Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1886 — NATIONAL LAW-MAKERS. [ARTICLE]

NATIONAL LAW-MAKERS.

BriefSouuuryoftke Proceed* Consreu. Three reports from the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections upon the Payne case were submitted to the Senate on the ISth inst. The report signed by Senators Pugh. Saulsbury, Vance, and Eustis, the Democratic members or the committee, sets forth at length the public history of the case, recognizes the transcendent importance of throwing around the Senate of the United States the highest safeguards against seating a member whose title was procured by bribery, fraud, and corruption, and describes the processes by which the signers reach the conclusion that there is no ground for further proceedings against Mr. Payne. The report says the committee’s first act was to comply fairly with the first request of the OhioHouse of Representatives to make an examination of the testimony taken by the select committee at Columbus. Upon this testimony Mr. Hoar made a report to the committee that, after careful reading, no evidence, opinion or statement whatever was found personally inculpating Mr. Payne in any way with the corrupt, use of money in connection with his elec*tion. Neither did such examination show that enough had been found to justify the charge that the election was procured by the corrupt use of money. This report asks that the committee he discharged from further consideration of the subject and that it be indefinitely postponed. Senators Teller, Evarts, and Logan, unite in a report in which, after reciting the circumstances surrounding the Senatorial election in Ohio in 1884, it is said that no action was taken by the State Legislature jWhich elected Senator Payne calling in Question the validity of his election, but. that the new Legislature in January of the present year had adopted tne resolution under which the investigation of Donovan’s charges had been made. The Senate committee had found it proper to accept the presentation of thecase set out" in the majority and minority reports of the select committee of the Ohio House of Representatives. The only constitutional warrant for an investigation in a case like tnat presented is in the clause making each house of Congress the judge of the qualifications of its own members, and the clause conferring the right of expulsion. The signers of the report do not find that a case has been presented that would affect Mr. Payne with such turpitude as would tolerate his expulsion from tho Senate, nor that testimony is accessible thaj touches the subject of the personal inculpation of Mr. Payne. They therefore turn their attention to the question of the validity of his election to the Senate. The report holds that the evidence in such a case must show that thefraud which it alleged was committed embraced enough in number of the voting electors to have changed the result. The testimony presented by the Ohio House of Represent, atives shows the number of members i of tne General Assembly that have been brought into inculpation and the weight of evidence against him. Senators Hoar and Frye in a separate report state that they cannot concu* with the views expressed by tho other members of the committee, and say they think a case is presented in which it is the duty of the Senate to permit the petitioners to present their evidence and to authorize the issue of proper process to aid in procuring the attendance of witnesses. The Senate is the only court whicla can have jurisdiction of the question. The report concludes with a resolution directing an investigation of the charges, and with a recommendation that it be adopted. The amendment to the river and harbor bill increasing the appropriation for improving the harbor at Chicago from $75,003 to $150,000 wa» rejected by the Senate on the 16th inst., as also the amendment increasing tho appropriation for the Missouri River from $375,000 to $500,000. An amendment swelling the appropriation for tho Mississippi River, from the passes to Cairo, from $1,687,500 to $2,250,000 was tabled. Th» amendment reducing all appropriations in the bill 25 per cent, was then agreed to and the measure put on its final passage and adopted. The Senate also passed the naval appropriation bill. In the House ot Representatives an effort to pas# the pension bill of Elizabeth Luce over the Presidential veto was lost by a vote of 116 yea# to L 4 nays. Similar action was taken on th® measurj pensioning Catherine McCarthy, the vote being yeas 122, nays 97, but in the case of Joseph Romiser the bill was passed over tlie veto—yeas 175, nays 38. Quite a sensation was created in the House by a personal encounter between Messrs. Cobb (Dem.) of Indiana, and Laird (Rep.) of Nebraska, growing out oi the charges mode by the former on the floor of the House, to the effect that the Nebraska member hud been concerned in a land ring. Mr. Laird made tin attack upon the Public Lands Committee, of which Mr, Cobb is chairman. The latter undertook to defend the committee, and in the course of hk! remarks charged the Nebraska member with having been a memuer of a land ring, who retorted by calling the gentleman from Indiana a liar. Mr. Cobb declared that. Mr. Laird did not dare to come outside and repeat his language. Mr. Laird is said to have replied that the gentleman could not get out soon enough for him. With this the pair started through the lobby into tho basement. Some on® called Mr. Payson’s attention to their exit, with the statement that they were going outside to fight it out. Thereupon Mr. Payson hurried through the doorway, and coming up with the would-be combatants on the stairway caught Mr. Cobb by the collar and remonstrated with him, for pursuing so boyish and foolish a course. He succeeded in getting Mr. Cobb to retrace his steps so far as the west door of the lobby, Mr. Laird following, when the controversy broke out afresh. Recurring to the charges Mr. Cobb had made against him in a speech several woeks ago, Mr. Laird angrily declared that he (Mr. Cobb) was a “ liar. 1 ' Mr. Cobb rejoined that Mr. Laird was “a 1 perjurer,” but the words had hardly passed his lips before Mr. Laird struck him a heavy blow on the mouth aud nose. A stream of blood trickled down_Mr. Cobb’s face, and he was thrown backward against the doorway. A crowd which had collected interposed at this juncture aud the combatants separated, Mr. Laird taking his seat in the House and Mr. Cobb reclining in an easy chair in the lobby, where he was surrounded by friends. There was every reason to believe that, if interference had not come in the shape of Mr. Payson, who sought to pour oil on the troubled waters, a sanguinary personal combat would have resulted. Both of the members concerned are of powerful physique, and bear the reputation of men ready at all times to defend themselves in a fitting manner. Mr. Cobb stands six feet and over in his shoes aud is of proportionate breadth, hut is somewhat at a disadvantage on the score of age, being in thfr neighborhood of fifty-eight or sixty years old. Mr. Laird is but thirty-seven years of age, with a girth of chest that would ornament an athlete, and a fiery, impetuous temper. The Committee on Indian Affairs made a report to the Senate, on the 17th inst., recommending tho passage over the President's veto of the bill granting railroads right-of-way through the Indian reservation in Northern Montana. Mr. Blair, from'-tho Committee on Pensions, submitted a report adopting as the report of the majority of the committee the report before submitted on the message of the President, vetoing the bill granting a pension to Mary J. Nottage, and which was recommitted by the Senate. The report was adopted by a strictly party vote. Senators Whitthorne, Camden, ana Wilson of Maryland, submitted a minority report, defending tho President’s action in the matter. Tne Senate decided to consider the oleomargavine bill, and then refused to refer it to the Finance Committee. The House of Representatives, in considering the fortification appropriation bill, rejected an amendment to increase the item for sea-coast armament to $3,500,000. The Prince of Monaco and the French Admiralty are perfecting ascheme for determining the direction and force of the Gulf stream by means of numbered floats, which will be launched at intervals with a request that finders report the time and position of picking them up. In Germany there are now eight schools of forestry, where a training of five years is necessary for students seeking government positions. France supports a s'.peJ* school at Narcv.