Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1874 — CONGRESSIONAL NEWS. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESSIONAL NEWS.

In the Senate, on the 9th, a memorial was presented, signed by settlers on the* public lands in Kansas, asking that the operation of the Pre-emption laws may be extended in consequence of the grasshopper invasion. The standing committees of last session were reappointed, Messrs. Dennis and Davis ehanging places on the Committees on Claims and Agriculture. Bills were introduced to ascertain the cost to Kansas in resisting the Indian invasion of 1874, and providing for the payment of arrears of pensions... .In the House the Omaha Railroad Bridge bill was postponed until Feb. 12. The President’s Message was appropriately referred. The bill to continue the Board of Audit for the District of Columbia was amended and passed. Adjourned. In the Senate, on 10th, the Hon.Geozge Bancroft was appointed one of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institute. The House bill appropriating 230,000 to purchase scales for the Postofflce Department was amended and passed. After executive session the Senate adjourned to meet on the 14th ....In the House, the Commissioners of the Freedmen’s Bank were directed to declare an immediate dividend and bring suit against all persons indebted to the institution. The Diplomatic and Consular Appropriation bill was made the special order for the 23d. The Senate amendment to the bill providing for the purchase of scales for the Postoffice Department was concurred in and the bill passed. The Speaker announced sundry appointments to fill vacancies on committees, after which the House adjourned. The Senate was not in session on the 11th ....Bills were passed in the House—allowing homestead and pre-emption settlers whose crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers permission to leave their lands until May, 1876; Senate bill appointing Hon. George Bancroft to be one of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institute. A resolution was adopted directing the arrest of Richard B. Irwin for contempt in disobeying the summons of the Committee on Ways and Means to testify in relation to the Pacific Mail subsidy investigation. Adjourned. On the 14th a petition was presented to the Senate from colored citizens of Indiana, asking that the proper law officer be directed to appeal to the Supreme Court for a reversal of the recent School law decision of the Indiana Supreme Court A bill was passed directing the Land Commissioner to modify the Hqmestead law in favor of the grasshopper sufferers. Messrs. Cameron and McCreery were appointed as a committee on the part of the Senate to receive King Kalakaua. .. .In the House, bills were introduced: For free banking and to retire legal-tender notes; reducing letter postage to one cent; for the relief of the Southern States by compromise and the settlement of their debts; to repeal the law requiring prepayment of newspaper postage; to aid in the construction of a narrow-gauge railroad from tidewater to St Louis and Chicago; making appropriations for lighthouses in Michigan; for free banking and the resumption of specie payments. A resolution for the investigation of the recent “safeburglary” affair was defeated for want of a two-thirds vote in the affirmative. A committee of five was ordered to be appointed to report upon the recent Vicksburg troubles. Messrs. Orth, E. R. Hoar and Cox were appointed a committee on the part of the House to receive King Kalakaua.

On the 15th, in the Senate, a bill was introduced limiting the time for applications for bounty land#. A joint resolution was offered to retend the Constitution by providing that the President and Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote; that the term at office shall be six years, and that the President shall be ineligible for re-election. The bill for the relief of the grasshopper sufferers was reported upon favorably....ln the House, bills were introduced—for a narrow-gauge railroad from Like Ette to toe Missouri River; regulating the prosecution of libel in the District of Columbia; directing the Secretary of the Interior to pay for the appropriation of certain lands for Indian reservations. The following select committees were appointed: To visit Vicksburg—Conger, Hurlbut, Williams (Wis.), Speer and O’Brien; on Louisiana and the Southern States—G. F. Hoar, Wheeler (N. Y.), Frye, Foster (Ohio), Phelps (N. J.), Robinson (HL) and Poster. The Legislative Appropriation bill was considered in Committee of the Whole.