Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1898 — CONGRESS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CONGRESS

Some bills of minor importance were passed by the House on Saturday and the remainder of the day was devoted to general debate on the Indian appropriation bill. That the Cuban question i» still uppermost in the minds of the members was evinced during this debate, much of which was decoted to it. Mr. Hitt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, submitted a privileged' report from his committee, recommending the passagecf n resolution of inquiry, requesting the State Department to transmit to the House all information in its possession relative to the military execution of Col. Ruiz, a Spanish envoy to the insurgent camp of Arangureu. The resolution was adopted without division. In the Senate after a speech by Mr. Stewart in favor of the Teller silver resolution, consideration of bills on the private calendar was begun and a number were passed. In the House oil Monday a couple of hours.were devoted to business relating to the District of Columbia, and the remainder of the day was occupied with the Indian appropriation bill. A lively debate was precipitated by an allusion made by Mr. Simpson (Pop., Kan.) to an alleged interview with the President on the subject ,of immigration. Mr. Grosvenor took occasion to express the opinion that the President had never used some of the language imputed to him, and the debate drifted into a general discussion of our industrial conditions. In the Senate proposed annexation of Hawaii was somewhat extensively reviewed by Mr. Morgan of Alabama while speaking to a ques;. tion of personal privilege. One of the features of the session was an elaborate speech by Mr. Turpie of Indiana iu support of the Teller resolution. The pension appropriation bill was debated for nearly three hours, but was not passed, the Senate adjourning pending the disposal of a point of order made against an amendment offered by Mr. xillen of Nebraska to the pending bill. Under the parliamentary fiction of discussing the Indian appropriation bill, the House devoted almost the ' entire day Tuesday to a political debate in which the main question was whether prosperity had come to the country as a result of the advent of the present administration. Mr. Smith, the delegate from Arizona, made an attack on the system of educating the Indians, and Mr. Walker moved to strike out the appropriation for the Carlisle school. No vote was taken on the motion. A bill was passed granting American register to. the foreign built •steamer Navajo. In the Senate the session was characterized by a hearted, almost acrimonious, discussion of the financial question. For nearjy four hours the Teller resolution was under consideration, the principal speeches being made by Mr. Allison (Iowa), Mr. Berry (Arkansas) and Mr. Hoar (Massachusetts). , Consideration of the Indian appropriation bill consumed the entire day in thd House on Wednesday. The debate was chiefly on extraneous subjects. The motion to strike out the appropriation for the Carlisle Indian school was defeated after considerable debate, 29 to 65. Ten pages of the bill were disposed of. The conference report on the urgent deficiency bill was adopted. In the Senate the day was spent in a discussion of the Teller silver resolution. The Indian appropriation bill was passed by the House on Thursday and the political debate which had been raging since Monday was transferred to the District of Columbia bill, which followed it. The only two important changes made in the Indian bill as passed were the elimination of the provisions for the leasing of the gilsonite mineral lands of the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache and Wichita reservations, both of which went out on points of order. The features of the debate Thursday were the speeches of Mr. Hartman (silver Republican, Mont.), in denunciation of the financial policy of the administration, and of Mr. Dolliver (Republican, Iowa), in reply to the general attacks of the opposition. In the Senate the dity was spent in debate on the Teller resolution. ; 1 The bill to pay the book publishing company of the Methodist Episcopal Church south $288,000 for damages sustained by that corporation during the war, after encountering an obstinate filibuster, which staved off a vote on two previous private bill days, was piloted to Its passage in the House on Friday by Mr. Cooper of Texas, who was in charge of the message. The friends of the measure proved themselves in an overwhelming majority, and the opposition, finding it could hold out no longer, reluctantly yielded. The vote on the bill was 188 to 67. An evening session for the consideration of other private bills was held. In the Senate the entire day was taken up by consideration of the Teller silver resolution. It was passed by a vote of 47 to 37.