Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1899 — A NOTABLE CONGRESS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A NOTABLE CONGRESS.

SESSION JUST ENOEO IS MEMO* Ip rable in history. J Ckligw Map* of America and Aaia P?* iß»rtn* Ita Incumbency—Total Appropriations, Including War Kxpenses, Exceed a Billion and a Half. ■ Washington correspondence:

NOT since the foundation of the Government has any one Congress made so much history and left so deep an imm' press on the policy wE of the country as wEal that which adjournjij|Sr ed at noon Saturday. When President McKinley was inauffPßjp gurated, almost his first official act was to call the Fifty"~*Ki""l'|r fifth Congress in exHfTFll tra Bession t 0 his as ' nil I 1" sistance. It met (j U'' within two weeks

-■. lifter lie entered the White House. Congress. after a long struggle of four months, passed the Dingley tariff law. The extra session also authorized, at the Suggestion of the President, the appointment of a monetary commission to confer with European nations as to the possibility of establishing bimetallism under an international agreement. The extra session saw the submission of a treaty annexing Hawaii to the United States, although the treaty was not acted on owing to lack of time for its consideration. The i work of the extra session was, therefore, ■practically confined to the passage of the new tariff law and the appointment of the ; monetary commission. I* Sapid March of Events. | When the Congress met in regular session in December, 1897, the whole world , was on the qui rive over the possibility of war between the United States and Spain. The message of the President was diplo- : matically pacific, but Spain was making promises and not keeping them. After New Year’s events moved with startling : rapidity, and Congress, through them all, ■held the whip hand. The Spanish minister. Dupuy de Lome, with characteristic :Spaaish craft, insulted the President in 4i personal letter. The battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, and the .country was aflame. Affairs with Spain grew worse until the President called for aid from Congress. The response was Immediate and thrilling. Congress voted, almost in silence, to give the President $50,000,000 to be expended in his own discretion “for the national defense.”

Having given this expression of patriotic confidence, Congress went to work to dean up the ordinary routine business and appropriation bills in the expectation of war. The strain became more tense every day. The President and his cabinet sought to avert war if possible. Congress deemed It inevitable and threatened to take immediate action. The President was forced to yield to the congressional pressure. Then the Fifty-fifth Congress passed historic resolutions declaring that Cuba was and of right ought to be free and independent, and calliug on Spain to withdraw from the island. Minister Woodford was given no opportunity to present oiese resolutions to Spain, but received lus passports. Thereupon, on April 25, Congress declared war against Spain, dating the act back to the dismissal of Woodford on April 21. He left Madrid for Paris, and Minister Polo of Spain left Washington for Montreal.

| Liberality with War Funds. War had come. The President was authorized to recruit the regular army up to 62,000 men, and directed to call for volunteers. He did both promptly, blockadtng Havana. From this time on Congress was busy supplying men and money to put the army and navy on a war basis. Money was voted almost without limit, and the House was represented in the army by fighting Joe Wheeler and other members Who left their seats to accept commissions. The Hawaiian annexation treaty could not be ratified, owing to the sugar trust influence in the Senate, but a law was passed by Congress effecting the same thing. Hawaii was joined to the United States as a war measure, and a commission of members, headed by Senator Cullom of Illinois, was appointed to suggest m plan of government. Their report is still to be acted on. Almost the first work in Congress after war came was to provide money to meet the heavy appropriations. The war revenue act was passed, which put more taxes on beer, legacies, sugar and oil corporations, and provided for stamp taxes, all Of which are still on the statute books. < Congress adjourned with the glory of Manila Bay still ringing in its ears, and with an army of 275,000 men in the field, and a well-equipped navy. Congress had scarcely adjourned when the destruction of Cervera’s fleet in Santiago bay practically ended the war. The truce was signed in August, and when Congress . met in December peace commissioners were concluding a treaty in Paris. Just before the holidays they agreed on a treaty. It was ratified by the Senate Feb. 6, after a sensational debate, and with a bloody fight with Aguinaldo actually begun. P Vast Work Accomplished, fc. The Fifty-fifth Congress did not provide • for the thorough reorganization of the army, but to suppress Aguinaldo and occupy Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philip|pines it has provided a temporary army of 197,000 men. Thus in two years the Fiftyfifth Congress has had three sessions, ag£pregating about fourteen months. In that f brief period it has passed a tariff bill, dec dared war against Spain, ratified the treaty of peace, raised the army from '25,000 to 275,000, reduced it again to 97,jcfiOO, annexed Hawaii peaceably, and Kjtforto Rico and the Philippines forcibly, gjfefilpor&rily freed Cuba, and left the eouni .'try with war taxes and a rebellion about % Manila, where American blood is being plpeneral legislation has suffered from pite war. The census bill, the naval per- | aonnel bill, a bankrupt cy measure, a code Of laws for Alaska, several score of new ggpjtfjblio buildings, and other measures have dipped through, but the Nicaragua canal has scarcely advanced a step, the annexation of Hawaii is yet inconi] >lete legally, Had several score of other measures reBprfß as legacies to the Fifty-sixth ConES'hiSo o? it C ° DJrreßS hM Rxp«nfliturc» of Fifty-fifth Congress. " boit estimates available at the is written would indicate that

the expenditures of the Fifty-fifth Congress have been abcvt as follows: Agriculture $3,726,022 Diplomatic and consular 1,714,533 Fortifications 4,009,902 Indian 7,604,755 Legislative, etc 23,405,740 Military academy 575,774 Pensions 145,233,830 Postofflee 105,634,183 Urgent deficiencies..... 140,640 Spanish Indemnity., 20,000,000 Permanent appropriations 128,678,220 District of Columbia 7,258,905 Navy 52,979,469 Sundry civil 51,299,262 River and harbor (estimated).. 16,000,000 Army ... 80,430,194 General deficiency 21,126,254 Omnibus claims 3,100,000 Expositions 1,000,000 Miscellaneous 500,000 Last year’s total 893,231,615 Grand total (estimated)... .$1,568,547,298