Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1888 — CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESS.

Cjngress reassembled after the holiday recess on Wednesaay, J. i. 4. A reply to tho President’s tariff reduction message was delivered in the Senate b> Mr. Sherman, who urged that tho President had intentionally ignored other methods of reducing the Treasury surplus for the purpose of advocating such a reduction of customs taxation as would strike a severe blow at American industry. Senator Voorhees spoke in defense of the President's low-tarilf v‘ ■'ws. Mr. Brown ottered a resolution dt slaring that the practice of the Government w s correct for the first three-quarters of a century of its existence wfien it collected tl a n cessary revenues at the ports or other boundaries by tariff, except in case of war or otner great emergencies, when internal revenue or direct-tax jaws were imposed, which were repealed as soon as tno emergency ceased; a: so, that the present internal revenue laws wore enacted as a war measure, and that it has now become the imperative duty o' Congress to enact app!opr,ate legislation i r their repeal at t-e earliest day practicable. He asked that tee resolution be laid on the tab e, aud said that next Monday he would submit remarks upon it. r. Cullom introduced a bill embracing several amendments to his postal telegraph measure. Jn the House a large number of bills were introduced, ii.eluding the following: 1 y Mr. Symes, o» Colorado, for the removal of the southern Utes from Colorado to Utah; by Mr. Browne, of Indiana, repealing the limitation o.i the arrears-of-psn-sion act; by Mr. Hovey, or Indiana, for the payment of service pensions ; by Mr. Holman, of Indiana, to maintain the purity of the ballot box ; by Mr. V\ eaver, or lowa, for the establishment of a postal telegraph; by Mr. Holmes, of lowa, abolishing the duty on sugar; by Mr. Gear, of lowa, to j rohibit the purchase of goods manufactured wholly or in pait by convict labor; by Mr. Perkins, 'of Kansas, to prevent a contraction of the currency and to increase the circulation of silver and silver certificates ; by Mr. liyan, of Kansas, appropriating SIOO,OOO for tho erection of a monument to the colored soldiers killed in the lata war; by Mr. Morrill, of Kansas, to abolish all distinctions on account of rank in pensions hereafter granted; by Mr. Anderson, of Kansas, to creata the postal telegraph of the United States; also, to reduce letter postage to cne cent an ounce; by Mr. Peters, of Kansas, for 'he deposit of gold and silver coin or bullion as security for national bank irculation; by Mr. Wheeler, dispensing /ith proof of loyalty during the late war as a condition of restoration or admission to the pension rolls in the case of any person otherwise entitled thereto; by Mr. Reed, of Maine, proposing a constitutional amendment granting women the right of suffrage; by Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota, placing sugar, coal, hemp, and manila grass on the free list. Bills were also introduced for the erection of public buildings in Indiana, at Evansville and Indianapolis; in lowa, at Fort Dodge and Sioux City ; in Michigan, at Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Manistee, Bay City and Lansing ; at Dulutb, at Milwaukee, and at many other cities. Nine hundred and two public bills have been introduced.

The Blair educational bill came up thein Senate on the sth inst., aud Mr. Reagan, of Texas, spoke in opposition to the measure. He said he opposed the methods of the bill, but not its purposes. Congress lacked power to pass such a law, which would establish the despotism of a popular majority, overthrow the” Constitution, and endanger the liberties of the peoplo. He argued in detail that the Southern States were not in need of Federal aid for the support of their common schools, and showed that in the State of Texas the school fund for this year was $3,190,000. Mr. Plumb offered an amendment providing that the money shall be distributed among the several States and Territories in proportion to their population according to the census of 1880. Mr. Mitchell called up his resolution for the appointment of a commission to select a site for another naval station on tho Pacific coast, and advocated its passage. The Indian Affairs Committee reported bills to provide for the compulsory education of Indian children, and in relation to marriage between white men aud Indian women. Petitions were presented favoring a national prohibition amendment, opposing tho admission of Utah while its local power is in the hands of the Mormons, and in favor of prohibition in the District of Columbia. Among the bills introduced, in the Senate wore the following: By Mr. Dawes, to establish a postal telegraph system; by Mr. Platt, for the formation and admission into the Union of the State of North Dakota; by Mr. Plumb, to equalize bounties (this is the Logan bill of last Congress); by Mr. Stockbrldge, appropriating SIOO,000 fora public building at Lansing, Mich. The President has sent to Congress a communicf—tion from the Secretary of the Interior submitting tne draft of a b 11 “To provide for the protection of tho Round Valley Indian reservation” in California, In the House of Representatives Speaker Carlisle announced the standing committees, A bill was also introduced authorizing the establishment of new life-saving stations at Ashtabula, Ohio, and Marquette. Mich. Both houses adjourned to Monday, the 9th.