Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1888 — THE FIFTIETH CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

THE FIFTIETH CONGRESS.

In the Senate on Hie 20th Mr. Blair discussed bis bill giving preference for eivlUservice appointments (among man who bad been disloyal during the war) to those wh« had served la the confederate army and who wove suffering from wounds or ditabl ities. Mr. Blair snid he had introduced the bill In entire good faith. He understood that in the one State of North Carolina there were to-day twenty thoufaod er-soidlers of the Confederacy who had lost limbs in the service, and that a very large number of them were in poor eirenmstanees. It seemed to him that if the government, under this admiuisisteation, ot under any other administration, gave opportunities to men who had boon disloyal, preference should be given to those who had served in the confederate army and were now disabled, other things being equal. Mr. Hale inquired of Mr. Blair as to the purpose of the bill.' Was it to be applied to disabled soldiers of the •onfederaey as against other soldicts of the Confederacy who were Hot disabled, or was it to be applied to disabled seldiem es the Confederacy as against individuals living in the South who had been disloyal, but who had net served in the army? He for one, would not not consent to any sueh dieerhnihation in favor of confederate soldiers as has been made In the statutes in favor of federal toldtots. Mr. Hale said it was very clear to him that the fame discrimination now made by statute for the loyal soldier was to be made, under this bill, for the disloyal soldier. The crowning me tit of the fetter would be that he had served and been wounded or disabled in the army of the Confederacy; and that was to place him above the man who had been disabled in the Mexioan war for the whole Republic. It is made a merit by this bill that the applioant ior office bad served in the confederate army and bad th»re been disableo Mr. Beny raid the wounded soldiers of the South had not a-ked for such a bill, though they would recognize the generosity es the proposition. Any intimation that the confederate soldiers were not equal in point of love es country and In every other particular to any other man, was unjust, unfounded and unwarranted. Mr. Platt replied that when the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) Bald that tire confederate soldier was the equal and peer of all men in love of country, some objection should be made to such a statement in the. Senate es the United States. He would not sit in his seat and have the confederate soldier s loyalty, devotion and love of country put upon a par with those of the soldier who had fought to maintain the Government Mr. Daniels said that all ihe confederate soldier asked from the United States was that he should stand equal before its laws and should have a fair opportunity to work out his own salvation. He would venture to say that there was not a town or hamlet from the Potomac to the Rio Grande where a confederate soldier was to be toon' in rags or tatters, or beggieg his brood in streets. There was not a palace or hut where the confederate soldier was not always a welcome gna-t. There was no danger of aoy honorable and true man, however humble be might be, or however small his fortune, dying on the roadside, because no good Samaritan would come by to lend him a helping hand. All that the ex-con-lederates asked was, not special privileges, bnt to be respected in their rights of Amerioan citizenship, which they pad assumed knowingly and intentionally, and which they intended to abide by (God helping them) in sueh a manner that no man could justly lift against them the finger of scorn, or apply to them an insulting epithet. Mr. Hawley and others made speeches and the bill went over. The enate then took up the calendar and passed eight bills, including the following: For relief of the Mission Indians in California (providing for allotment in severalty oflands); to provide for warehousing fruit brandy; for construction of a bridge across the St. Croix river; bills for the relief of Iron clad builders (the Perins and the Mackays.) The House passed a bill creatine a port of delivery at Grand Rapids, Mich., and a bill appropriating 175,00} for a fire proof workshop at the National Armory. After a lengthy debate March ffOthand 21st, April 18th and May 16th were set aside for the consideration of labor bills. Bills were passed for the protection of the wages of mechanics, laborers, and servants in the District of Columbia and the Territories, and extending the provisions of the eight hour law to letter carriers.

The Senote, on the 21ad, passed bills as follows: Providing for an inspection of meats for exportation, and prohibiting the importation of adnlterat ed articles of food or drink. (It provides for retaliatory proceedings by the President); to establish a United States eonrt in the Indian Territory to allow soldiers and sailors who have lost both hands, or the use of both hands, a pension of $l6O a month; the House bill to amend the laws relating to navigation as to fees of shipping ommJsj sioners; House bill to facilitate the prosecution of works projected for improvement of rivers and harbors; granting a railroad company the right-of-way through the Cceur D’Alene Indian re er vation; Honse bill for relief of the volunteers o the Fourth Regiment of lowa Infantry; authorizing construction of a bridge across the Red river of the North; authorizing the construction of a bridge over the Mississippi at or near Natchez Miss.; granting a railroad eompany the right of way through the Silctz Indian reservation in Oregon; to modify and amend the provisions of the dedication to public use of Dearborn Park in Coica<o; to grant to the State of Oregon certain lands in that State for a public park; for the erection lof a public build--72g at Springti eJ <i, Mo.; to amend the statute as to the disposition oI property of the United S ates, such as landi or property acquired from sureties or under the revenue law; granting 840 acrei of public land In the Territory of Wyoming for a fish hatchery; to authorize the juries of the United Stites circuit ani district courts to be used interchangeably, and to provide for draw iog the taletmen; to provide for holding terms of the United Slates courts at Mississippi City; regulating fees for exemplification of patents; House bill to divide the great Sioux Indian reservation into separate smaller reservations. The Honse considered the bill leferring to the Court of Claims for adjustment the accounts of laborers, workmen and mechanlcs ’.arislng under the eight-hour law, and after debate it went over. Bills were passed to prevent the product of convict labor from being furnished to or for the use of any department of the Government, and from being used in public buildings or other public works, and to prevent the employment of alien labor on public buildings and other public works an i in the various departments of the Government.' Toe bill to establish a department of labor was considered at great length and several amendments were adopted.

On the 22d. Mr. Sanlsbnry addressed tbe Senate on the subject ot the President’s message. The following were amoDg. the thirty-one bills passed: To prevent the obstruction of navigable waters,., and to protect public works against trespass.or lDjury : to authorize the construction of a bridge over Cumberland nver, near Burnside, Ky.; to authorize the construction of a bridib across the Mississippi river near Oquawka.lll; three other bills authorizing the construction of bridges in Arkansas, over the Tennessee river 1 etween Bridgeport and Sheffield in Alabama, and over tbe Caney Fork river, between Rock Island and Carthage, in Tennessee; providing in certain cases for the forfeiture of wagonroad grants in Oregon; the House Dill appropriating SI,OOO to reward Esquimaux natives of. the Asiatic coast of the Arctic ocean for acts of humanity to shipwrectrcd seam in, House bill authorizing the President to arrange a conference between the United Stales and the republics of; Mexico, Cotit'aland South America, Hayti, San Domingo, and the'Emplre of Brazil; to aid the Btate-oPColorado to support a school of mines;

to amend Eeetioa 7,806 of the Revised Statute*, m •a to allow oath* to be administered by notaries public; granting to the city of Grand Forks. D. T., the right to bnlld two free bridge* acn>» the Red river; authorizing (he oonalruction of * high wagon bridge across the Missouri at or near Sioux City, la.;'Houae bill rcgnlitlng the construction of bridge* overthe Muskingum river, Ohio, with amendments; fixing the stattu es cadet engineers of the classes of 1881 and 1882; to create ports pf entry at Tacoma and Seattle, W. T.; reducing the pis'age on seeds, bulb* root*, etc., to i cent for four ounces. The House passed the following bill*: Amending the statutes so aa to provide that the record of u fctate court may be certified by the presiding magistrate or any other judge of eouit; regulating the time ior holding terms of the United - tates courts in the Northern district of Iowa; extending the protection of the United Suites offloials executing processes in the Indian Territory; to transfer the county of Audmin from the Eastern to the Western district of .Missouri; authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to remit ail duties eoL leoted upon all animals heretofore imported for breeding purposes, whether for importers’ own use or for sale; anthorzing united Stater marshals to arrest offenders and fugitives from justice in the Indian Territory;to change the Eastern and Northern districts of Texas; a bill providing that on the trial of all civil and criminal cases in circuit and district courts the judge shall charge the jnry in writing,if so required by either party; amending Section 988, Revised Statutes, so a* to read a* follows: "That where, by ihe laws of a State.defendants in the' courts entitled o a stay of execution, defendants in the courts of the United States held therein shall be entitled to a like stay upon the same conditions, including the giving and enforcement of bond or other securities for the performance of the judgment thus stayed;" amending Beetion 2117, Revised Statutes, so as to provide that tho penalty recovered from persons unlawfully driving horses and cattle over lands belonging to Indians shall be paid to such Indians, less costs and 10 per cent ; providing that judgments and decrees of United States eourts rendered within any States shall be liens on property in the tame manner and to the ime extent as judgments and decree* of the eourts of that State. The Senate, on the 20th, passed a bill appropriating 15,006 to aefruy the fnDeral expenses of the late Chief Justice Waite. The House bill authorizing the purchase of Government bonds with the surplus was considered. The House passed the Senate bill appropriating 65,000 to defray the funeral expenses es the late Chief Justice Waite. The business of the House, aside from this, was strictly of a routine character.