Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1886 — CONGRESSIONAL. [ARTICLE]

CONGRESSIONAL.

Work of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Among the new bills presented in the Senate on the <th inst. was one by Mr. Van Wyck to exempt from duty imported sugar and molasses, and also jinpurtcd boards, lumber, and timber. Senator Beck introduced a bill to provide for the retirement of United States legal-tender and national-bank notes ot small denominations, and for the issue of coin certificates. Senator Ingalls introduced two bills amendatory' of the pension laws: 11.) To increase tho pension for loss of an eye to S3O per month, and for partial loss of sight to a proportionate amount. 12.) To increase the pension for loss of one hand or foot, or for total disability of the same, to $35 per month; for loss of an arm within five inches of or above the elbow joint, or loss of a leg within six inches of or above the knee joint, or total disability of the same, to $lO per month, and for loss of an arm within six inches of tee shoulder joint to $45 per month. Senators Morrill and Dawes each introduced resolutions looking toward a revision of the tariff. The House of Representatives passed a bill appropriating $200,0W) for a cavalry and artillery school at Fort Reilly, and $175,000 for quarters at Forts D. A. Russell and Robinson. Mr. Cox, of New York, laid before the House a bill repealing the statute which authorizes two salaries, one to a Congressman and the Other to an officer such as a Minister.

Thk President transmitted to the Senate, on the Sth inst., a communication from the Secretary of State and correspondence relating to thk rights of American fishermen in the British North American water’; In his letter accompanying the documents tho I’res dent commends to the favorable consideration of Congress “the suggestion that a commission be authorized by law to take perpetuating proofs of the losses sustained during the last year by American fishermen, owin’ to their unfriendly and unwarrented treatment by the local authorities of the maritime provinces of the Dominion of Canada.” Memorials were presented in the Senate for a constitutional amendment ornpoweiiug Congress to pass a marriage and divorce law. against permi’ting aliens to possess large tracts of lands, and for legislation in behalf of the Chinese laborers. Bills were introduced for a monument to negro soldiers and sailors who died for the Union and to place on the retired list the name of General Alexander S. Webb. Resolutions were offered for information in regard to the oleomargarine traffic, for an inquiry into tho power of Congress to legislate for the protection of food fish in navigable waters, and to limit the price of gas in the District of Columbia. In the House of Represent itives, Mr. Boutelle, of Maine. a@ked for unanimous consent to pus upon Its passage a bill admitting free of dnty material to be used in rebuilding the town of Eastport, Me., which was destroyed by fire Oct. 14, 1886. Mr. Breckinridge, of Arkansas, objected to the immediate consideration of the bill, expressing the opinion that the people of the country were as mnch in need of relief from taxation as the people of Eastport. He was glad to find the gentleman from Maine copfessing that the tariff was a tax, and he would insist that the bill should take the regular course and be sent to tho committ< e which had charge of the subject of taxation. The bill was referred to the Committee on Ways and Menns. Mr. Dockery (Mo.), on bithalf of the Committee of Postoffices and Poet Roads, called up the bill extending the free-delivery system to towns having 10,000 population, and where the revenne of tho poetoffice amounts to “10.0C0 a year. Senator Sewell introduced a bill in the Senate, on the 9th inst., for the redemption of trade dollars and the recoinage of the same into standard silver dollars. Senator McMillan introduced a bill to authorize the construction of n bridge over the Red River of the North. The ■Senate then proceeded to the consideration of Mr. Morrill's resolution, which declares that the promise of ,making any revision of the tariff in a spirit of fairness to all interests appears so obviously hopeless and impracticable that any further attempts at revision by the .present Congress are to be regarded as inexpedient, and detrimental to tfae revival of the trade and industry of the country. Mr. Morrill said the Democratic candidate for President in 1884 would have been defeated but for the tariff plank in tho platform. He ridiculed Mr. Morrison’s schemes for a horizontal reduction of the tariff, and said that their effect could only be to let a flood of foreign productions pour in and overrun the American market Mr. Beck said that when the leader in the Senate on financial questions—-the Chairman of the Committee on Finance—pave out in advance, in a resolution and speech, that nothing could be done to improve existing conditions, it was like rallying his friends in advance in opposition to every movement. At the present rate of taxation the surplus revenue- -after all the public debt that was payable was paid—would be $125/XX),(DO a year. Therefore the Democratic President and Secretary of the Treasury demanded and insisted that the taxation on the people should be reduced. There was no other way to get clear of the surplus revenue honestly. It might be locked up in the treasury, but that meant bankruptcy. Extravagant appropriations might be indulged in, but that meant corruption; or a premium of 20, 30, 40, or 50 per cent, might be paid on bonds, but that meant extravagance ana swindling of the taxpayers for the benefit of the few mon who held the Government obligations, so that if the legislators were honest men and intended to deal honestly with the people they were compelled to reduce taxation to the point that would suffice for an economical administration pt the Government. That did not involve onv question of free trade. He (Beck( believed that with duties reduced to the necessities of the government the manufacturers of the United States could reach the markets of the world, and that the laboring men of the country could be employed twelve months of the year instead of five or six months as now, Mr. Sherman believed that tbo revenues collected were too large and that the public safety and the public interest demanded a careful reduction of taxation. There was no dispute between parties on that subject. But the Democratic party had been intrusted with the power of legislating in the House. They had promised in their national platform to reduce taxation, and to do it ip such a manner us not to injure tho industries of the country. But the trouble was that the Democrats could not agree among themselves. The propositions that had been made in the House hail been so diverse and various, and some of them had been so absolutely contrary to the interests of the county, that the party itself had revolted at them. In conclusion, he said that until the Democratic party could agree among th"mselvi s and could present to the Senate a plan by which the Democrats were willing to stand, they had no right to chide or complain of Republicans. When they would send the Senate a bill, the Senate would show thorn that it had tho power to reduce taxes, and the Senate, would projxjse a measure by which taxes might be . reduceil without crippling industrial or decreasing wages. The Senate adjourned to Monday, the 13th.

No business was transacted by the House of Representatives on the 13th inst. After the reading of the journal Mr. Campbell, of New York, announced with sorrow and regret the death of his colleague," Mr. Dowdney. and offered resolutions expressive of the regret with which the announcement of the death had been received by the House, and providing for a joint committee of the Senate and House to attend the funeral. The resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the House, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, aljourfied for the day. The Speaker appointed the following connpittoe to attend the funeral: Messrs. Campbell, Vielo, Merriman, and Muller, of New York, O’Neill of Missouri, Scranton of Pennsylvania, and Brady of Virginia A land forfeiture bill, restoring to the Government 38",090 acres in Michigan, granted in 1356 to the Ontonagon anl State Line Hoi road, pissed the House without division on the 11th ins:. The lands have valuable pine, and are now claimed by the Ontonag n an l Brule River Railroad Company. Tue t n yenrs within which the roa t that had got the land grant expire I in 1866 and not a stio e of work had b ee done. Tn 1880 tlie p.-eseut corporation wus formed, and an attempt made to confer upon it the forfeited gran', lue Public Lands C mimittee, however, basid its roco mnendation chiedy on the ground that any grant made by the tato lifter the expirStrbn oftae ten years would necessarily have boon subject to tlae right of the United Sta es at any time to dec'»re a forfeiture: The House also- passed a bill ext n ling the iSws of the United states over the publi ■ Tahd strip south of Kansas anl throwing the region open to homestead entries Jeweler —“What kind of a chain would you like ?” Young Man—“ Well, I don't know, hardly. What kind of a ch a n do you think I Ought to have? That is, what style would you think would be the most becoming for a young man what carries groceries to some of the best families in town ?" ' . The clock pendulum of Avignon, France, the longest known, measures sixty-stven feet, earri< s a weight of 132 pounds, and swings through an arc of between nine and tea feet in four and a half seconds, r— — < —?