy. By a party vote, it was agreed that not more than three of the Commissioners to be selected shall belong to the same political organization. The bill was then passed by a unanimous vote. In the House of Representatives, a bill was passed granting Mrs. Giufield a pension of $5,000 ver annum; Billrwere favorably reported to regulate the collection of tax on weiss beer, to admit Dakota as a State, to provide additional training schools for Indian youth, to erect public buildings at Columbus, Erie, and Leavenworth, and to fix the term of internal revenue Collectors at four years. The Apportionment bill was taken up. Mr. Seaton’s method was defeated by 9 to 148, and a resolution was passed that the basis of division shall be that used in the Forty-sixth Congress. Mr. Anderson’s amendment to fix the number of Representatives at 325 was adopted by 162 to 104. After an unseemly wrangle it was discovered that no quorum was present. Mr. Kellogg introduced a bill in the Senate, on the 17th, to appropriate $1,775,000 for public buildings and other improvements in Louisiana, $300,000 of which is for the, water front of New Orleans. At the request of Mr. Logan, who is seriously indisposed, an executive session was held at an earlier hour than usual Col. Rochester was confirmed as Paymaster General of the army, Edward Ferguson to be Pension Agent at'Milwaukee, and Marsden C. Burch to be District Attorney for Western Michigan. The President sent in the nomination of Wakefield C. Frye, of Maine, to be Consul General at Halifax. The new Electoral Apportionment bill, fixing the number of Representatives in Congress after March 3, 1883, at 325, passed the House without a division. representatives accorded to any State which may hereafter be admitted will be in addition to the number thus provided for. Where an increase of Representatives is given by the bill to any State the additional member or members may be elected by the State at large, and where there is a decrease tho whole number to which the State is entitled may be so chosen, unless the State Legislatures shall otherwise provide before the time fixed by law for the next election. Memorials agaipst polygamy in Utah and Jewish maltreatment in Russia were presented. In committee of the whole, a bill to restore Thomas Little to a Captaincy in the army was defeated. Mr. Valentine reported the Agricultural Appropriation bill, which calls for $302,480. A message from the President was presented, transmitting further documents in regard to the war in South America. A long report on the status of Indian. Territory was transmitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior. It asserts that there are no lands open to settlement or entry, the tracts in the Territory to

which the Government holds title being re-served-by treaty stipulations. A preposition that the criminal laws of tne United States be extended over their lands has been made to the Indian delegation now in Washington and will evidently meet their anprovak