Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 January 1887 — CONGRESSIONAL. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESSIONAL.

Work of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Mb. Edmunds, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported a bill to the Senate, Jan. 19, to authorize the President of the United States to protect and defend the rights of American vessels. The bill provides that when the President shall be satisfied that any American fishing vessels are denied any of the rights secured to them by treaty or law, or are subjected to unreasonable restrictions in respect to such rights, while visiting the waters or ports of British America, it shall be the duty of the President by proclamation todeny vessels, their masters and crews, of the British dominions ot North America, any entrance into waters of the United States, whether they come directly from the Dominion or not. He may also, in his discretion, deny entry into the United States of fresh or salt fish, or any other product or goods of the Dominion. The report of the committee accompanying the bill denies the pretension of Great Britain that American fishing vessels or other® have no rights in Canadian waters exceptat the pleasure of the British Government. The Semite passed a bill appropriating $300,000 to expedite the completion of the Charleston jetties. Senator Hampton introduced a bill to l>roinote the efficiency of the civil service byestablishing a retired list. The Presidentnominated the following Postmasters: Samuel E. Fleming, Huntingdon, Pa.; William H. Black, Rochester, Pa. ; Robert L. Foard, Columbus, Texas; John W. Lingo, Lebanon, Ohio; P. S. Latsch, Appleton City, Mo, An effort to fix a day for the consideration ot the Blair educational bill was defeated in th® House. Both the Senate and House passed bills authorizing the construction of a bridge over • the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The bill passed by the Senate was so amended as to' prohibit the location of the new bridge within two miles of the present structure. The President sent to the Senate, on the 20th,, a message vetoing a bill granting a pension to William Dickens. The ground of the veto isthat a pension bad been already, in December.. 1886, given to the berieticiary through the pension office. Mr. Jones (Ark.), from the Committee ou Indian Affairs, reported two Senate bills grunting right of way to the Spokane and Pelouse and the Washington grid Idaho Railroad Companies through the Cceur d'Alene Indian reservation. In the House Mr. Outhwaite, from the Committee on Pacific Railroads, reported back the following resolution, which was adopted: .Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be and is hereby requested to inform the House of Representatives us soon as practicable the sumsof money which were owing to the United States on the Ist day of January, 1887, from the Pacific; Railroads which have received aid from the Government in bonds, giving the sums which aredue, principal and interest, under existing law, severally and collectively, from said companies, and what will be the result to the treasury and effect upon these debts if the House bill 8318 should become a law and itsprovisions be complied with.” The object of the committee in reporting the resolution is to get the opinion of theTreasury Department as to the effect of the passage of the House funding ■ bill. The following committee reports were submitted and referred: By Mr. Hill (Ohio), the Senate bill for the admission of the State of Washington; by Mr. Cox (N. C.l, for the suppression of the opium traffic; by Mr. O’Neil (Pa.), for the completion of the monument toMary, the mother of Washington, at Fredericksburg ; by Mr. Winans (Mich.), authorizing the Commissioner of Agriculture to make a special distribution of seed in the drought-stricken sections of Texas. Senator Brown offered a resolution in the Senate, calling on the President for the correspondence with Mexico in regard to the seizure and sale of the American schooner Rebecca inthe port of Tampico ; and also that relating to Minister Jackson’s resignation. Senator Sherman offered an amendment to the sundry civil appropriation bill, appropriating j3,00i) to put new fences around the cemeteries in which Confederate dead are buried near Coftnnbus, Ohio, and on Johnson’s Island. Mr. Colquitt presented a petition from the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union of the District of Columbia, charging the Commissioners with protecting saloons, gam-bling-houses and brothels. President Cleveland transmitted a letter offering to the nation the sword of Captain Reed, the commander of the privateer General Armstrong at the battle of Fayal. A debate of over three hours’ duration took place on the British extradition treaty,, which came over from last session, but no action was taken. The interstate commerce bill, was passed by the House of Representatives. The vote—2l9 to 41—surprised the friends of the measure, who had estimated the strength of the opposition at about sixty. But when members found there was no middle ground, and that they must vote either for or against the whole conference report, some of those who had been declaiming against the bill wavered. They did not want to go on record as against, interstate railroad legislation. After the Speaker had ruled out all attempts to get a vote on different sections of the bill or on recommittal, it did not take long for the roll to be called. When the result was made known there wassome applause, and members who have been for ten years urging national regulation of railroads wore congratulated on the success that had at last crowned their efforts. The fortyone votes against the measure were cast by the following members: Allen (Mass.), Anderson. (Ohio), Bliss, Boutelle, Boyle, Bragg, Brumm, Campbell (Ohio), Caswell, Dibble, Ely, Evans F Felton, Findlay, Frederick, Gay, Gilfilian, Grosvenor, Hayden, Hill, Johnson (N. Y.). Kelly, Ketcham, Libbey, Long, Markham, Martin. McKenna, Miller, Morrow, Oates, O’Neill (Pa,), O’Neill (Mo.), Ranney, Reed, Rice, Seymour, Wadsworth, Wait, Weaver, and White (Pa.). A large number of pairs were announced, but. only in the following cases was it stated how the members in the pairs would have voted: Messis. Merriman, Glass, Snyder, Clardy, Wise,, and Stone, of Massachusetts, who would have voted in the affirmative, were paired with Messrs. Bacon, O’Hara, Hanback. Bingham, Negley, and Davis, who would have voted in the negative. The bill provides against discrimination or favoritism in the transportation of passengers or freight; forbids a charge for a short haul in excess of that made for tbo full length of the route ; makes unlawful the pooling o( freighter division of earnings ; prescribes the publication of rates, and imposes a maximum fine of $5,001 for the violation of any of these provisions. There are to bo five commissioners, appointed, by the President, at salaries ot $7,500 each. The extension of the Hawaiian treaty for seven years was ratified by the Senate in a secret session, Jan. 22, by a vote of 43 to 11. The discussion in the Senate over the proposed treaty with Great Britain was characterized bythe most bitter personalities. Evarts is said-to be mortally offended with Riddleberger for describing him as a “parrot who would cry one way or the other just as ills interests dictated.” Rid* dleberger also charged that Edmunds was everyday becorffing more in love with monarchical institutions and dissatisfied with American ideas A resolution by Mr. Wallace on the Hawaiian, reciprocity treaty, which recites that the President and Senate have ratified a convention extending the terms of the treaty seven years longer, and that the treaty contains provisions for the admission of certain articles free of duty, and instructing the Committee on Judiciary to inquire into these facts and report whether a treaty which involves the rate of duty to be imposed on any article can be valid and binding without the concurrence of the House of Representatives, was adopted by the House. This resolution is in the interest of the Louisiana sugar planters, who are opposed to the extension of the Hawaiian treaty. Senator Riddleberger introduced a bill to abolish the Mississippi River Commission, which was promptly referred. The Secretary of the Treasury sent a communication to the House iu answer to a resolution, stating that the amount due from the Pacific hailroad companies to the United States, on account of interest and bonds, was $157,332,615. The House considered the river and harbor bill. A close student of human nature says that “when you see a young man and woman walking down the street leaning against each other like a pair of badly mated oxen, it is a pretty good sign that they arh bent on consolidation.”