Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1895 — WORK OF CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

WORK OF CONGRESS.

DOINGS OF OUR NATIONAL LAW- - MAKERS. Proceedings of the Senate and House Briefly Summarized—Measures Introduced, Passed, or Referred to ’ Committee—Routine Work. Corning Work of Congress. The present session of Congress is not unlikely to be marked by some interesting debates. It seems altogether likely that the session will be partially devoted to a discussion of the currency problems before “the country, the President having set the discussion going by the recommendations of his message. It will be strange if the West and South do not make one more attempt to pass a free silver measure. There have been elected several new Congressmen, who will, when their time comes, no doubt act with the free silver side. The income tax will undoubtedly come before the present session of Congress. There was an appropriation of $9,000 made on the recommendation of Secretary Carlisle to provide for the hire of clerks and the cost of the preparation of blanks to be used in its collection, but it will take at least half a million dollars a year to provide for the cost of the machinery of collection in the offices of the district collectors of internal revenue. Senator Hill and his school of opponents of the income tax have additional chance to voice their opposition to it. The tariff is not out of the woods yet. The “popgun” bills, so-called, the independent measure providing for the free entrance of many staples into the country, have come over from the first session of the Fifty-third Congress, and as all of them have devotees, they are sure to be brought forward for discussion, if not for action. This closing session of Congress will have one merit that its predecessor did not have. That is that the country knows when it will end. The first session didn’t have that desirable qualification.

Up to Thursday neither branch bad gotten in shape for active work. The reports of the Cabinet Ministers had been received, and both houses discussed them carefully. Congressman Fithian, of Illinois, introduced two bills affecting the shipping interests. The bills were designed to relieve sailing vessels of a portion of their tonnage tax, and transfer it to steam vessels, and to change the measurement law to make it conform to those of Great Britain, Norway and other nations. The object sought is to diminish the amount of taxes which the vessels of the United States have to pay in foreign ports. A bill providing for the free coinage of silver was introduced in the House by Representative Hartman, of Montana. An important provision of the measure is that requiring import duties to be paid in gold in cases where the articles of importation are brought from countries whose Governments refuse to open their mints to the free coinage of silver and gold. The Senate called for correspondence and information relative to several foreign questions, and the House passed a bill to transform Shiloh’s battle field into a national park. In the Senate Thursday some state papers from the President were received. Mr. Turpie advocated the election of Senators by direct vote. The bill exempting from duty foreign exhibits at the Portland (Ore.) exposition, and a bill extending the time for commencing and completion of a bridge across the Mississippi River at New Orleans was passed. Mr. Ransom gave notice that the memorial services for the late Senator Vance would be held Jan. 17 next. A bill was passed for the national dedication of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga national park Sept. 19 and 20, 1895, under the direction of the Secretary of War. The entire time' of the House was occupied in the discussion of the railroad pooling bill. No action, however, was taken. The Senate devoted Monday to a discussion of our foreign relations and the Nicaraugua canal’. The House devoted the day, under the rules, to the business reported from the District of Columbia Committee. Several bills of purely local importance were passed and a resolution was adopted setting aside the third Saturday in January for eulogies on the life and character of Marcus B. Lisle, late representative from the Tenth Kentucky District.

The House on Tuesday, after a spirited debate, passed the bill legalizing the pooling of railroads, by a vote of 166 to 110. Mr. Breckinridge of Kentuckj- reported the urgent deficiency bill. Mr. of Maine asked unanimous consent for the consideration of a resolution calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for information first as to whether the articles of the Behring Sea tribunal had resulted last season in saving the fur seal herds from that destruction they were intended to prevent; second, information as to the number and sex of seals killed by pelagic sealers; third, the protection of fur seal herds on the Pribyloff Islands; and fourth, the revenue derived by the Government from the seals during the past and the expenditure of the Government for the protection during the same period. The business of the Senate was confined to confirming nominations.