Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1886 — CONGRESSIONAL. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESSIONAL.

Tbs W<Mk of the Senate and Hbow of Re|M eseulstives Mr. Habbib, of Tennessee, introduced a bill In the Senate, on the Ist inst, providing for the payment to Mrs. Eliza H. Brownlow of |MO for Government advertising in the Knoxville Whig, published by her husband, the famous “Parson* Brownlow Mr. Beck introduced a bill making It unlawful for any member of either house to abt as railroad attorney, and fixing the minimum punishment for violating ita provisions at a fine of $5,000, or iiuprisoninont for one year. Bills were passed to prevent aliens from acquiring land in the Territories, and extending the eight-hour law to letter-carriers. The President vetoed another pension bill upon the ground that it was nut based upon substantial merits. The President sent the following nominations to the Senate: David L. Hawkins of Missouri to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior, vice George A. Jenks, resigned; Joseph E. Johnston of Virginia to be commissioner In the district of Alaska, vice Cheater Seeber, resigned; John B. Riley of Plattsburg, N. Y., Indian School Superintendent, vice John H. Oberly, appointed a Civil-service Commissioner. The House again wrestled with the oleomargarine bill, and the opponents of the measure gained a point by securing the adoption of an amendment reducing the tax from ten cents to eight cents a pound. Mr. Weaver, of lowa, arose to a question of privilege and with some heat denied the charges of an lowa newspaper that he was unduly influenced to oppose the bill. He had been, and still was, in favor of the oleomargarine bill, and it was false that he had been influenced improperly in bis course in regard to that measure. Mb. CuLLom, of Illinois, introduced in the Senate, on the 2d inst., a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment in regard to polygamy. Mr. Morrill submitted a proposed amendment to Senator Platt's open executive session resolution which makes this resolution apply to reciprocity treaties instead of to nominations. Tne House of Representatives, in committee of the whole, finished the oleomargarine bill. Mr. O’Neill, from the Committee on Labor, reported a bill to legalize the incorporation of trades unions. A bill for the payment of the awards for Alabama claims was signed by the President, after consultation with the members of the Cabinet as to ita constitutionality. Mb. Dawes presented a petition in the Senate on the 3d inst., from the City Council of Gloucester, Mass., that retaliation be ordered against the Canadian Government for the seizure of American Ashing-vessels. Mr. Edmunds expressed the hope that a ship of the United States Government would soon appear in the northern seas to encourage the fishermen. The Senate passd Mr. Van Wyck’s bill for the taxation of railroad-grant lands, the object being that the corporations shall bear equally with, the settlers the burden of paying the taxes. The House of Representatives passed the oleomargarine bill, after amending it to make the tax five cents per pound. The vote on the passage of the bill was 177 to 99. Of the 177 votes the Democrats contributed 81 and the Repblicans 96. The negative votes were cast by 84 Democrats and 15 Republicans. New England cast 17 votes for the bill and 4 against; New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware 48for and 13 against; the Southern States, including West Virginia and Kentucky, 21 for and €6 against; the "Western States, including Missouri, 84 for the bill and 15 against; and the Pacific Coast .States 7 for and 1 against the bill. lowa, Kansas, and Minnesota voted solidly for the bill. Wisconsin gave 1 nay—Van Scnaick; Michigan 7 yeas and 3 nays—Maybury, Tarsney, and Fisher. Illinois stood 15 to 4—Dunham, Lawler, Morrison, and Ward voting against the bill, and all the rest of them in favor of it except Eden, who was absent. Indiana voted 8 to 3—Cobb, Browne, ’ and Ford voting against the bill. The foL lowing are the main features of tho bill, as it passed: Butter is defined to be a food product made exclusively from milk or" cream, or both, with or without common salt, and with or without coloring matter. Oleomargarine is defined as all substances made of oleomargarine, oleo, laraine, tallow extracts, etc., in imitation of butter, or when so made calculated to be sold as butter or for butter. Special taxes are imposed as follows : On manufacturers, $600; on wholesale dealers, s4fo; on retail dealers, S4B. The existing internal-revenue laws, so far as applicable, are made to apply to these special taxes. Penalties are imposed on any person who shall deal in oleomargarine without paying the special tax. Provision is. made for the proper stamping and labeling of every package of oleomargarine. A tax of five cents a pound is imposed on all oleomargarine manufactured and sold, and a penalty is prescribed for the purchase or reception for sale of oleomargarine not branded or stamped according to law. A number of sections of the bill are devoted to providing machinery to carry the law into effect.

The report of the Committee on Indian Affairs on its investigation of tbu condition of the Indians in the Indian Territory and other reservations was submitted in the Senate on the 4th inst. Touching the claims 'of the Creeks and Seminoles in Oklahoma, and the pretenses of a right of entry upon these lands by bands of colonists, the committee unite in the conclusion that the United States has no right to dispose of the ownership >f the soil in that ceded tract without further agreement with those tribes, except for the p trpose of settling other friendly Indians upon those lands. The Senate passed the Chinese indemnity bill, appropriating $150,000 to cover damages inflicted by rioters at Hock Springs Wyoming. Senator Cullom submitted the Hennepin canal bill as an amendment- to the river and harbor approprirftion bill. In the House of Representatives Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, made a bitter attack upon Mr. Stanton for his action when Secretary of War, which excited some comment. The Secretary of War sent a communication to the House recommending that 850,000 of the amount appropriated by. the act of March 3, 1883, for the armament of fortifications, be reappropriated, and made available for the construction of guns. The Ingalls resolution calling upon the Secretary of the Interior for the authority for the issuance by the Land Commissioner of an order suspending the receipt of applications for public lands under certain acts, passed the Senate on the sth Inst. The private pension bills rushed through numbered 220. The oleomargarine bill being brought to the Senate from the House the question of its reference was postponed and the bill was allowed to lie on the table to await the return of Mr. Miller, Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture. Mr. Beck gave notice that he would , insist on its reference to the Committee on Finance. Mr. Blair reported favorably from the Committee on Labor an amendment to the sundry civil bill, proposing an appropriation of 100,000 Bland dollars to aid in the establishment of a school in Utah under the direction of the Industrial Home Association of Utah. The object of the amendment is stated to be to aid in the suppression of polygamy. The House of Representatives passed bills appropriating 8100,000 each fur public buildings at Sioux City and ZanesviHe. During a debate over the Union Pacific bondextension bill an exciting controversy took place between Mr. Holman (Indiana) and Mr. Crisp (Georgia). Mr. Holman insinuated that the Pacific Railroad Committee was unduly influenced in favor of the corporation, and Mr. Crisp's indignant denial and recriminations, caused considerable of a sensation. On motion of Mr. Holman an amendment was adopted increasing from forty to fifty per cent, the amount of theneteamings to be paid into the sinking fund in case the companies refused to accept the provisions of the act.

Egyptian sculptures and wall paintings often represent the interior of well-to-do private houses and palaces; they show the plans of dwellings and adjoining vegetable gardens so well that the very products of the latter can be distinguished, but, though these plans designate the separate rooms and their entrances, it is still impossible to comprehend the general arrangement of an ancient Egyptian or its interior arrangement. Thebe is nothing new under the sun. Commercial travelers, called circitores, were employed by certain Boman manufacturers and tradesmen, to carry round and dispose of the goods they made. ——. “Ah, me," soliloquized the tramp, “how often have ‘I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, ’ only to awake and' find myself in a stone-shed." Bemobse is the pill that gripes the stomach of our conscience.