Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1896 — NATIONAL SOLONS. [ARTICLE]

NATIONAL SOLONS.

REVIEW OF THEIR WORK AT WASHINGTON. > 1 . ’ .. . Detailed Proceedings nf Senntp ana House—Bills Passed or Introduced in Either Branch—Questions of Moment to the Country at Large. The Legislative Grind. Tpe Senate Committee on Military Affairs acted favorably Saturday upon thelist of managers for the soldiers’ homes, as agreed to by the House. The House paid tribute to thej memory of the late Representative Gogsweil of Massachu- 1 setts. Gen. Cogswell was one of the most popular members of the House.. His career as a soldier and statesman and the nobility of his character were eloquently and warmly portrayed. Before the eulogies began’ Mr. Cannon reported the general deficiency, the last appropriation bill. Mr. Talbert (Dem.) of South Carolina objected to a pension bill presented by Mr. Cannon (Rep.) of Illinois. Mr. Cannon made a personal appeal ,to Mr. Talbert. He said ft w-as lhe first time in twenty years that he had asked sor 1 unanimous consent. He reviewed the pathetic history of the soldier who was a constituent of his, shot to pieces and almost totally blind. Mr. Talbert withdrew bis objection. The Senate Monday discussed sectarian schools in debating the Indian appropriation bill, but no action was taken. The House was entertained by a hot tariff discussion. Several items in the general deficiency bill were finally settled. The. House Tuesday put in the time with several coutested election cases, but only one was decided. Mr. Goodwin, of Alabama, was unseated, in favor of Mr. jCobb... In the Senate the bill wag nagged granting the abandoned Fort Marey military reservation, New Mexico, to the American Invalid Society for the purpose of establishing a sanitarium for the,treat-' merit of pulmonary diseases. Mr. Cannon (Rep., Utah) was recognized t for a speech supporting his resolution for a \ huge ground map covering 625 acres, located near Washington, showing the entire topography and geography of the United States. He explained- that: the map would give an object lesson of the extent of our The Indian bill j~wna then taken up, and Mr. Pettigrew..in charge of the bill, said an hmubdiate i abandonment of the contract schools would leave a number of children without schools. Mr. Kyle (Pop., S. I).) spoke of the schools nosy in operation and the justice of allowing them to surrender their Work gradually. Mr. Thurston (Rep., Neb.) expressed his respect for every church of Christianity, yet he regarded it ns a fundamental principle that the public money of the people should I 'be expended only for public purposes and only by piudie officers and instrumentalities. Mr. Gray said lie never learned that Ihe foun-’ dations of this Government were not cWead enough for -equal-justice and toleration to all. Protestantism was not bigotry, he said, nnd Christianity* was not fanaticism. Mr. Pettigrew asked that a time for a vote on the sectarian school amendment be fixed, but there, was objection to fixing any time. The Senate Wednesday disposed of the sectarian school question by adoptiqg a compromise framed' by Senator Cockrell of Missouri. The Indian bill, as it came from the Senate, provided that no money therein appropriated shall be paid for education in sectarian schools; This provision is struck out by the Cockrell amendment, ns adopted, and ’it is declared to be the settled policy of the Government to make no appropriations for sectarian schools after July 1. IS9B, thus giving two years for the abandonment of sectarian schools, instead of an immediate abandonment. The amendment was adopted by the decisive vote of 38 to 24. The Indian bill was not completed when the Senate adjourned. The House' entered upon the consideration of thb general pension bill, reported from the invalid pension committee. It amends the pxisting pension laws in some very important respects. It makes presumption, of death of an enlisted man exist if no tidings have tieen heard from him for seven years. It provides that desertion or dishonorable discharge shall not be a bar to a pension under the act of 1890 if the enlisted man has served ninety days subsequent to such discharge. It provides that pensions allowed shall date from their first application. It fixes the maximum income of a widow entitled to a pension under the act of 1890 at S3OO per Annum*—lt provides that no pension shall be reduced or discontinued except for fraud or recovery from disability and that discontinued pensions when reconsidered and' reallowed shall date from their discontinuance. Several minor bill; were passed at the opening of the Senate Thursday, including the bill authorizing a bridge across the Missouri river at Boonville, Mo. The Indian appropriation bill was freely discussed. The Platt amendment extending the services of the Dawes commission so as to .terminate the tribal relations of the Indians, nnu dividing their lands in severalty, was ruled out of order as general legislation, after Senators Jones of Ar- >**««*,. Bate nn(l I’ln‘L had denounced the prevalence of lawlessness in Indian territory. The bill was then passed, after the item of $1,000,000 for payment of the Cherosee outlet fund, stricken out by the committee, had been restored. It will now go to conference. Bills were passed for an additional circuit judge in the Sixth judiciul circuit, and appropriating $500,000 for a public building at Sait Lake City, consideration of the Pickier general pension bill was resumed in the House. Mr. Hepburn (Rep.) of lowa gave notice of an amendment instructing the pension office to construe the pension laws liberally. Mr. Stewart (Rep.) of New Jersey closed the debate for the day and the House adjourned. The Senate gave Friday to the sundry civil appropriation bill without completing it. Mr. Sherit.-.n sought to take up ttie bill proposing a repeal of tim law giving a rebate on the tax on alcohol used in the grts, but the measure went over. A proposal by Mr. Bacon (Dem.) of Georgia giving the Cotton States Exposition Company $13,000 balunce of the former appropriation unexpended was adopted. The bill then went over. The joint resolution giving to Senators Mantle of Montana and Clnrk of Wyoming the salary from March 4, 1894, instead of from the date of election, was ndoptod. The House decided to proceed with the Pickier pension bill nnd the whole day was consumed in tjle discussion of that measure. The House non-coiicnrred in the Sennte amendments to the Indian bill and agreed to a conference. The evening session was devoted to privute pensio^