Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1884 — NEWS CONDENSED. [ARTICLE]

NEWS CONDENSED.

Concise Record of the Week. DOINGS OF CONGRESS. A petition from citizens of California, praying for an increase of the duty on raisins i •was presented in the Senate April 22. A resolution was adopted that the Secretary of War inquire and report the value of all grants to the folate of Michigan for the Portage Lake Ship Canal, and on what conditions that work can be tmrchased by the Govemnit nt for a free waterway. Bills were passed authorizing a bridge over the Cumberland ltiver at Nashville, granting a pension to the widow of Bear Admiral Mc--1) on gall, and'to ratify agreements with the Sioux Indians for right of way for the Dakota Central and the Chicago,Milwaukee & St. Paul Roads, In the House, Mr. Weller objected to consideration of the bill to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to invest lawful money deposited by national banks to retire their circulating notes. An order was made that evening sessions be held for general debate on the tariff bill. The pension appropriation bill was passed, the amendment by Mr. Bosecrans to transfer the duties of Pension Agents to the Pay Department of the army being lost. The House then went into committee on the tariff bill. Mr Wellborn said the measure was a step in the direction of adjusting all duties to a revenue standard. Protection was a monopoly of the worst form, and was an Illegitimate and pernicious exercise of the rights of taxation. This great issue should not be evaded, and could not be postponed. The Democracy would ultimately triumph. Mr. McKinley said it was gratifying to know the real purposes of the Democracy to destroy the present system of taxation and protection. He congratulated the party that under the leadership of the honest statesman from Illinois it had announced its true platform. The real great Issue between the parties was whether there should be free trade or a revenue tariff which would at the same time care for the great Industries of this country. He would not support the bill under any circumstances, because a reduction of 20 per cent, would destroy some great industries. The horizontal bill bore on Its very face the highest evidence of absolute incapacity. It was the invention of idleness. The only persons who demanded a reduction of the tariff were the wealthy members of the clubs of Brooklyn and New York. He held that the bill would reduce the price of labor, and appealed

to the Democratic party not to take a leap in the dark by passing the bill. It should first discipline Its mutineers. Mr. Herbert made an elaborate argument In favor of the bill. A resolution by the Legislature of Ohio, recommending the granting of pensions to prisoners of the late war, was presented In the Senate, April 28. A message from the President was received, transmitting a report by the Secretary of State to the effect that the demands of foreign countries upon the United States for wheat should naturally be as great as last year. Bills were passed to provide for Government control of the Sanlt Ste. Marie Falls Canal in Michigan, and to protect Indian reservations from the unlawful cutting of timber. While the pleuropneumonia bill was under discussion, Mr. Coke said if the Agricultural Department would stop libeling American cattle there would be no more trouble with the business. Mr. Williams declared that, of his own knowledge, plenro-pneumonia existed in the District of Columbia and adjacent States. In the House of Representatives, a resolution was adopted in the Kansas contested election case giving a seat to Mr. Peters. While in committee of the whole on the navy appropriation bill, Mr. Kasson urged that armaments be given to vessels now in process of construction, and Mr. Randall argued against accepting the Senate amendment to the measure. There was a lively debate on the pleuropneumonia bill in the Senate April 24, but no action was taken. A petition was presented from the Slate officers of Maine, asking that an appropriation be made in aid of the World’s Exposition at New Orleans. A joint resolution was passed that the two honses attend the ceremony of unveiling a statue of Chief Justioe Marshall on May It). Bills were passed relating to trespass on Indian lands, and to provide for disposing of abandoned military reservations. The House of Representatives passed a joint resolution authorizing the lease to the Michigan Fish Commissioners of a strip of land adjacent to the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. An adverse.'report was made on the bill to compel residents of one State to attend as witnesses in the courts of another State. Favorable action was taken by committees on bills for bridges across the Mississippi at Rock Island and the Falls of St. Anthony, and over the Missouri In Douglas County. Nebraska. The House voted not to concur In the Senate amendments to the naval appropriation bill, except the item of $500,000 to provide aq armament for the new cruisers. Messrs. Reed, E. B. Taylor, T. M. Erowne, and McCold submitted a minority report from the Committee on Judiciary in favor of female suffrage. Mr. Wilson, of lowa, made an elaborate speech In the Senate, on the 25th of April, In favor of the principle of national regulation of Interstate commerce. Mr. Jones, of Florida, delivered a long speech against the pleuro-pneu-monla bill. He took extreme State-rights grounds, and held that the National Legislature had no constitutional power to adopt the proposed measure. A resolution was passed to deposit in the Smithsonian Institution a flag made of American silk, presented by Joseph Newman, of California. The House of Representatives, in 'committee of the whole made a favorable recommendation on the bil to give Mrs. Mvra Claik Gidnes patents for 38.467 acres of land claimed by her, or pay $1.25 per acre for so much thereof as has been sold. There was no session of the Senate on „ April 26. The House of Representatives passed the free-ship bill, with an amendment providing that any American citizen may import free of duty iron or steel steamships of not less than four thousand tons measurment. *