Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1873 — FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS.

Thursday, December 11. Senate.— Senators Matthew 11. Carpenter and Allen O. Thurman were nominated pro tem. President of the Senate. The vote resulted as follows: Carpenter, 32;' Thurman, 18; blank, 2. Mr. Carpenter was declared elected... .A bill was passed removing the political disabilities of Thomas S. Bocock, of Virginia, John H-Logan, of Texas, and others. ....A number of petitions asking for the appointment of a commissioner to regulate the traffic In alcoholic liquors were presented and referred.... Bills were introduced to repeal the section of the bill of March 3,1873, forbidding the free transmission of periodicals, magazines and newspapers through tne United States mails, and Restoring that privilege; extending the time for the completion of the St. Paul A Pacific Railway; authorizing from and after .April 1, 1574, the payment of customs duties in one-half legal tender notes and one-half gold; providing for the appointment, by the President, with the consent of the Senate, of five commissioners to investigate the alcoholic liqnor traffic in its economic, criminal, moral and scientific aspects, in connection with pauperism, crime, social vice, public health and the general welfare of the people, and who shall also inquire and take testimony ms t*6 the practical results of license, and reside ive and prohibitory legislation for the prevention of intemperance fn the several States of the Union... .Adjourned to the 15th. Route.— Resolutions were adopted—providing for a survey to ascertain the pracgcabil Ity of a ship canal connecting ' Lake Michigan with -the Wabash River; Instructing the Committee on Elections to examine and report the best and most practicable method of electing the President, and providing for a tribunal to adjust and decide all contested questions therewith... .After a lengthy discussion on the bill in relation to salaries, the House refused to second the previous question on the majority bill—yeas 100, hoes 145 when the minority report came up and a motion was made to recommit the bill to the select committee with instructions to reporta bill repealing the whole salary act of the last Congress, so far as the same could be done under the Constitution, and to ascertain the average amount of salary, mileage and all other expenses, exclusive of any estimate for the franking privilege. that was paid to Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in the Forty-first Congress, and to fix the compensation at the amount thus ascertained as nearly as practicable, with the necessary traveling expenses, and restoring all other salaries as they were before the passage of the act.... Adjourned. .

Friday, December 13.— Senate— Not in session. Howe.— Senate bill removing political disabiltios from Thomas S. Bocock. E. J. Harvey,, and Daniel Trigg, of Virginia, and John R. Egan, of Texas, was passed... .A petition was presented from a large number of business men all over the country for a repeal of the bankruptcy law. ... .The Speaker laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of War calling attention to defalcations in the accounts of General O. O. Howard, of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and the letter and accompanying reports relating to the alleged defalcations, were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.... The Salary question was then taken up and debated at considerable length, when it was ordered that ‘‘the Select Committee report a bill repealing the whole Salary act, so far as the same can be done under the Constitution, excepting Judges of the Supreme Court, and ascertain the average amount of salary, mileage, and all other allowances, exclusive of any estimate for the use of the franking privilege, paid to Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in the Forty-first Congress; and report a bill determining the compensation of Senators, Representatives ana delegates in Congress hereafter, at the amount as near as practicable thus ascertained,. with necessary individual expenses, and restoring all other salaries as they were before the pa-sage of that act.”....The bill appropriating $4,000,000 for the extraordinary expenses of the naval service was debated in Committee of the Whole, reported to the House and passed.... Adjourned to the 15th. Monday, December 15.—Bills were introduced—to provide for the construction of Fort St. Philip Canal and its maintenance as a National public highway; to repeal the tax of ten per cent, on the circulation of bank notes, to take effect July 1, 1874.... A report was made from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, that the committee had considered the contested election case of P. B. S. Pincbhack and General McMillan, claiming.seats as Senators from L ui.-iana, and were evenly divided. The whole matter was referred to the Senate, and a resolution was introduced that the credentials of P. B. S. Pinchback are formal, and he is entitled to a seat in the Senate, having a prima facie case... .The House hill to provide for the redemption of the loan of 1858 was passed, with several unimportant amendments. ... .Resolutions concerning financial affairs were debated at considerable length Adjourned. House.— A large number of bills were introduced and referred, among which were—for the better preservation of the harbors and channels of the lakes; for the issue of convertible bonds, and a reduction of the interest on the funded debt; to put printing paper, type, etc., on the free list; authorizing National Banks to withdraw their bonds in proportion to the reduction of their circulation: in aid of the execution of the laws in Utah; for the survey of a ship canal from Lake Michigan to the Wabash River; for the survey of the Tennessee and Hiawasse Rivers; fora canal over the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River; for a survey and report of a double-track railway from Omaha to New York City for the transportation of heavy freight; for the Improvement of the Missouri River; to make Sioux Ci’y a port of entry; io impose a tax on incomes of $3,600 and over; to regulate commerce between the States, and to establish reasonable rates of railway charges for freight; for a transcontinental railway. ....A hill was reported and read, to repeal the Bankruptcy 1aw....A preamble and resolution was reported from the Committee on Appropriations, and adopted, to the effect that the present financial embarrassment makesit the duty of Congress to reduce expenditures to the lowest point consistent with the neccsiities of the Government; and that, as the Secretary of tho Treasury had recommended, in an official letter to the Committee of Ways and Means, an increase in certain duties and internal taxation, therefore It is resolved that the President borequested to cause a revision of the estimates of the appropriations required for the service of tiie Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, to be made by the several executive departments, and' cause a report to be made to the House, if possible, as early as the Sth of January next, setting forth iu detail what public expenditures for the current fiscal year, and what estimates for Jhe next fiscal year, can bo reduced, and tho amount of such reduction without serious detriment to the public service....A joint resolution was adopted, to adjourn from December 10 to January 6... .Adjourned. Tuesday, December 16.— Senate.— Bills were introduced—amendatory of the enrollment and license laws; to establish an iron shipbuilding yard on the waters of the Atlantic and in the Mississippi Valley, to afford facilities to the navy; to. facilitate the assorting and redeeming of National Bank note currency, and to authorize an issue of •irculating notes to the amount of ninety-two per cent, hi lieu of the ninety per cent, now authorized by law... .Several bills were reported from committees.... A bill was passed amendatory of the act to reduce duties on imports and to reduce internal taxes... .The resolution for the admission of Mr. Pinchback as Senator from Louisiana was taken np, and Mr. Morton addressed the Senate in behalf of the resolution. .. .Adjourned. Howe. — The bill repealing tho Bankruptcy law was debated at considerable length and passed—22o to 41. It provides that “all suits and proceedings now pending in the courts of the United States, wherein an adjudication of bankruptcy has been made, shall be proceeded with and governed by the provisions of the existing laws, which are hereby continued in force only for the purpose of closing up suits and proceedings now pending; provided that, from and after the passage of this act the fees, commissions and charges of officers and agents of courts in bankruptcy cases shall be reduced to one-half of the foes, commissions and charges heretofore allowed”....The Select Committee on Salaries reported a bill repealing all the provisions of the act of March 3, 1873, which increases the salary or compensation of Senators, Representatives and Delegates in Congress, or of any officer or employe of the Government, except so far as relates to Judges of the Supreme Court and to the President of the United States during his present term of office, and providing that hereafter the compensation of Senators, Representatives, and delegates in Congress shall be at the rate of $5,500 per annum, and this . shall be in lieu of all allowances except actual and necessary individual traveling expenses coming io and returning from the national capital once every session, and requiring the Secretary of tne Treasury to cover into the Treasury all sums that may remain undrawn or that have been received as increased compensation, which shall or may have come into his possession by the return thereof. After considerable an amendnrentto this bill was agreed t 0—172 to 77—making the reduction of members' salaries take effect from the 4th of March, 1873,...Adjourned. Wednesday, December 17.— Senate. Several resolutions of instructions,to committees were passed....A bill was introduced to reimburse West Virginia for losses caused by the Federal troops during the late war of the rebellion... .The House resolution fixing the time of adjournment for the holidays was taken np, and after debate a motion to indefinitely postpone its further consideration was adopted-37 to 27.... The House bill to ret>eal the Bankrupt act was referred to the Judiciary Committee... .The House bill making a special appropriation of $1,000,000 for the navy was taken up, and after considerable discussion was passed-4u to 7. ...Adjourned. House.— The Senate amendments to the bill for the redemption of the loan of 1858 were concurred in.... Several resolutions of instruction were passed... A bill was passed to allow distillery warehouses to be continued in use after changes in their management... .The salary question then came up, and an exciting debate ensued, and, amid much confusion, the following substitute for the bill reported from the committee was finally adopted—lit to 74—and a notice to reconsider was made and'laid on the table: “That from and after the passage of thia act rhe compensation of Senators, Representatives, and delegates shall be at the rate of $6,(00 per annum, payable monthly, and in addition thereto actual individu il expenses of each Senator, Representative and delegate in going to and returning from the seat of government onee in each session, to be certified in writing by each. That the compensation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall be $2,«» in addition to his pay as Representative, amounting in all to $8 000; and that of the VicePresident shall be the same amount, with the same allowance for traveling expenses as hereinbefore provided'. That all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. That the Secretary of the Treasury is required to coyer into the Treasury all sums that may remain uudrawn. or which nave been received, as increased compensation under the provisions of said act, approved March 3,1873, which shall have or may came into his possession by the return thereof."....Adjourned. -~ At a meeting of the Oneida Baptist Association, a visiting clergyman, old, enough to lie gray, but with raven locks and beard, offered several resolutions touching questions of reform. Dr. Patton, of Utica, said he saw -no objection to the adoption of the resolutions, but he wished the one on the use of„tobacco might be followed by one deprecating the use of hair-dye. The former slooa speechless.