Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1888 — THE NATIONAL SOLONS. [ARTICLE]

THE NATIONAL SOLONS.

WORK OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Our National Law-Makers and What They Are Doing for the Good of the Country —Various Measures Proposed, Discussed and Acted On. The Chinese exclusion bill now goes to the President for his approval, the Senate having rejected Mr. Blair’s motion to reconsider the ■ vote passing the bill on the 17th by a vote of—yeas, 20; nays, 21. The vote was as follows: Yeas—Bate, Blackburn, Blair, Brown, Call, Cockrell, Edmunds, Evarts, George, Gorman, Hampton, Harris, Hoar, Jones (Ark.), Morgan, Pasco, Pugh, Sherman, Wilson (lowai, Wilson (Md.)—2l. Nays- Allison, Berry, Chandler, Coke, Dolph, Farwell, Frye, Hearst, Hiscock, Jones (Nev.), Manderson, Mitchell, Payne, Platt, Plumb, Spooner, Stewart, Stockbridge, Teller, Vest, Walthall.—2l. Senator Manderson introduced a bill providing that any honorably discharged soldier or sailor in the late war who has once filed a declaratory statement fora homestead entry, and who, before the expiration of the six months allowed in which to make his entry, has abandoned the entry, shall not be deprived from making another homestead entry unless it shall be made to fully appear that such abandonment was made for the purpose of speculation. A bill to authorize the President to appoint Gen. W; S. Rosencrans a Brigadier General on the retired list of the army was introduced by Senator Manderson. Senator Mitchell introduced a bill, which was laid on the table, to reduce letter postage to one cent an ounce. The Senate passed the bill for the erection of new lighthouses and fog signals on Lakes Michigan, SuEerior, Huron and Erie, and range-liehts on ake St. Clair and the Detroit River. The House got into a deadlock over a resolution offered by Mr. O’Neill (Mo.) assigning a day for the consideration of labor legislation. As only one member of the Committee on Rules (Mr. Cannon) is now in Washington, Mr. O’NeiL moved its reference to the Committee on Labor. The vote resulted—yeas, 54; nays, 37. Mr. Blount (Ga.) raised the point of no quorum, and, after the tellers had stood at their posts for an hour waiting for a quorum, the House adjourned.

The resolution by Mr. Sherman in regard to the relations of the United States with Great Britain and Canada was called up in the Senate on the 18th, but went over without action. The deficiency appropriation bill was reported to the Senate an i ordered printed. The House has passed the bill authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe rules and regulations for themanagement of the St. Clair Flats ship canal. Representative Barnes (Ga.) introduced a bill offering a reward of SIOO,OJO to any person who Will discover the true cause or germ of yellow fever, with any certain means of effecting its prevention. A debate occurred on the conference report on the sundry civil bill, but it went over without action.

The Senate passed the following bills on the 19th: Appropriating $750,050 for a postofficebuilding at St. Paul, Minn., and $75,000 for a. public building at Kalamazoo, Mich.; to forfeit lands granted to the State of Michigan to aid in the construction of a railroad from Marquette to Ontonagon ; to amend the river and harbor appropriation bill of 1881 in relation to the use ot the St. Mary’s Falls and other canals; granting to the Duluth and Winnipeg Railroad right of way through theFond du Lac Indian reservation, Minnesota;, authorizing the construction of bridges across the Kentucky River and Its tributaries by the Louisville Southern Railroad, and across the Missouri within one mile of the mouth of theKansas River. The retaliation bill was referred to a sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, consisting of Senators Sherman, Evarts and Morgan. The House reached a vote on the conference report on the sundry civil bill after a long discussion on the section relating to the new library building. The vote resulted—yeas, 67 ; nays, 77 ; no quorum, and the House adjourned.

In the Senate the order reported by Mr. Edmunds from the Committee on Foreign Relatione directing the retention of the Chinese exclusion bill having been taken up on the 20th, Mr. Edmunds said that as the bill had gone out of the possession of the Senate the order wasnot applicable to the present state of the case. Therefore, so far as he was concerned, the resolution might be laid on the table. So ordered. The Senate bill to ratify and confirm, agreements with the upper and middle bands of Spokane Indians was reported from the Committee on Indian Affairs, explained by Mr. Dawes, and passed. Immediately after the reading of the journal Mr. Burnes, of Missouri, called up the conference report of the sundrycivil appropriation bill, and the House refused, by a vote of 32 to 47, to agree to it. A bill was reported to the House from the Committee on Public Lands relative to a suspension of land entries provides that all laws providing for the disposal of the public lands except thehomestead law and the laws in relation to mineral lands and the laws touching the selection of public lands by States for educational and other purposes shall be suspended until the pendin' legislation affecting the public lands shall be disposed or the present Congress shall adjourn, fto action was taken.

The House bill to make the Department of Agriculture an executive department was passed by the Senate the 21st, the section transferring the Weather Bureau to the new department being stricken out by a vote of—yeas, 33 ; nays, 9. As passed, the bill provides that the Department of Agriculture shall be an executive department under the supervision and control of a Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Another conference report on the sundry civil bill was presented to the Senate and agreed to. The Senate bill forfeiting the grant of lands to the State of Michigan to aid in the construction of a railroad from Marquette to Ontonagon was passed by the House, after having been amended by striking out the provision limiting the forfeiture to lands along the unconstruCted portion of the road, and applying also the forfeiture of the lands granted to aid in the construction of a railroad from Ontonagon to the Wisconsin State line. The Housealso passed the bill to suspend the operation of the pre-emption, timber-culture, and desertland laws.