Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1886 — CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESS.

What Is Being Done by the National Legislature. A bill appropriating $250,000 for the relief of settlers in Nebraska and Kansas who have been deprived of their lands by a prior grant to the Northern Kansas Railroad, and a bill allowing one or inorj officers of the army to accept temporary service unj d.r the Corean Govemni'nt, with compensation | therefor, passed the Senate Feb. 24. The ‘ Senate also passed the bill permitting national banks to change by a vote of two-thirds of their 1 shareholders, and with the consent of the Comptroller of the Currency, their names, capital stock, and location, provided the location shall not be changed to another State nor to a place more than thirty miles distant from the Rriginal location. The bill gave rise to considerable debate, during which Senator Beck (Ky.) insisted that the control of the matter should be given to the Secretary of the Treasure, instead of the Comptroller of the Currency. He charged past Comptrollers with having s jught to drive out of business every hank that was not a national bank. They had always done tho work of the nationul banks, and when they resigned they went into those banks. f One of them had no sooner left the Government service than ho became President of a national bank, and another became Vice President of a national bank. The House passed the half-gallon tax bill without a division. Mr. Buttorworth (Ohio) offered a substitute in the shape of a bill amending tho Carlisle bill by requiring the minimum capacity of the packages Into which spirits may be drawn to be thirty gallons instead of ten, but the substitute was rejected. The House passed also the hill t > quiet the title of settlers on the Des Moines River lands in lowa, and the bill annexing a portion of Idaho to the Territory of Washington. The Committee on Public Lands reported favor ibly the bill forfeiting certain grants to the Southern. Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Murphy, of lowa, called up the Hennepin Canal bill and made a speech in its support. By means of the propos'd canal, hesaid, the wheat of six Wost;m States coaid be transported to tho seaboard at a saving of six cents a bushel. If the canal were built the people of the Northwest would save enough in one year to build the canal two or three timos over. The United States had formidable competitorsin the Liverpool market, and if the rates of transportation were not reduced it would soon find itself without that market. The bill granting lands in severalty to certain Indians passed the Senate Feb. 25. Mr. Edmunds introduced the bill reported last year from the Foreign Affairs Committee providing for the inspection of meats for exportation, prohibiting the importation of adulterated articles of food and drink, and authorizing the President to prohibit by proclamation in his discretion products of countries unjustly discriminating against American products. Mr. Frye, from the Committee on Commerce, reported favorably the bill authorizing the construction of a bridge across the Staten Island Sound, known as ArthurKill, and to establish the samo as a post-road. This is the measure in which the Baltimore & Ohio is interested in obtaining entrance into New r'ork City. The Bland educational bill was debated. The House indulged in a warm partisan debate over the pension appropriation bill. Mr. Townshend, of Illinois, said that the hill appropriated $75,754,200, or about $815,000,000 more than was appropriated last year—a fact due to the accelerated work being done in the Pension Office. Mr. Henderson of lowa took issue with Mr. Townshend, declaring that the average appropriation for pensions in the last six years was $77,440,000. He then began a long partisan speech, in which he criticised the letter of Commissioner Black on the subject of arrearages of pensions, which, he said, had been telegraphed all over tho country twentyfour hours before it was sent to the Appropriations Committee, “with a $90,000,000 lie in its stomach.’’ Mr. Henderson defended ex-Com-missioner Dudley’s administration of the pension office, and in speaking of the charges of partisanship Messrs. Warner, of Ohio, and Randall, of Pennsylvania, replied briefly to Mr. Henderson. The former renewed tho charges of j>artisanship , and neglect of duty to conduct political camp tigns made against ex-Commissioner Dudley.. Mr. Randall thought that the Southern members had shown a wonderful, full-hearted disposition, to pension veteran a and widows of vet Tans. Mr. Browne, of Indiana, defended Mr. Dudley. Tho postoffice and military academy appropriation bills were reported to the House. The latter appropriates $297,805, or $114,270 less than the estimates. The Hennepin Canal bill wasup in the House ugain. Messrs. Murphy, of lowa, and Rowell, of Illinois, made speeches in its support.

Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, spoke in the Senate, on the 2Ctli inst., in support of his antiChinese bill. The Blair educational bill was debated, after which the Senate adjourned. Tho House had a lively session. Mr. Morrison, from the Committee on Rules, reported a resolution that a select committee of nino members be appointed to inquire into the Pan-Electric telephone matter and report whether any officer of the Government has been improperly influenced. Mr. Gibson, of West Virginia, bitterly criticised Mr. Pulitzer, whom he accused of shrinking behind the columns of his newspaper to attack men instead of attacking them on the floor of tho House. Mr. Morrison said: “As a friend of the officer supposed, to ,be most affected (if anybody is to be affected by this investigation), having unlimited confidence in his honor and in his personal and official integrity, I want this resolution to pass and I want this investigation to go on." Mr. Rogers, of Arkansas, welcomed tho resolution and hoped the investigation would be made thorough and searching. Mr. Rreqkenridgo. of Arkansas, said he was proud to call the Attorney General his personal friend. He defended his courso, declaring that his skirts were perfectly clear of any wrong-doing, and hoped tho whole ease would be investigated. The resolution was adopted without division. Mr. Burnes, of Missouri, from the Committee on Appropriations, reported the immediate deficiency bill, and it was referred to the committee of the whole. The House, at its evening session, passed twenty-eight pension bills. Representative Wolford, of Kentucky, who was a Colonel in the Union army, made a speech in the House on the 27th ult., giving credit to the Southern members for voting for all the pensions asked. He then gave notice that he would introduce a bill to give to every Confederate soldier in need of it an artifi - al leg or arm. Mr. Weaver, of Nebraska, discussed the silver question, and predicted that the effort of the money oligarchy, assisted by the Executive of- ' fleers of the nation, to double the people’s burdens and cripple the business of the country by the suspension of the silver coinage, would prove I unsuccessful, now the attention of the people was attracted to the subject. He favored unlimited coinage, and asserted that if tho whole yield of the mines was coined annually it would be twenty years before the per capita circulation of the United States would be equal to that of France, and this calculation, he said, had been made without taking into account any increase in tho population of the country. Mr. Candler, | of. Georgia, submitted an argument against the | suspension of silver coinago, and contended ! that there was no sound basis for the prediction ! made by the “goldbugs” that the continued ! coinage of silver would have the effect of driving gold out of the country, Mr. Clements, of : Georgia, thought that the true test of the | value of silver was not the gold standard as established in countries where the value of gold had been enhanced by the demonetization of silver, but the purchasing capacity of Bilver. Tested by its purchasing capacity, silver was now worth as much as it ever had been, and there was no ground for the assertion that the standard dollar was a dishonest dollar. Mr, Jones, of Texas, advocated the free coinage of silver, and earnestly opposed the proposition to suspend the operation of the Bland < act, Mr. Perkins, of Kansas, opposed the suspension of silver coinage, and denounced the demonetization of silver in 1873 as the dishonoring of Amerioan silver, and as bringing in its train business disasters, whioh haaoontiqued until the passage of the Bland aot in 1878. There Wits go session of the Senate.