Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1899 — MUCH WORK FOR CONGRESS. [ARTICLE]

MUCH WORK FOR CONGRESS.

This Promises to Be One of the Moot Talkative Sessions in History. This, says a Washington correspondent, promises to be one of the most talkative Congresses in history. Indeed, the conditions for speechmaking are so favorable that all records may be broken. In the first place, there will be a general desire to produce material for the presidential and congressional elections of next year. In the second place, Roberts, currency, the army, expansion, Nicaragua canal and ship subsidy will afford an inexhaustible mine from which speeches may be drawn. In the Roberts case, polygamy, precedent, the constitution and States’ rights are involved. Currency heads the legislative list. A funding bill to float Government bonds at less than 3 per cent will be introduced and probably passed. A strong effort will be made to pass the Hanna-Paine ship subsidy bill. It will be a terrible struggle, the result of which cannot at this time be foreseen. Speaker Henderson and Leader Payne favor it rn the House, and it will be backed by strong influences in the Senate. Opponents of the bill will decry the bounty system and object on economical grounds to the payment of $9,000,000 annually in subsidies. Friends of the measure will insist that Congress should save the $25,000,000 now paid annually by Americans to foreign ship owners in freight charges and encourage the building of a great American merchant fleet. There will be legislation for the government of Hawaii, Porto liieo and Alaska.

An acre of space in the Congressional Record will be filled with remarks about Cuba and the l’hilippines. The size ot the standing army’s proposed plans of reorganization will receive much attention. There will probably be no general river and harbor bill. A bill to construct the Nicaragua canal will be strongly pressed. A number of railroad bills will be introduced, the two most important of which will declare in favor of pooling and against ticket scalping. There will be much talk about trusts. A constitutional amendment to regulate or abolish trusts will probably be up for consideration. An earnest effort will lie made to secure a large increase of the navy. A determined effort will be made, too, to advance the project for the construction of the Grant memorial bridge across the Potomac*. While comparatively little time will be spent in the Senate chamber during the early days of the session, much attention will be paid to getting ready lor the important matters to receive attention later. These include the financial bill, the policy to be pursued in the Philippines and Cuba, the form of government to be provided for Hawaii and the ratification of the various reciprocity treaties negotiated during the recess, and Porto Rico. The Fifty-fifth Congress passed an act fixing the price of- armor plate at S3OO a ton. It is expected that a strong effort will be made to change this, as it is stated that no factory in the country can furnish the material for the newly authorized warship at that price. Harveyized armor plate sueh as is used oil the battleships Maine, Ohio and Missouri, cost S4OO, with an added royalty of $11.20, making the cost $411.20 a ton. Owing to the passage of the act referred to, the Secretary of the Navy has been obliged to suspend construction on those vessels now building, because the stipulated amount will not buy the proper armor plate.