Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1895 — THE HEAD CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

THE HEAD CONGRESS.

It is customary to speak respectfully of the dead. It is considered extremely bad form to recall attributes that are not creditable to the departed. There are, however, ex.'eptions to all rules. For instance i great majority cf the American beople would find it very awkward io be compelled to praise the record )f the Fifty-third Congress. We shall not attempt, it. Therefore, ;his article will only deal with the Vets of the late departed Congress from a historical standpoint, and it will in no way attempt to praise or condemn. Only a cursory review will be attempted. The Fifty-third Congress was tomprised in three sessions, and ?ach session may be said tb have seen dominated by a controlling issue. The extra session was devoted ;o the silver question, the second to ,he 'tariff, the third to the financial ssue The extraordinary session jonvened, August 7, 1893, for the purpose of repealing the silver pur-, ■base provision of the law of 1890. vVAIf Wilson, chairman of the comnittee on ways and > means, preoared a bill in conformity to the -ecommendations of the President, ind. August 28, 1893, the measure oassed the House. The Senate, in :he meantime, had passed a substitute bill, and, Nov. 1, 1893, this Senite substitute received the approval >f both Houses and the President’s signature and became a law. The Federal reconstruction election laws were also repealed at th 6 extra session. The first regular session convened in December. 1893, and at once entered upon consideration of i revision of the tariff. The Wilson tariff bill was passed by the House, February 4, 1894. This was set iside by the Jones-Gorman compromise tariff bill, adopted by the Senate, July 3, 1894. after five months’ debate. The House was compelled to recede and, August 10, 1894, it sent the Senate bill to the President who permitted the bill to become a law without bis signature. Follow - ing the disposition of the tariff question the Senate entered upon an alleged investigation of rumors that Senators had been improperly influenced to vote for the sugar schedule and had speculated ill

(■ > '.jrtw'r J’.’- ~ ‘'.ini’ I I Mil sugar stocks. The investigation was .fruitless. The third and last session of the Fifty third Congress has been called the ‘‘financial” session, although both Houses have rcffused to respond to the President’s repeated recommendations for the relief ol the—stringent—financial situation. The President in his annual message called attention to the continual depletion of the gold reserve, and complained that'though it was ‘‘perfectly and palpably plain that the only way under present conditions by which this reserve, when dangerously depleted, can be replenished is through the issue, and Sale of the bonds of the Government -for gold, Congress has thus far not only refused to authorize the issue of bonds best suited to such a purpose, but there seems to be a disposition in some quarters to deny both the necessity and power for the issue ol Currency Committee of the House, with the approval of the administration. submitted a financial measure which, among other provisions, materially modified the National banking laws and repealed the rest ri ctions = bh™State“ban k circulation. It was followed by a second message from the President, received by both HouseiZZbf CbhgFei& bn---Dec. 28, in which the President said that whatever might have been the merits of the original plan proposed by him, he was “now convinced that its reception by the Congress and our -present—advanced stage of financial perplexity necessitated additional .or different legislation.” He again recommended the passage of a law authorizing the issue of interest bearing bonds to maintain the-gold reserve; —Tlre banking- and currency committee responded to this suggestion by offering, on Feb. 1, 1895. a bill to “authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue bonds to maintain a sufficient gold reserve and to redeem and retire United States notes.” This bill was, after a two days’ debate, defeated by a majority of 27. The President informed Congress the next day that he had negotiated a conditional sale of more than $62,000,000 of four per cent, coin bonds to a syndicate largely representing foreign capitalists, having no other resource left, because of the “omission thus far on the part of the Congress to beneficially enlarge the powers of the Secretary of the Treasury in the premises.” This last message went to the ways and means committee, whose chairman, Mr. Wilson, seven days after its receipt, reported a resolution authorizing the issue of $65,116,275 of gold three percent, bonds, as recommended •by the President. The measure was called up on Feb. 14, and defeated the same day by 47 majority, after a stormy debate. These three financial measures, with the general appropriation bills, consumed the greatest part of the session. Early in December, at thebeginning of the last session, the Senate Democratic caucus agreed that these matters sh< ul 1 be considered:— A financial measure; the Bankruptcy bill; bills for admission of New Mexico and Arizona; Nicaragua canal bill; State bank tax repeal bill. All failed of passage in the Senate except the Nicaragua canal bill which was used by Republicans to stave off consideration of the Bankruptcy bill. The Nicaragua bill failed to receive consideration in the House. The Bankruptcy bill reached the stage of ‘.‘unfinished business,” but was choked off by the appropriation bills. Financial measures were not acted upoti by the Senate. Nothing planned by the Senate caucus resulted,in legislation. The so-called “pop gun” tariff bills sent over by the House, providing for free sugar, free coal and free iron ore, were not even honored by consideration. The Railroad Pooling Bill, the most important measure passed by the House, was also shelved by the Senate. It must be apparent to even the dullest that the Senate controls legislation in the United States, or at least has done so in the Fifty-third Congress. Only such legislation has been passed as suited the majority in the upper House.