Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 January 1898 — CONGRESS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CONGRESS

On Thursday the consular and diplomatic appropriation bill was passed by the House after a day of debate on the Cuban question. Mr. Dingley made a. speech relative to wage reductions in the cotton industry, in which he showed that the tariff question has nothing to do with them. Ln the Senate Mr. Teller's resolution that bonds be paid in silver as well as gold was taken jip by a vote of 41 to 25, and, after debate, was made unfinished business. Mr. Pettigrew secured the passage of a resolution directing the Secretary of the Interior and the Attorney General to inform the Senate what steps the Government had taken concerning the killing of a woman in Oklahoma territory by Seminole Indians and the burning of two Seminole Indians in the same territory. The resolution inquiring of the Postmaster General what action was necessary to maintain the excellence of the postal free delivery service was agreed to. Mr. Tillman’s resolution extending the authority of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee relative to the investigation of the giving by railroads of transportation for any other consideration than cash was also passed.

In the House on Friday there was a parliamentary struggle over the bill for the relief of the bock publishing company of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. By shrewd maneuvering its opponents succeeded in preventing action. Previous to the consideration of this bill the House passed the bill to extend the public land laws of the United States to the territory of Alaska and to grant a general railroad right of way through the territory. The urgent deficiency bill was sent to conference after the silver forces, with some outside aid, had succeeded in concurring in the Senate amendment striking from the bill the provision requiring the depositors of bullion at Government assay offices to pay the cost of transportation to the mints. In the Senate the resolution of Mr. Allen asking the Secretary of the Interior for papers concerning the dismissal fropi the pension office of Mrs. M. E. Roberts was referred to the Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment, after considerable debate. The Senate spent njost of the day in executive session.

Some bills of minor importance were passed by the House on Saturday and the remainder of the day was devoted to general debate on the Indian appropriation bill. That the Cuban question is still uppermost in the minds of the members was evinced during this debate, much of which was decoted to it. Mr. Hitt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, submitted a privileged report from his committee, recommending the passage of a resolution of inquiry, requesting the State Department to transmit to the House all information in its possession relative to the military execution of Col. Ruiz, a Spanish envoy to the insurgentcamp of Aranguren. The resolution was adopted without division. In the Senate after a speech by Mr. Stewart in favor of the Teller silver resolution, consideration of bills on the private calendar was begun and a number were passed.

In the House on Monday a couple of hours were devoted to business relating to the District of Columbia, and the remainder of the day was occupied with the Indian appropriation bill. A lively debate was precipitated by an allusion made by Mr. Simpson (Pop., Kan.) to an alleged interview- with the President on the subject of immigration. Mr. Grosvenor took occasion to express the opinion that the President had never used some of the language imputed to him, and the debate drifted into a general discussion of our industrial conditions. In the Senate proposed annexation of Hawaii wa.s somewhat extensively reviewed by Mr. Morgan of Alabama while speaking to a question of personal privilege. One of the features of the session was gn elaborate speech by Mr. Turpie of Indiana in support of the Teller resolution. The pension appropriation bill was debated for nearly three hours, but was not passed, the Senate adjourning pending the disposal of a point of order made against an amendment offered by Mr. Allen of Nebraska to the pending bill. Under the parliamentary fiction of discussing the Indian appropriation bill, the House devoted almost the entire day Tuesday to a political debate in which the main question was whether prosperity had come to the country as a result of the advent of the present administration. Mr. Smith, the delegate from Arizona, made an attack on the system of educating the Indians, and Mr. Walker moved to strike out the appropriation for the Carlisle school. No vote was taken on the motion. A bill was passed granting American register to the foreign built steamer Navajo. In the Senate the session was characterized by a heated, almost acrimonious, discussion of the financial question. For nearly four hours the Teller resolution was under consideration, the principal speeches being made by Mr. Allison (Iowa), Mr. Berry (Arkansas) and Mr. Hoar (Massachusetts).