Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1896 — MANY BILLS PENDING. [ARTICLE]

MANY BILLS PENDING.

WORK FOR THIS SESSION OF CONGRESS TO DO. -■ ■ , ‘ • r • ' I ■■ ' I The Dlnsdey Measure in the Hands of the Senate—Pacific Funding Legislation Likely to Be of Great Inter-est-Other Laws Wanted. Little Legislation Likely. (Vaßbtngton correspondence: 1. It is improbable that the House at this session of COhgress will dispose of much of the proposed legislation which encumbers its calendars. Little is usually accomplished at the short session, beyond the passage of the regular supply bills. The question of legislation for additional revenue for the Government will depend pn the Senate, to which body the House sent the Dingley bill almost a year ago. If it should be impossible, or deemed inexpedient, to press that measure through the Senate, .there is a pbssibiiity that the proposal to increase the revenues by an additional tax on beer ortho Imposition of a duty on tea and coffee, may take tangible form, and, if so, such legislation must originate, under the Constitution, in the lower branch of Congress. Thereg&re on the several calendars of the House 1,465 bills reported from the various committees, and the proportion which wilt pass at the coming session must be necessarily small. The private bills number 1,100, but there are also 256 bills on the calendar on the state of the Union and ninety-nine public bills on the regular House calendar. Some of these are of very great public importance, and those interested will no doubt do all in their power to secure action upon them. Power Of the Bules Committee. The powers lodged in the hands of the Committee on Rules, which give its members control of the House program, will make that committee the practical arbiter of what shall be submitted ,to the House for its action. That committee is composed as pt present constituted of the Speaker, Mr. Henderson, of Iowa; Mr. Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. McMillen, of Tennessee. The death of exSpeaker Crisp makes a vacancy at the head of the niihbrity bf the committee which must be filled by the Speaker. The names principally mentibned in connection with the vacancy are Mr. Bailey of Texas, Mr. Catchings of Mississippi, Mr. Turner of Georgia, Mr. Richardson of Tennessee, and Mr. Dockery of Missouri. The bill, which in many respects, is of most interest and which will press hardest for consideration is the Pacific Railway funding bill. The bonds guaranteed by the Government are payable early jin the coming year, and either an exten[sion or a foreclosure stares the roadfc in the face. For eight years funding bills have qccupied a good share of the attention of The present bill, of which Mr. Powers of Virginia is the author, was reported shortly before the close of the last sessioq. Everything will be done by those interested in it to secure consideration. The friends of the Nicaragua Canal also are bending every energy to secure action bn the bitt reported by Mr. Doolittle, which provides for a guaranty by the United States qf SIOO,000,000 of bonds for the construction of the canal.

The War Claims Committee, which showed fight on several occasions at the last session, promises to renew that aggressiveness this winter, especially for the passage of the claims awarded under the Bowman act and the French spoliation claims. These claims—the former amounting to $56-2,450, and the latter to $2,708,196 —were put on the sundry civil bill at the last session as a rider of the Senate, but the bill was vetoed by the President, and they were then dropped. Mr. Mahon, who is chairman of the War Claims - will also press the Pennsylvania border claims, which have been pending in Congress for years. Other Legislation Proposed. The Loud bill, to cure the abuses of the law relating to second-class matter, under which newspaper matter is transmitted at 1 cent a pound, and which has been the subject of much criticism of the Postoffice Department because of the advantage taken of the law in various ways tor "the transmission of books and pamphlets, will also be pressed, as will the Pickier service fusion bill, which occupies a favorable position on the calendar as a privileged report. Among the other bills are the Wadsworth bill for the creation of a bureau of animal industry, for the inspection of meat and the regulation of the transportation of live stock; the immigration bill, the Chickeriug bill, for ascertaining the feasibility and cost of a ship canal from the great lakes to the Hudson; several important public-land bills, the bills for the admission of the territories, and many others of especial interest to particular localities. There are also several important measures in the Senate which might come over to the House for consideration.