Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1890 — THE SENATE AND HOUSE. [ARTICLE]

THE SENATE AND HOUSE.

NATIONAL DAW-MAKERS and WBAT THEY ARE DOING. fe Proceedings of the Senate and -House of Representatives Discussed and Acted On—Gist of the Business. Im the Senate, on the 21st inst., Mr. Blair presented a number of petitions praying for the passage of the Blair educational bilL Mr. Quay introduced a bill to present to the Gettysburg MeiAhrMl 'AvSoclation’ Kpecunens -of tic, arms , and Equipments used by thq Union annt during the war. Mt. Berr*y intdcte e> fdwGemarks fn I favor of the bill to instruct the Census Commissioner to ascertain what percentage of farms in the United States are under mortgage or free from incumbrance. Some discussion of the bill followed Mr. Berry's remarks,'and then calendar business was taken up and the following bills were passed: Tho Senate bill to create the offices of Surveyor General for the States of South Dakota and North Dakota; the Senate bill granting to.the State of California 5 per cent, of the net proceeds of the cash sales of public lands in the State; the Senate bill creating three additional land offices in Colorado; the Senate joint resolution granting authority for the removal of the Apache Indian prisoners and their families from Alabama to Fort Sill, Indian Territory. The Senate then went into executive session and adjourned soon after. In the House a hot discussion, arose over the absence of rules. A demand was made for a division on the pending question when the right to such a demand in the absence of rules was questioned. This led to a general discussion over the absence of rules in which Messrs. Mills, Crisp, Oates,and others on the Democratic side denounced the delay of the Committee on Rules and the majority side of the House for the delay in offering and adopting rules. Mr. Carlisle also spoke, urging that tho rules of the last Congress be considered a precedent upon which tho enforcement of common parliamentary law should be based, but also urging that definite rules be adopted. On the Republican side Messrs. Cannon, Payne, and Boutelle spoke. The Speaker ruled that under common parliamentary law the right to demand tellers doos not exist. Mr. Mills appealed from the decision, and a yea and nay vote was ordered on a motion to table Mills’ appeal. The motion was carried by a strict party vote. The House spent the afternoon on the Oklahoma bill and adjourned ut 5:30. In the Senate on the 22d Senator Chandler presented a concurrent redblution directing the House and Senate committees on immigration to investigate the immigration laws and asked its immediate consideration. Laid over. Discussion of the resolution relative to ascertaining the percentage of farms under mortgage through the census bureau followed. Mr. Teller moved that it be recommitted to the Census Committee. Adopted—yeas, 22; nays, 20. Calendar business was' then taken up and a number of bills passed, among them the bill to present badges to the officers and men of the Greely Relief Expedition. The Senate then went into executive session and shortly afterward adjourned. In the House Mr. Grosvenor of Ohio, from the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, reported back the Senate joint resolution appropriating $250,000 for the removal of snags and other obstructions.from the Missouri Rivet between St. Joseph and its mouth. The com’mittee proposed a substitute reducing the appropriation to 875,000, and appropriating 875,000 for the snags from the Columbia River, Oregon. On motion of Mr. Hermann of Oregon, the substitute was amended so that the appropriation for the Columbia River may be expended for continuing the jetty work. The substitute was agreed to and the joint resolution as amended passed. The Oklahoma town-site bill, after some unimportant amendments, was passed. The.biU as passed provides for the appointment of five boards 6f commissioners, eaZh board to consist of three members, to make entry of town sites in Oklahoma and. examine the claims of occupants to lots which' they claim to havb entered, and to make titles to those whose proof is sufficient and.proper. The members of these boards are to be appointed bythe Secretary of the Interior, and may be selected from auy part of the country, and shall receive as- compensation #lO per day during their term of ’ service. In the Senate on the 23d Mr. Vest presented the credentials of W. M. Clark and Martin Magimns, as Senators-elect from the State of Montana. They were read and referred (on Mr. Vest’s motion) to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. On his motion, also, the four gentlemen claiming to be Senators-elect were admitted (pending the contest) to the privileges of the floor. A number of bills were then reported and placed on the calendar, after which a bill appropriating 8500,000 for work at the mouth of the Columbia River was passed, as were also the following $61,000 for the removal of a dangerous obstruction at the entrance of Milwaukee harbor: establishing a light station at Gladstone, Mich. ($10,000); to place Gen. George Stoneman on the retired list us Colonel of infantry; and the Chandler jointresolution for the investigation of immigration matters. Senator Ingalls then spoke on the Southern race question, and the Senate adjourned to the 27th. In the House the bill appropriating $61,000 for the removal of obstructions from the mouth of the harbor at Milwaukee was passed. The House then took up the bill from the Ways and Means Committee making, changes in the laws affecting the collection of customs, and defining the methods to be pursued by custom house officials. An adjournment was taken without a vote upon the bill, which is very long, and will require several days for consideration. The report of the Committee on Elections in the Smith-Jackson case was submitted to the House and recommitted. The House on the 24th went into committee of the - whole (Mr. Burrows, of Michigan, in the chair) for the further consideration of the customs a'lministrative bill. The pending amendment was that offered by Mr. Bayne, of Pennsylvania, to section 15, providing for the holding, of merchandise by the Government during the pending of any controversy or litigation about the amount of duty to be paid. Mr. La Follette, Wisconsin, offered an amendment tn the amendment providing that perishable goods may be withdrawn pending litigation. This was agreed to, but the Bayne amendment, as amended, was defeated. Mr Carlisle offered a substitute for the whole section, the chief effect of which is to allow the courts to deteriiine the question of fact as well as of law. The substitute was lost—ll 2to 114. This leaves the fifteenth section as originally reported, On motion of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, >an amendment was adopted—lo 7to 104—providing that this section shall not apply to merchandise imported in cartons,, cases, crates, boxes, sacks, and other covering, which is subject, to a rate of duty equal to or greater than 60 per cent. .The committee then rose. On motion of Mr. Pefkins,. of Kansas, a joint resolution was passed appropriating 875,OOOfor the purchase of food and clothing for Indians at the La Pointe Agency. Mr. Peters, of Kansas, introduced a bill to promote the interests of agriculture by irrigation:Referred. Adjourned. TherSenqta wtonot.in fios|sion,