Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1894 — DOINGS OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

DOINGS OF CONGRESS.

MEASURES CONSIDERED AND ACTED UPON. At the Nation’s Capital —What la Being Done by the Senate and Boose—Old Matters Disposed Of and New Ones Considered. The Senate and Hoose. Before entering open the dbcanskm of the; tariff Wednesday the Senate passed seven bills, one of them being a House bill and the others Senate bills. Mr. Blackburn reported favorably a resolution from the committee on rules for the appointment of a special committee of five Senators on the existing public distress, to whom should be referred the petitions of Morrison L Swift and others bearing upon this subject. It was adopted without division. The Cox amendment for the total repeal of the 10 per cent tax on State banks was defeated In the House by 102 to 170. A viva voce vote on the Brawley bill was then taken and the bill defeated. Mr. Turner, ofGeorgla. addressed the House in favor ‘ of repeal, and brief speeches tn opposition to the bill a are made by Representative Melkeljohn of Nebraska, Binzham of Pennsylvania, Robinson of Pennsylvania. Cockran of New York, Hicks of Pennsylvania, and Qulgg of New York. The House went Into committee of thS whole tJ consider the Indian appropriation bill, and a filibuster was started as a result of Mr. Holman’s request that the first reading of the bill be dispensed with. Hay. of New York, objecting. A motion to adjourn was adopted, 104 to 9S. and at 3:23 the House ad journei The action of the Attorney General In claiming 115,000,060 from the estate of the late Leland Stanford occupied the attention of the Senate until the tariff bill was taken up, on Thursday Mr. Hopkins’ bill for a new public building at Elgin. 111, was reported to the House. The original bill carried an appropriation of 9100,000, butthe Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds cut down the amount to 975,000. With this amendment the measure was favorably reported and was placed upon the calendar. The House Commit’ee on Railways and Canals agreed to report the compromise bill drawn by Representative Ryan, of New York, for the survey of a ship canal route from the Ohio River to Lake Erie. The bill places the matter In the hands of a board of engineers to be appointed by the Secretary ’of War, who are to select the most practicable route and for which work 920.000 Is to be appropriated. Ihe Senate did nothing of Importance Friday. The tariff and the Stanford claim were the only matters discussed. The day’s proceedings In the House were enlivened by Mr. Walker’s complaint of the poor ventilation of the House and the incapacity of the architect of tho Capitol, and by Mr. Weadock’s replv to the attack of Mr. Linton on the Catholic church. The business transacted in the morning hour was the passage of a bill for the registry or enrollment of the bark Skudenaes and of a bill to define the present units of electrical measurements. The conference report on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Railway bridge bill was adopted, and a resolution authorizing tie Maryland State courts tooccupy for five years the old United States courthouse In Baltimore was agreed to. At--4:50 o’clock the House took a recess until 8. The evening session was devoted to pension bilk In the Senate Saturday bills were passed as follows: To extend the time limit forthe construction of a bridge at Burlington, lowa, and to fix the salaries of railway postal clerks. It provides that they shall be divided into seven classes. The salaries for eachclassshall not exceed the following amounts annually: First class, 9800; second class, 91.000; third class, $1,200 : fourth class, $1,300; fifth class, $1,500; sixth class, $1,600; seventh class, SI,BOO. The Postmaster General is authorized to fix salariesIn the different classes according to the hours of work. Senator Walsh, of Georgia. Introduced a bill for the permanent location for the exposition to be established for the display of the products and resources of the several States and Territories, and creating a commission to consist of the PostmasterGeneral, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture, to report a plan for the proposed exposition to Congress. His Idea Is that the exposition should be permanent and free to the public. The House held a short session and practically no business was transacted. The liquor and cotton schedules of the tariff bill were disposed of In the Senate Monday, the prompt passage of the latter being due to concessions to manufacturers. The trolley bill was not called up in the House. In the Senate Mr. Quay denied any interest in the scheme. Senator Caffery told the su.’ar-trust investigators his meeting with Mr. Havemeyer was to secure Information as to comparative merits of ad valorem and specific rates. There was absolute blockade of the tariff bill In the Senate Tuesday. Not a cog was turned. The entire eight hours were devoted to set speeches preliminary to the consideration of the wool schedule. Mr. Quay resumed the delivery of his speech, which had already occupied four days, and after speaking four hours bis manuscript seemed unappreciably diminished. Then he yielded from sheer exhaustion and Messrs. Pettigrew, Hoar. Power and Peffer made set speeches against free wooL Other set speeches will follow. During a lull In the debate Mr. Mitchell, of Oregon, moved to lay the tariff bill on the table. The motion was defeated by a strict party vote. Two hours were consumed In the House over a bill reported by Mr. Outhwalte setting aside SIOO,OOO from the fund belonging to the estates of deceased colored soldiers of the civil war for the purpose of erecting In the District of Columbia a national home for aged and Infirm colored people. The bill was passed. The Indian appropriation bill was then taken up. but the House adjourned without completing Its consideration.