Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1888 — TALK IN THE SENATE. [ARTICLE]

TALK IN THE SENATE.

The Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill Made the Pretext for Several Political Speeches. AllLsou aud Hale Criticise the President and Are Answered by Blackburn and Beck. [Washingion special.] '1 ho Senate took up the conference report on the sundry civil appropriation bill on Tuesday, and was addressed at considerable leng h by Mr. Allison in explanation of it and in a general defense of the action o the .‘-eniite Appropriate T Committee and the Senate itself as contrasts with that of the House. He criticised the President s veto of the bill for a public building at Sioux City. He then proceeded to analyze the sundry civil appropriation bill, nearly every item of which, he said, was inserted at the sol citation of a Cabinet officer. A general review of the situation regarding all the other appropriation bills followed, the Senate additions to each being explained and defended us necessary for the propar conduct of the Government. Among other matters Mr. Allison referred to th • p nsion appiopriation bill, which the Senate had increased bv tf'.tlt’,- Oj because thi pension bu eau ha I estim trd i rat that amoun: wo dd be nec ssarytocarv out the House jrivlsion that widows of »olci?rs should draw pens ous from the date of the.r husbuds de ith, not from the date < f the applloatio i. Asti the river and harbo.-bill, he explained how ths lid of thia se .rio-r is the fecoad bill th it has passel in fo-aryeais, 4r. Bident Cleveland hixiig v.totd u river aud harbor bi 1 approj ri iting $14,<k)0,OCO. The Seer tary of War had only estimated for $10,000,300, but had told that the chief of engineers reported that 840,000,(03 could be spent economically on these great national works. If there bad been a river .and harbor bill passed last year it would have covered some $12,000,0'30, and the river an<>! harbor bill of this year, instead of being $22,000,003, would, have been only $10,ooo,GO) or $12,000,000. Not only that, but the deficiency bills passed and to be passed at this session for the expenditures of the last fiscal year amounted to about slß,'X>o,ooo. That made a total of $30,000,000 that had been forced into the appropriation bills of this session. The total appropriations for ths current fiscal year, not including what are called the "permanent appropriations,” would amount to $305,000,0v0, but including the permanent appropriations they would amount to $420,010,000, und the estimated revenue would be $440,030,003, or only $20,000,000 more than the ex]»enditures. Mr. Allison also furnished a table to show that the expenditures of the Government for the four years of Mr. administration exceed bv $95,003,000 the expenditures for the four years of Mr. Garfield's and Mr. Arthur’s administrations. He mentioned this fact in reply to Mr. Thurman's recent speeches characterizing the appropriations of Congress i s monstrous. Mr. Hale attacked the civil-service record of the administration, Which he said 1 ad prostituted its offices to the uses of party politics as no other administration had ever done. No previous administiation had ever so med its power to break down malcontents in its own party, and the speaker referred to testimony taken in Pennsylvania by tho committee of which he was Chairman to show that men were rewarded with patronage to pay them fcr deserting Mr. Randall. Air. Beck said that with the exception of two years we had a Democratic House of Representatives during all the time covered by the s.atements submitted by Senator Allison, which hud taken very great care that all administrations should be economical. What hud been spent since the Democratic administration c«mo into power had been well expended, an I the people knew what had been done with the money. Prior to the Democratic administrat e n hundreds of millions hod been spent and we git no.king. The Democrats had had no star routes, no post-traderships, und no venality, but w re spending annually $90,000,<30J for p.-nsions, and if the President hud not vetoed the de-pendent-pension bid it would have been slsU<000,000, perhaps $200,1W,000. 'lhe increase of this year’s appropriations over those of last year were accounted for, perhaps, entirely by the deficiency aud the river and harbor bills, the guns and armaments. Take the $20,030,000 ot surplus, add to it $12,000,000 from the river and harbor und $8,000,000 from the deficiencies chargeable to former years, and that made $40,0,0,003 of surplus. Teen the $50,003,0030f s nking fund might very well be added, and that would make $93,000,000 of surplus. We hud also bought $60,000,000 of bonds. Every bond bought diminished the interest paid from the permanent annual appropriations, which embraced the interest on the public debt. Mr. Beck complimented Senator Allison for his fairness and zeal us Chairman ot the Committee on Appropriations, declaring that all matters in that committee bad been determined upon their merits and not with regard to partisan considerat ons. Mr. Hale said that every particle of the tes:imony taken by the committee was before the world. It hod been taken with open doors, and the reporters were invited to be present He asked why the Senator from Kent ucky had not brought some member of the administration before the committee, us he was entitled to do, to explain disclosures that were brought forth. The witness designated as a tramp was a gentleman, to whosi respectability the Senators Irom Indiana would test ify if present. Mr. Blackburn said the whole case before the committee when in New York in reference to the sugar trust turned upon the testimony of three men. One of these was a deaf doctor, who could not hear tie perjury of the two other witnesses—two brothers. Both of these sugar thieves ought to have been born in the penitentiary instead of being put into high and responsible positions by the Republican administration. '1 here stood those two brothers swearing to the transfer of real estate —which affected the whole question—and the deaf fellow, who they swore bought it, swore point-blank that they lied from beginning to end. The same character of testimony was taken in Baltimore and Philadelphia.