Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1902 — Congress. [ARTICLE]

Congress.

On Tuesday the Philippines were the subject of an address by Mr. Hoar of Massachusetts, who spoke on his resolution introduced providing for the appointment of a Senate committee to investigate the administration of those islands. He spoke at some length regarding the unreliability of statements on the situation in th* Philippine* and the causes which led to the outbreak. Mr. Lodge, Mr. Hoar’s colleague, said he regarded the resolution as a reflection on the Philippine committee, of which he was chairman, and the necessity for the latter would cease were this resolution to be adopted. The discussion was leading rapidly to an opening up of the whole Philippine question, when it was agreed that the resolution should go over until Wednesday. A concurrent resolution was passed appointing a joint committee of Congress to consider the question of a site for a hall of records to be erected in Washington. The House continued the debate on the pension appropriation bill and devoted much time to the proposition advanced by Mr. Rixey of Virginia to open the doors of the soldiers’ homes to ex-Confederate veterans. Two notable speeches were made in support of the proposition, one by Mr. Gardner, a Michigan Republican, and the other by Mr. De Armond, a Missouri Democrat. The Rixey suggestion met with much opposition on the Democratic side on the ground that it was utterly impracticable. There was a sharp controversy in the executive session over the confirmation of S. G. Sharp as marshal for the new eastern district of Kentucky. The two Senators from Kentucky, Deboe (Rep.) and Blackburn (Dem.), took opposing positions. Blackburn objected to confirmation on the ground that Sharp had presided over a mass meeting held in front of the executive mansion in Frankfort in 1899 while the Goebel-Taylor controversy was at its height and a few days before Goebel was assassinated.

A spirited discussion was precipitated in the Senate Wednesday by remarks submitted by Mr. Hale of Maine in respect to bills relating to the formation of a naval reserve which he introduced. Mr. Hale took strong ground against the organization of a naval reserve, his comments being construed -by several Senators Into a reflection upon volunteer soldiers and land militia. Half a dozen Senators were on their feet in an instant to defend the volunteers and the National Guard of the various States, and the debate took so wide a range that Senators ■went back in their reference to the days of the Revolutionary War to seek illustrations for their arguments. The House passed the pension appropriation bill, which has been under discussion for thi ; ee days, and then adjourned until Saturday. The resolution prepared by the special committee on the McKinley Memorial exercises providing for an 'address by Secretary of State John Hay in the Hail of Representatives on Feb. 27 was adopted. A joint resolution to appropriate $90,000 to pay the expanses incurred by the West Indian and South Carolina Interstate Exposition at Charleston, S. 0., in connection with the government exhibit at Charleston, was passed. The Senate on Thursday for a brief time had under consideration the bill creating a department of commerce and th 6 discussion tended to show that the measure will have to be amended in many particulars before it can receive the approval of the Senate. Serious objections were raised to the transfer to the proposed department of several important bureaus now a, part of other departments of the government. It was pointed ont that if the bill as reported became a law it would create the greatest department of the government and that the secretary of commerce would have more power even than the Secretary of the Treasury. Notice of several important amendments was given. The House concurrent resolution providing for McKinley memorial exercises by Congress in the hall of the House of Representatives on Thursday, Feb. 27, was adopted. By a strictly partisan vote a favorable report on Senator Frye's ship subsidy bill was authorized by the Senate committee on commerce on Friday. The committee made several important amendments to the bill. One allows mail carrying vessels to be either iron or steel, instead of steel only, as originally pro*vided. Another reduces to 1,000 gross registered tons the vessels receiving n bounty. The Democrats voted solidly for striking out the general subsidy provision. The House of Representatives was in session less than an hour Saturday. Only routine business was transacted, the most important feature of which was the reporting by Mr. Cannon, chairman of the committee on appropriations, of an urgent deficiency bill. The bill carries $16,701,415, distributed among the different departments. Among the more important items included in the bill are the following: Rebates ra tobacco manufacturers as provided in the war revenue reduction act, $5,150,000; completion of public building at St. Paul, Minn., SIOO,000; completion of statue of Rochnmbeau, $15,000; establishment of permanent military post nt Manila, $500,000; military ordnance, $250,000; naval ordnance, $300,000; expenses of congressional party to funeral of President McKinley, $6,200; rural free delivery, $518,000.