Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1898 — BIG GRIST OF BILLS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BIG GRIST OF BILLS.

OVER EIGHT THOUSAND AWAIT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. The Outlook for Hawaiian and Caban X.egißlation'-Talk About Bankruptcy ' Keasurc General Appropriation Bills to Be ClJsely Scaled. Now* Hard at Work. Washington correspondence:

CONGRESS is now well to its work, and the process of grinding out bills is in operation. Over 'S# 5,488 bills and 107 A"* joint resolutions have R been referred to the gli House committees, Ig* and 2,918 bills and 77 gL joint resolutions to ■jjjSenate committees. The calendars are hoppers into which ■nHLthe grist of the comis thrown. flrt'(|The House has sent lIjI. two of the great aplW' propriation bills over

to the Senate. They carry $162,000,000. Eleven others are to follow. These appropriation bills are the essential of legislation. Without them the Government is blocked. When the differences concerning them have been settled by conference committees, and they have passed both houses and received the signature of the President, Congress will be ready to adjourn. It is evidently the intention of the leaders in the House to scale the general appropriation bills as closely as possible, and to force an adjournment at an early date. Under the rules other bills carrying appropriations can be buried without allowing them to come before the House. An appropriation bill is a privileged measure, and it is frequently used to shunt offensive legislation track. It has the right of way at all times, except when confronted by a contested election case or by a special order from the Committee on Rules. An appropriation bill can switch a contested election case from the track at any time by a vote of the House, but it requires unanimous consent to set aside a special order after it has once been sanctioned by the Hduse. Bearing this in mind, the question of the annexation of Hawaii becomes interesting. If the Senate fails to ratify the treaty by a two-thirds vote, a bill providing for its annexation will undoubtedly pass that body. If the leaders of the House are opposed to such a bill they can easily prevent its consideration by the House. It may be buried in the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and if reported from that committee, there is no way in which the House can consider it, except by n special order from the Committee on Rules. The Cuban question is in a similar situation. The House is held up by an application of its own rules. If three-quar-ters of the members favor the recognition of Cuba, they would have no opportunity to vote for it. The Senate resolution is still buried in the House Committee oq Foreign Affairs. If this committee should report it favorably to the House it is in the condition of Lord Lovell’s wife, who jumped into a box that closed with a spring. It could not come for consideration without the usual special order. Once on the calendar, it might be called up on suspension day, provided the Speaker would consent to recognize a member of the committee for this purpose. Then a two-tbirds vote would pass it.

Bankruptcy and Currency. There is much talk about a bankruptcy bill. The Committee on the Judiciary has reported a bill practically the same as 'the Torrey bill. Gen. Henderson of lowa is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He is also a member of the Committee on Buies. The bill will probably be brought before the House by a special order. If this is done the friends of the Nelson bill will offer that as a substitute, unless precluded by the terms of the special order —another spring in the box. At all events, it seems safe to say that if the House passes any bankruptcy bill whatever this season it will be the bill reported from Gen. Henderson’s committee. There is no probability, however, that such a bill will pass the Senate. It can be amended in that body so as to make it entirely unacceptable to the lenders in the House. ’The differences between the two bodies are apparently so great that they cannot be settled in conference. The same is true of a financial or a currency bill. Men of experience in both houses agree that there is no probability -of the passage of any such measure this session. If necessary, the appropriation bills may be used to send them awry. At all events, there will be no Sabine assimilation. The situation was aptly described by Senator Thomas H. Carter of Montana, who said that to ask the Senate to pass a financial bill based on the plan of the monetary commission would be like “squirting water against the wind.” The Committee on Rivers and Harbors Is in session and giving hearings to those Interested in such appropriations. It is •clear that an effort to pass a river and harbor appropriation bill will be made before the end of the session. Such a bill has the same privilege, under the rules, as the other appropriation bills, and is usually so framed that it can pass the House by a two-thirds vote on suspension day, without debate. This was the case in the Inst House, and this House is equally ns eager on the question of internal improvements. Another bill of importance is what is known ub the anti-scalping bill. It was brought l»efore the House in the last Congress under a special order from the Committee on Rules. In the Fifty-fourth Congress it was put to sleep in the Senate. Its opponents had the benefit of the short session, when appropriation bills were crowding each other to the wall. They these bills to defeat it. They will have no such opportunity in this session, for it is the long session, and Congress is not compelled to adjourn by the 4th of March. In atrong contrast with this stand what are known as the letter carriers' and postal clerks’ bills. Both have reached the calendars in previous Congresses, but their friends have never been able to get a special order for their consideration. Another'bill attracting considerable attention is What is known as the Loud bill. It revises the rates for second-class matter in the mails, making stringent limita- ’ tloM affecting the newspapers, and all

periodical publications. This proposition was brought before the House on a spe* cial order last session, and will probably receive similar treatment this session.. Like the anti-scalping bill, it came up last year in the short session, and was buried in the Senate.. This year, however, it will have a free course, aud the Senate will give it due consideration. Another important measure is the immigration bill, better known as the Lodge bill. It passed the House by a large vote at the short session last year, and was lost in conference. Its fate will be different this year, as each house will have plenty of time for its consideration. The bill has been shorn of some, of its objectionable features, and the prospects are fair for its passage.