Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1891 — THE WORK OF CONGRESS [ARTICLE]

THE WORK OF CONGRESS

HOW IT COMPARES WITH PREVIOUS SESSIONS. An Interesting Review of the Law-Makers* Labors—Volume of the Work—Bills that Have Received the Approval ot Both Houses, Eto. The working or business feature of the Congress just closed, says a Washington dispatch, may bo studied with Interest Three measures, any of which in Intrinsic importance and popular interest would be sufficient for a national issue, stand forth pre-eminent among all others. First, the McKinley tariff bill, which became a law; second, the silver bill, on which, during the first session, a compromise was effected, based on a monthly purchase of 4,500,000 ounces of silver, and which, in turn, was followed by a more radical measure thall failed of passage; third, the Federal elections bill, which, after a protracted, bitter, and hotly fought and intensely exciting preliminary struggle, failed in the Senate to reach a decisive vote on its merits. Even in its mortuary record the Congress was remarkable, the call of death having summoned no fewer than twelve of its Representatives and three of its Senators. The list contains the names of Senators Beck of Kentucky, Wilson of Maryland, and Hearst of California: and Representatives W. D. Kelley, Samuel'l. Randall and Lewis F. Watson of Pennsylvania; S. S. Cox, David Wilber and Newton J. Nutting of New York; Richard Townshend of Illinois, J. M. Burnes and James P. Walker of Missouri, James Laird of Nebraska, Edward J. Gay of Louisiana, and James Phelan of Tennessee. The total appropriations for this Congress will probably reach $1,030,000,000. During the Fiftieth Congress 1,611 bills were vetoed, and duriug the Fifty-first Congress fourteen. In the Fifty-first Congress 14,033 bills were introduced in the House and 5,129 In tho Senate. In the Fiftietli Congress 12,654 bills were introduced in the House and 4,000 in tin Senate. In the Fiftyfirst Congress 297 joint resolutions, or twenty-eight more than the number introduced in the Fiftieth, were introduced in the llouso. In the Senate 169 Joint resolutions, twenty-four more than In the were introduced. The bills that became laws during the Congress just ended numbered 2,186. In the Fiftieth Congress 1,894 bills were enacted. The number of bills, ete., introduced in the Fifty-first Congress exceeded by 20 per cent, the number introduced in the Fiftieth. Among the bills which have become laws aro these: The copyright bill, the private landcourt bill, the Indian depredations claim bill, the timber and pre-< >ptiop law repeal bill, the customs administrative bill, a general land forfeiture bill, the bill to relieve the Supremo Court by tho establishment of intermediate courts of appeal, the United States judicial salary blll 14 the World’s Fair bill, the Wyoming and Idaho admission bills, the qntl-lot-tery and anti-trust bills, tl|e reapportionment bill, tho immigration bill, the bill to ratify agreements with various Indian tribes and to pay the friendly S’oux SIOO,OOO, to reduce the fees of pension agents, to pay the French spoliation claims, the meat inspection bill, the postal subsidy bill, the bill to prevent the Importation of adu terated food and drink, the live cattle and hog inspection bill, the bill appropriating »1 ,000,000 for the improvement of the Mississippi Rivir, to permit torghum sugar manufacturers to use alcohol without payment of tax, to limit to 60 per cent, of the rates charged private parties the rates the land-grant railroads shall charge for transportation of government troops and supplies, to authorize tho construction of a tunnel under the waters of the Bay of New York, for the construction of a deepwater harbor on tho coast of Texas, for the relief of settlers on the Northern Pacific Railroad Indemnity lands, to permit tho export of fermented liquors to a foreign country without tho payment of a tax, to apply the proceeds of the sale* of public lands and the receipts from certain land-grant railroads to the support of agricultural and industrial colleges, joint resolution congratulating Brazil on the adoption of a republican form of government, bills to establish the Chickamauga military park, providing for town-site entries in Oklahoma, authorizing tho use of the Louisville and Portland canal basin, to amend the interstate commerce act so as to give the commissioners fuller powers in respect to making inquiries, providing that applications to purchase forfeited railroad lands shall begin to run from tho date of the restoration of tho lands to settlement and sale, for a military post at San Diego, Cal., for an Alaskan census, to extend tho time of payment for public lands in cases of failure of the crops, to issue 1,000 stands of arms to North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska, to set aside the big-tree tract in California as a public park, for the inspection of cattle steamers in order to secure more humane treatment of cattle, providing that tbe life-saving appliances act shall not apply to the lakes and bays of the United States, to enable the Postmaster General to expend SIO,OOO to test free-delivery system in small towns, to create the customs district of North and South Dakota and Puset Sound, and for the erection, repair, er enlargement of many public buildings heretofore noted.