Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1890 — DOINGS OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

DOINGS OF CONGRESS.

IMPORTANT measures consideredAND ACTED UPON. At the Nation’s Capitol—What Is Being Done by the Senate and House Old, Matters Disposed Of and New Ones Considered. In the Senate, on the 26th inst,, immediately' after the reading of the journal, the oath of office was administered by the Vice President to Mr. Carlisle as Sinator from the State of Kentucky for Mr. Beer ’s unexpired term. Mr. Plumb introduced a bill to provide for the purchase of silver for use as lawfurmoney, and said that it bad been prepared by Banker St. Johns, of New York. Italsj met his own approval. The Senate then resumed consideration of the> naval appropriation hill, the pending question being on Mr. Cockrell’s amendment to strike out the provision for the construction of three hearily armed battle-ships at acostof $4,009,000 each. ’ Mr. Cockrell’s amendment was not agreed to—yeas, 18; nays, 33. The bill then passed. Mr. Mitchell then offered a resolution (which was agreed to) instructing the Cbmmitiee on Pensions to report an amendment to tho pension laws so as to provide in a more liberal manner for the widows, minor children, and. dependent relatives of deceased soldiers. The Senate then adjourned. The House was called to order by Clerk McPherson, and on motion of Mr. McKinley Mr. Burrows (Mich.) was elected Speaker pre tern, and took the chair amid applause. On motion of Mr. McKinley the Senate bill was passed for the erection of a public building at Canton, Ohio, at a cost of $160,000. The floor was then, accorded to the Committee on District of Columbia, and Mr. Atkinson (Mo.) called up the Rock Creek Park bill, and the vote by which it was recently defeated was reconsidered and the bill was passed. After the passage of several other District billsthe House adjourned. The session of the Senate on the 27th inst. was occupied principally ip a discussion cn Senator Wilson’s bill subjecting imported liquors to the provisions of the laws of the several States. In the House Mr. McKinley of Ohio submitted the conference report upon the cus-toms-adininistrative bill. The conference report was adopted—yeas, 127; nays, 13; the Speaker pro tem. counting a quorum. The Democrats as a rule refrained from voting. The House then went’into committee of the whole(Mr. Allen of Michigan in the chair) on the river and harbor appropriation bill. An amendment calling lor $5,000 for improvements at Cedar Islands, lowa, was defeated, as was that of Mr. Stone, of Kentucky, asking tor an appropriation for Hickman, Ky. This was followed by the defeat of an amendment calling for $250,000 for levees at Natchez, Miss. A long debate followed an amendment offered by Mr. boatnerof Louisiana, as to the improvement? at the mouth of the Red and the head of the Atchafalaya Rivers, which was defeated. An amendment was offered by the Chairman of the River and Harbor Committee providing that $50,000 of the amount allotted to the Missouri River shall be expended between Sioux City and touth Dakota, and $50,003 above South Dakota. Agreed to. Mr. McCreary made a point of order against the feature of the bill which imposes a tine for obstruction of navigable waters or dumping into streams such articles as may become an obstruction, holding that the committee had no power - to inflict tine and imprisonment. Pending discussion, the committee rose and tho House adjourned. In the Senate on’the 28th, the Senate bill subjecting imported liquors to the laws of the several States occupiel the attention of the Senators all day. In the House Mr. Vaux, Mr. Randall’s successor, presented his credentials and vas qualified as a Representative. A bill was passed appropriating $125,000 for the' establishment of the natioual military park at the battlefield at Chickamauga. A conference was ordered on the naval appropriation bill, and then the House went into committee of the whole (Mr. Burrows of Michigan in the chair) on the river and harbor bill. On motion of Mr. Dunnell of Minnesota, section 8, providing that it shall not be lawful to build bridges over navigable waterways without first securing the approval of the Secretary of War to the proposed plans, and providing a fine aud imprisonment as penalty for violation of said act, was so amended as to permit the cases to be brought before tne Unital Seates courts instead of the Secretary of War. On motion of Mr, Cornstock, of Minnesota, all the paragraph calling for the survey and the estimated cost of cutting a new channel to the Bay of Superior, opposite the opening between Rice’s Point aud Connors Point, was stricken out. A motion to recommit the bill, with instructions to the committee to cut out the paragraph making an appropriation for beginning work upon the Hennepin Canal, was defeated—nays, 128; yeas, 61. The bill then passed, and the House adjourned. In the Senate, on the 29th, most of the day was spent in the consideration of the bill subjecting imported liquors to the provisions of the laws of the several States, and after a discussion participated in by nearly all the Senators present finally succeeded in securing a vote upon the bill, which resulted: Yeas, 34; nays, 10. Those voting in the affirmative wero : Allen, Allison Blair, Call, Casey, Colquitt, Cullom, Davis, Dawes, Dixon. Dolph, Edmunds, George, Hawley, Hiscock, Hoar, Ingalls, Jones of Nevada, McMillan, Mitchell, Moody, Morrill, Paddock, Platt, Plumb, Power, Pugh, lawyer, Spooner, Stewart, Stockbridge, Waitnail. Washburne, Wilson of lowa. Tnose voting in the negative were Bate, Blodgett, Cockrell, toke, Harris, Jones of Arkansas, Turpie, Vance, Vest, and Voorhees. The title of the bill was then amended so as to read, "A bill to limit the effect of the regulation of commerce between the several States and foreign countries in certain cases." The House spent the entire day in tho consideration of bills making appropriations for public buildings. At five o clock the committee of the whole rose, having passed in committee bills providing for public buildings at thirtyfive places, at a total cost of -$4,125,000.