Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1888 — NATIONAL LAWMAKERS. [ARTICLE]

NATIONAL LAWMAKERS.

What Is Being Done by the National Legislature. The following resolution, offered by Mr. Sherman, was adopted by the Senate on the2:tb ult. by a strict party vote: "Resolved, That the injunction of secrecy be removed from all the proceedings of the senate in reference to the treaty with Great Britain now under consideration.” The completed river and harbor bill was reported to the Senate. The bill as it came from theHouse carried an aggregate appropriation of sTi,t>os,7«. As reported t > the Senate it a; propriatea $21,388,784. The House was engaged in. tne considerat.on of tue legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill. Mr. Townshend, from the Committee on Military Affairt reported the army appropriation bill, and ft was referred to the committee of the whole. The bill appropriates »24.289,700, an increase over that of last year erf $564,982, principally in the item of eIOO.OOO for dynamite guns. Tne estimates were $25,364,324. Among the bills introduced in the House and referred •were the following: By Mr. Gest, appropriating $275,000 for the rebuilding of the government dam at Rock Island Arsenal; by Mr. Cheadle, to retire ex soldiers and sailors who have been wounded in battle after twenty-one years of service in the civil service; by Mr. Townshend, providing for an assistant Secretary of War; by Mr. I’lumb. to provide for issuing bonds to refund the national debt. The bill to revive the grade of General of the Army and conferring it on Lieut. Gen. Sheridan ■was passed by the Senate on the 29th ult.—yeas 34, nays 7—the negative votes being given by Senators Berry, Coke, Harris, Reagan, Saulsbury, Vance, and Wilson (Md.) The Senate went into open executive session on the fisheries treaty and was addressed by Mr. Frye, who denounced the treaty as a “disgraceful, humiliating, and cowardly surrender of American rights.” Mr. Gray obtained the floor to make a speeeh upon the treaty, but its further consideration was, on. motion of Mr. Beck, who said he and other Senators desired to attend the St. Louis Convention, postponed till Monday, June 11. The President sent to the Senate a message vetoing theYoungstown (Ohio) public-building bill. Mr. Sherman immediately took the floor and accused the President es partiality. Mr. Sherman’s remarks were replied to by Mr. Vest and Mr. Call, and after considerable debate the message was refereed to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. The bill to reimburse depositors of the Freedmen's Bank was reported to the Senate, with amendments. The session of the House was devoted to consideration of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill in committee of the whole. The debate on the Mills bill was begun in the House in real earnest on the 31st ult. Shortly after noon Mr. Mills called up the bill for consideration under the five-minute rule. Mr. Adams, of Chicago, started the ball rolling by moving to strike out July 1, 1988, and insert Jan. 1, 1889, when the proposed law shall take effect. The debate ran along all the afternoon on free lumber, every man taking his five minutes on the Adams amendment. There was great activity among the members who spoke most, many of them talking at one and the same time. Mr. Lind of Minnesota mode the chief speech of the afternoon. Although a Republican he earnestly advocated free lumber. He declared that it was inconsistent to encourage the destruction of our forests by maintaining a duty on foreign lumber, while at the same time we were,giving away immense bodies of lands under the timberculture law. The House, by a vote of 56 to 45, adopted the amendment to the legislative appropriation bill increasing the clerical force of the civil-service commission. The bill to quiet the title of settlers on the Des Moines Biver lands in lowa was passed by the Senate by a vote of yeas 28, naye 11. The Senate passed the Mitchell joint resolution providing for the appointment of a commission of naval offices to select a suitable site for a naval station, navy yard, and docks on the Pacific coast. The Pacific Railroad telegryih bill was favorably reported to the Senate. Both houses accepted the conference report on the bill to create a department of labor and passed the bill. The Senate bill, reviving for the benefit of Lieutenant General Sheridan the rank of General of the Army, passed the House on the Ist inst. The President promptly signed the bill, and sent General Sheridan’s name to the Senate for confirmation, and the Senate immediately confirmed it. Mr. Adams’ amendment to the tariff bill postponing the application of the free list until Jan. 2,1889, was defeated in the House. The vote was: Yeas, 81; nays, 118. The House passed the legislative appropriation bill with the blank salaries filled in as it was reported from the Appropriation Committee. The Senate passed the Indian appropriation bilk