Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1886 — CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESS.

What is Being Done by the National Legislature. ’ _ — v . - The bill aqthori/piic the Central Missouri Railway Company to build a railroad bridge icroas the Mississippi River at or near Alton. Hi.’, was passed bv the Senate, on thq Oth. Hen--11 or Edmunds st oke at length on the subject of /uspensions. He opened with a reference to former differences between the Senate and :ho executive branch of the Government, and laid that for nearly fifty years Congress audits ■ temmittoes had been furnished ujiou request ind without question with the nubile papers on Ho in the deitartmenta. The Housei passed the □HIS requiring Pacific railroaxie to pay-tfie cost >f surveying their lands and to take uilt patents for the lands; also, by a vote of 24!» to 8, a bill forbidding' the hiring out >f the labor of Federal prisoners. The Secretory of War transmitted to the House 'cßoxte-pf Chief of Engineers Newton and Maj. Hanubvry, of the engineer corps, in reference to mrveys for the Hennepin Canal. Maj. Hllndoury recommends the Marais d’Osier route, and estimates the cost of the canal at 85,811, HOT, exclusive of the cost of the “Dixon feeder,” which will cost $1,065,117. General Newton adheres to his previous recommendation of the Rock Island route. The urgent-deficiency bill with an amendment appropriating $30,000 to defray the expenses of Gen. Grant’s funeral, was passed hjr the Senate on the 10th. The Secretary of the Treasury rei orted to the Senate iu reply to a resolution or Inquiry, that the reduction of the public debt from July 1, 1877, Us June 30, 1885, has exceeded the requirements of the Sinking Fund by ®312,tH?;531; The sraonnt of 3 per cents outstanding is 8181,683,250, and these are the only bonds now, outstanding redeemable at thj option of th; Government. As these bonds may-be absorbed before the maturity ofthe4fo perkcent. bomis of 1801, which come nextiu orderlor redemption, further ad litions .to the fund can only be made lly-the purcha/eof bonds in open market Senators Riddlelterger (Va. 1 and Logan iHl,i enlivened the Senate pfoceedings by a sh/iip peisuijd controversy.- The chair having laid uetore the Senate in tho absence of Senator Logan 'he latter B resolution to refer to th > Committee on Rules for investigation the letter of Mr. Ends denying that he (Eads) had any representatives on the floor of the Senate, Senator RidJleberger called attention to the fact that Hie letter had crept into tho lieeonl, and attempted to speak ohTKe subject, but wus induced by Senator Cullum (Ill.) to post]>one the matter. Later, Senator Logsn being then present, Senator Riddleberger called up.the subject again, and asked Senator Logan how ho had got the letter into the' Record. Senator Logan said that ho had hail nothing to du with getting it into the Record. He had treated the Senator kindly, bat if the Senator stated tlial he was the ‘representative” of anybody in any sense q&cept a perfectly proper sense he stated what was absolutely untrue. Senator Riddleberger said he merely meant that he was Mr. Eads’ representative to During a debate over the Indian appropriation" bill in the House Mr. Cannon 'lll. 1 opposed the education of the Indian as ineffectual to civilize him, and favored the granting of land in severalty to Indians In his opinion tho man who still favored this reservation system was rendering tho future of the Indian certain -certain destruction. The Seney bill to repeal the civilserviee reform law was reported adversely. Mr. Stone (Mo.) was given permission to file a minority rejiort. Resolutions inviting the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and Foreign Legations to be present at the funeral of Senator Miller, on the 13th, were adopted by the Senate on, the 11th. .Senators Jones (Nev.), Frye, Cullum, Butler and Gray were appointed a committee to accompany the body to California. The Senate adopted resolutions of respect for the memory of the dead Senator, The Senate in executive session confirmed the nomination of Mr. Dement to be Surveyor-General.-of—Utah. The vote stood 25 to 22, Gen. Logan and five other Republicans voting with the The President returned to the Senate without his approval the bill to quiet title of settlers on the Des Moines River laud in lowa, 'lhe Presi(Tent Bays*m"liis veto message .that every possible question that ought to be raised in any suit relating tq these lauds has been determined -by the highest judicial authority, and it any substantial point remains unsettled he believes there is no difficulty ‘in presenting it to tho proper tribunal. Senator Logan submitted the views of the minority of the Military Committee on the FitzJohn Poiter bill. It is tho same report presented by the" minority in the last Congress, with the ' addition of Gen. Logan's letter in reply to Gen. GTiiut’s article in the North American Revii-.w justifying the conduct of Fitz-John Porter. In the House, Mr. Efowden, of Pennsylvania, from the Committee on Expenditures.tntheNavyliepartment, reported a resolution, which was adopted, calling on the Secretary of the Navy for a statement showing_the_amdunL ot moneyexpended in the Ordnance Shop at the Washington Navy Yard, the numlier of guns made, altered, and repaired there; and the uumbbr of cartridges purchased, and from whom. /A bill to forfeit ceftaifi’Tan’ds tn lowa was passed by the Senate on the If.th. The session wks mainly devoted to the speech by Mr. Kenna in opposition to the Edmunds resolutions. The cxeiuti ve session jwtis devoted to tho confirmation of a large hnmtrer“nfminor nominations, mostly Postmasters. There was no contest over any of the cases considered. Secretary Manning has communicated to the Ways and Menns Committee of the House his approval of a bill extending the draw-back system to all exported articles manufactured of imported materials. A bill granting a pension of 82,000 per annum to the widow of General Hancock was favorably reported, .bv the Com-'' mittee on Invalid Pensions. Representative Weaver,; of Nebraska, asked leave to offer the folio vine,preamble anl resolution : “ Whereas, neafly’’every Congress embraces at least one crank; and wbAieas, the present Congress is no exception to this r ile ; and whereas, it should not be in the power of an idiot, insane man; or crank to prevent the consideration of any measur ■; therefore, Resolved, That tho rules of this House be so amended that it shall require at least two ffiembersto object to the consideration of a bill.” The reading of. the resolution was greeted with applause, but Mr. Springer, of Illinoia, objected to it on the ground that it was net respectful to the House. At the evening session forty-live pension bills were passed.