Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1898 — CONGRESS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CONGRESS

Consideration of the Indian appropriation bill consumed the entire day in the House on Wednesday. The debate was chiefly on extraneous subjects. The motion to strike out the appropriation for the Carlisle Indian school was defeated after considerable debate, 29 to 65. Ten pages of the bill were disposed of. The conference report on the urgent deficiency bill was adopted. In the Senate the day was spent iu a discussion of the Teller silver resolution. The Indian appropriation bill was passby the House on Thursday and the political debate which had been Jgging since Monday was transferred to District of Columbin bill, which fol it. The only two important the Indian bill as passed were 9 Stunnnation of the provisions tor,s9 of the gilsonite mineral 1 jjU Kiowa, Comanche, Apache to reservations, both of which ewt points of order. The featnreavß? tw bate Thursday were the jr Hartman (silver Republican, MW/’m denunciation of the financial policy'of the administration, and of Mr. Dolliver (Republican, Iowa), in reply to the general attacks of the opposition. In the Senate the day was spent in debate on the Teller resolution. The bill to pay the book publishing company of the Methodist Episcopal Church south $288,000 for damages sustained by that corporation during the war, after encountering an obstinate filibuster, which staved off a vote on two previous private bill days, was piloted to its passage in the House on Friday by Mr. Cooper of Texas, who was in charge of the message. The friends of the measure proved themselves in an overwhelming majority, and the opposition, finding it could hold out no longer, reluctantly yielded. The vote on the bill was 188 to 67. An evening session for the consideration of other private bills was held. In the Senate the entire day was taken up by consideration of the Teller silver resolution. It was passed by a vote of 47 to 37. The District of Columbia appropriation bill was before the House on Saturday, but the day was spent in political debate. The controverted question as to whether prosperity had arrived attracted the most attention aud interest, and testimony pro and con was offered throughout the day. At times considerable acrimony was displayed, but as a rule the debate was goodnatured, both sides seeming to recognize that it was merely a struggle to score political advantage. The Senate was not in session.

In the Senate on Monday two of the general appropriation bills, that for the army carrying $23,243,492, and that for the legislative, judicial and executive departments, carrying $21,058,520, were passed, the latter consisting of 121 pages, occupying the attention of the Senate during the greater part of the session. After a brief executive session the Senate adjourned. In the House all day was spent in debate on the Teller silver resolution. It was defeated by a vote of 132 to 182. The fenture of the short session of the Senate on Tuesday was a statement made by Mr. Clark (Rep., Wyo.), as a matter of personal privilege, concerning his vote in favor of the Teller resolution. He maintained that his vote was in no way inconsistent with his Republicanism, and declared he would not permit anybody to read him out of the party, as he was satisfied the masses of the party would not convict him of political heresy. The House devoted most of the session to the District of Columbia appropriation bill, but had not completed it at the time of adjournment. Some politics was injected into the debate just at the close, the feature of which wns a bitter denunciation of W. A. Stone of Pennsylvania by Mr. Mahany (Rep., N. Y.), for the former's position in favor of the immigration bill. Mr. Stone did not see fit to reply. Before the district Oill was taken up several bills and resolutions of minor importance were passed.