Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1874 — FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS.

Thursday, January B.—Senate.—Several petitions were- presented... .Messages were received from the President, withdrawing the names of Geo. 11. Williams to he Chief Justice, and Colonel Bristow to he Attorney-General.... A bill w'as Introduced and referred for the relief of the University of the State of Minnesota... .The bill to repeal the Increased Salary act was taken lip and amendments were rejected—providing that the pay for the remainder of this Congress shall be snch ah amount as to make tlic total with that already received SIO,OOO, $5,100 for each year—l 4 to 45; providiag that the amount of compensation of Senators, Members and Delegates for the year ending March 3, 1874, shall be $7,500, and for the year finding March 3, 1875. $2,500, exclusive of mileage and allowances. Amendments were adopted—providing that mileage shall not he allowed for the first’ Bession of the Forty-third. Congress, and striking ontso much of the act of March 3 as provided for an increase of the salaries of the President, Vice-President, Members of Congress, and Delegates, and all other officers therein named, and the salaries of all said officers and others, from the head of Government down. Bhall bo one-half of ttie snm allowed snd paid prior to the act of March 3, 1873—32 to 29.... Mr. Allison was named as a member of the Committee on Pensions, in place of Mr. Terry, of Connecticut, excused....A telegram was presented from a committee of the McEnery Legislature of Louisiana, alleging that, by the interference of the Federal Government; the powers of the loyal State Government, of Louisiana had been taken from representatives elected by the people and given to a body of men who could not even pretend to have been elected, and begging that Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, wonld afford each relief as the' nature of the case might require.... Adjourned. House. —The bill to establish an educational fund, aud to apply the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the education of the people, was debated... .The Naval Appropriation .bill, appropriating $14,503,856, was considered in Committee of the Whole Adjourned. Friday, January 9 Senate— Several memorialsiand petitions were presented asking for amendments to the Bankrupt law... .Bills were passed—for the relief of aged or jnflrm pre-emption settlers on the public lands; making an appropriation of $2,000 for legislative expenses of Colorado Territory... .Bills were introduced and referred—for the protection of settlers in Utah; to aid in execution of the laws of Ihat Territory; to provide for the army and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States. .. .After debate on the Senate bill authorizing National Banks that have decided to reduce their stock to ■withdraw a proportion ot bonds upon retiring their circulation notes, or depositing money in proportion provided by law, the Salary bill was taken up and further debated, several proposed amendments being rejected. Amendments were agreed to—fixing the salaries of Members and Delegates at $5,000 per annum; striking out of the House bill the words “actual individual expenses of each Senator, Representative and Delegate,” and inserting the words “mileage and other allowances allowed by law prior to the passage of the act of March 3, 1873;" providing that no mileage shall be allowed for the first session of the Forty-third Congress.. .—Executive session-and adjournment to the 12th. House. —A bill was passed to credit Assistaut Treasurer Hillhouso of New York, with $185,000, the proceeds of the sale of the internal revenue st amp* embezzled from his office without any neglect of his 0wn....A number of bills were referred, including one to regulate the drawing aud summoning of juries in United States District and Circuit Courts.... .The Fortification bill, appropriating tgIMM.OOO, was reported from the Committee on Appropriations ann made the special order for-the 14th... .The deaths of James Brooks, of New York, and W. I). Foster, of Michigan, were formally announced, and eulogies delivered.... Adjourned, the session on the 10th to be devoted exclusively to debate. , Monday, January 12,— Senate —Several petitions were presented, including one from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and others, asking that women be allowed to vote, or that the same right be extended to them as to the colored men..... Bills were ini roduced—ceding to several States within Whose limit they respectively lie, the beds of uusurveyed lakes and Other bodies of water; providing that all freight and passenger traffic between Kansas City and Leavenworth, or any point on the line of the Kansas Pacific and- Denver Pacific Railway, via Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, to Ogden, or any point on the line of the Union Pacific Railway, or points beyond its terminus, shall be carri<!u by said companies jointly at the same rates as are charged on similar traffic between Omaha and like points; but the Union Pacific Company shall not be required to receive upon said traffic a less i>uni than it w'ould be entitled to receive upon similar traffic over its own road when pro rated to and from - Chicago. Sqits may be brought aud sustained in * any United States Court in which any portion of either of the said roads is situated, for triple the amount of damages and loss sustained by a refusal to comply \yith the foregoing provisions.. ...After considerable discussion on the Salary bill and the disposition of several amendments, a substitute for the House bill was finally passed—46 to B—repealing the Increased Salary Act except that portion relating to the compensation of the President and Justices of the Supreme Court, and fixing the salaries—with the exceptions named—at the former rates; providing that mileage shall be allowed for the first session of the Forty-third Congress, and that all moueys appropriated as compensation to members of the Forty-second Congress in excess of mileage and allowances fixed by law at the commencement of said Congress, and which "shall not have been drawn by members of said Congress, respectively, or which having been drawn, have been returned in any form to the United States, are. hereby covered into the Treasury of the United States, and declared to be the moneys of the United States, absolutely the same as if‘they had never been appropriated as aforesaid... .Adjourned. House . —A large number of bills were introduced and referred, among them—tb reorganize the Internal Revenue Department and reduce ita force; to aid in establishing polytechnic schools in every county and State, and in the Territories: estublitJi a uniform and elastic currency, and to reduce the National debt; making Treasury notes a legal tender for customs duties; chartering a double-track railways from tide-water on the Atlantic to the Missouri River, and to limit freights thereon,.... The rules were suspended- and A resolution adopted—22l to 3—declaring it to be the sense, of the House that the expenditures of the nation can be and should be so reduced and regulated that they can he met by existing taxes, apd that in no event should there be an increase of either the interest-bearing or non interest-bearing obligations of the Government... .The Naval Appropriation bill was considered in Committee of the Whole. ....Adjourned. Tuesday, January 13.— Senate— Among the hills Introduced and referred were—to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to use for their original objecfS all unexpended'balances of appropriations for the Indian sen ice standing on tne books of the Department June 30, 1873; providing that a bust of the late Chief-Justice Chase he placed in the Suprethe Court R00m... .The House resolution to fill vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute was passed, aiid Mr. Sargent was appointed as a member of such Board on the part of the Senate... .The resolution reported by the Finance Committee, declarin'; it to he the duty of Congress to adopt definite measures to redeem its pledges In the act of 1869, for the earliest practicable redemption of Uhited States notes in gold coin, was taken up, and after debate, a bill whs presented and referred to the Committee on Finance to secure the-resumption of specie payment without oontradtiagthe currency....A message wad received from the House announcing the adoption of a resolution of respect to the memory of James Brooks and Wilber D. Foster, and eulogies were pronounced and the customary resolution of respect was adopted... Adjourned. House —The bill to promote education was debated, and a motion to lay on the table was rejected—lo 4to I.ls—and the further consideration of the bill was postponed until Maich... .The N aval Appropriation bill was further considered in Committee of the Whole, and an amendment was oil 'red and debated... .The Senate substitute for the House bill for the repeal of the Increased Salary law was taken np and concurred in—s 26 to 25..,. Adjourned. Wednesday, January 14.—Senate—Various unfavorable reports were made by the Committee on Claims on bills of a private nature, and their farther consideration was indefinitely postponed .... A petition was presented and referred from the Indianapolis Woman’s Suffrage Association, protesting against the bill limiting suffrage in the Territories to males... .The resolntlon from tbe Finance Committee was further debated, Mr. Schnrz speaking in favor of the immediate resumption of specie payments.. .Executive session and adjournment. House.— A revision and codification of the statutes up to the first of December, 1873. were reported from the Committee op Revision of Laws, and after a long discussion as to tbe mode of considering and acting on the revision report, topsisting of over 3,000 printed pages, it was fin-

ally agreed to hold two evening sessions in each week for its consideration...-The NaVal Appropriation bill was further considered in Committee of the Whole, hut little progress being made on the bi 11.... Adjourned.