Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1902 — Congress. [ARTICLE]

Congress.

Senator Hanna was the central figure in Senate debate Thursday when consideration of the Department of Commerce bill was resumed. The pending question was the amendment offered by Mr. Pettus of Alabama providing that the Department of Labor be not transferred to the proposed new department. Mt. Pettus made a brief argument in support of his amendment, and be was supported by Mr. Bacon. In reply Mr. Nelson, in charge of the pending measure, said he had heard no protest against the transfer until recently an official of a labor organization had objected to IL He maintained that it was a mistake to leave the labor department without the jurisdiction of nn executive department. Mr. Hanna said the establishment of the new department was in the interest of both capital and labor. In the House the consideration of the urgent deficiency bill, which has been under debate since Monday, was completed, but owing to the lateness of the hour passage of the bill was postponed until Friday. A successful effort was made to increase tho pay of rural free delivery carriers from SSOO to SOOO per annum. Mr. Hill of Connecticut made the motion to increase the appropriation for this purpose. It was resisted by Mr. Cannon. Mr. Loud, chairman of the postofflee committee, and Mr. Payne, the Republican floor leader, on the ground that the method was irregular, but the members with rural constituencies supported it nnd it was adopted by n vote of 109 to 78. On Friday a vote was reached on the urgency deficiency bill. The item that had aroused Democratic opposition was ingeniously amended so as to appropriate $500,000 for “the protection and shelter” of American troops serving iu the Philippines. instead of specifically for barracks. In its original form the item had received the support of only one Democrat. Mr. Cummings of New York. When the vote was taken upon it in amended form it received the support of sixteen Democrats in addition to the full Republican strength, the vote being 178 to 105. An animated and prolonged discussion was precipitated in tho Senate on Monday over the right of army officers to criticise utterances made in the Senate or elsewhere on the conduct of affairs in the Philippines. At times it became somewhat acrimonious, officers in the Philippines being taken sharply to task for statements attributed to them in dispatches from Manila. Tho House adopted a resolution calling for documents relating to the old training ship Vermont, which was placed out of commission last summer, and also passed a bill to provide for the compulsory attendance of witnesses before registers and receivers of the general land office. A bill to appropriate SIOO,OOO for establishing homes for the teaching of articulate speech ‘o deaf children was defeated. The House adjourned until Wednesday. Philippine debate grew so bitter in the Senate on Tuesday that prsonal encounters were narrowly averted. The storm raged for three hours, and the chairman was kept busy maintaining order. After years of patient effort commercial organizations and business men were rewarded by the Senate passing the bill for rhe creation of a department of commerce and labor. The measure goes to the House in substantially the form in which it was introduced. The most important change is in the name of the department. As originally suggested it was to be the department of commerce and industry. No material opposition in the House is anticipated. Its quick passage is confidently expected. A bill to permit the extension for twenty years of the charters of national banks was favorablyreported by the Senate committee on finance. Just before the adjournment ot the Senate Senator Spooner introduced a substitute for the Nicaragua canal bill. The new bill is a practical authorization to the President of the United States to choose between the Panama and the Nicaragua routes. Senator Cullom, ns chairman of the committee on foreign relations, virtually appealed to the Senate on Wednesday from the decision of his committee on the question of reciprocity treaties. Broadly, he took the position that a treaty is the supreme law of the land, superseding acts of Congress, and that under the constitution the President by treaty ratified by the Senate can do anything Congress can do. For an hour the Senate had under discussion the question whether a censorship of press dispatches exists in Manila. The debate for a time was very spirited. The Secretary of War was quoted as saying that no press censership now existed in the Philippines, and a letter from Gen. Greely. chief signal officer of the army, was presented by Mr. Beveridge of Indiana, making the statement officially that there was no censorship and that “the press is entirely free.” It was contended by the opposition that ■ censorship did exist in the Philippines, ami that copies of every news dispatch filed with the cable company were filed with the military authorities. The House adjourned after being in session only twenty-five minutes. Mr. Hopkins of Illinois reported the permanent census bill and gave notice he would call it up Thursday. A request to make the oleomargarine bill a special order for the following Monday was objected to on the Democratic side.