Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1906 — CONGRESS [ARTICLE]

CONGRESS

In the Senate Monday Senators Perkins and Patterson presented petitions' signed by thousands of California and Colorado women, asking that Reed Smoot be ousted. Discussion of the pure food bill occupied most of the day. Mr. Warren presented 578 letters from railway employes;in Wyoming protesting against railway rate control on she ground that it would rdsult in lower wages. A messagewas received from the President submitting the reports of the consultingengineers in' regard to the type of the Panama canal, and the report was referred to the committee on interoceanic canals. ! Mr. Hale "presented the conference report on the urgency deficiency appropriation bill, which was adopted without debate. Under suspension of the rules three bills were passed in the House. The first, aimed at Arizona and New-Mexico, where gambling is licensed, prohibits gambling Th the territories of the United States. The second provides for additional work by the census bureau by requiring statistics on insurance, fisheries, electrical industries, savings banks and crimes. —The third appropriates $50,000 for the purchase of 300 acres of coal lands on the Island of Batan in the Philippine group. t 1 . In the Senate Tuesday discussion of the pure food bills occupied most of the day. Mr. Rayner presented the reply of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to the charge of discrimination made against it by the Red. Rock Fuel Company of West Virginia. Mr. Gallinger presented petitions from residents of Oklahoma praying for prohibition in the proposed State of Oklahoma. A committee was appointed to attend the funeral of Representative Castor of Pennsylvania. Announcement of the death of Representative George A. Castor of Pennsylvania was made, and the House took an immediate adjournment out of respect to his memory. Speaker Cannon appointed a committee to join a Senate committee to attend the funeral hr Philadelphia.

After fifteen years of consideration of the subject, the’Senate Wednesday.passed a pure food bill by j vote of 63 to 4. The session was largyy taken up by debate on the measure; and several efforts were made to amend, only those approved by the committee reporting the bill being accepted. Senator Smoot received another indorsement, this time from Mr. Warren. He presented a big petition from the women of Wyoming, praying for the expulsion of the Utah Senator, but expressed himself as occupying the opposite position. Chairman Hull of the military affairs committee presented the army appropriation bill to the House, urging the necessity of complete preparedness for trouble in the Orient. The bill carries a total appropriation of $69,678,592, which is less by $1,521,158 than the amount asked by the Mr. Hopkins (Ky.) uncovered many methods of inducing migration to the United States, which he condemned. Mr. Sheppard (Texas) urged tariff reform to obviate retaliatory tariffs by other nations. Mr. Powers (Me.) spoke against the abolition of custom-houses as a matter of economy, and Mr. Macon (Ark.) answered his arguments.

> Mr. Knox's railroad bill was introduced in the Senate Thursday and was accorded the unusual privilege of a -reading at length. The hazing bill was passed without division after several amendments had been made. Mr. Tillman presented a petition from the Independent Oil Refiners’ Association of Titusville and Oil City. Pa., asking relief from alleged discrimination, declaring that the railroad freight rate on refined oil in barrels from the oil regions to New York harbor for export had been increased to a prohibitive point. Mr. Clapp from, the committee oil Indian affairs reported the bill for the settlement of the affairs of the five civilized tribes by urging immediate action. The bills authorizing the purchase of coal lands in the Island of Batan, P. 1., and amending the Philippine tariff act on textile fabrics and shoes were passed. Washington’s farewell address was read by Mr. McCreary. The army appropriation bill was the subject of prolonged debate in the House, the members refusing to adjourn in honor of George Washington. The discussion of the bill was exhausted. Mr. Gilbert (Ky.) made a speech opposing the ship subsidy bill, and the debate then took a wide range. The conference report on the urgent deficiency bill was agreed to. X The Senate was not in session Friday. The Tillman-Gillespie resolution calling for an investigation of the ownership of coal and oil properties by the railroads was passed by—the House, after being amended so that it will have to go back to the Senate for consideration. The famous Mussel Shoais bill, providing for the development of water power on the Tennessee river in Alabama, sent hack by the President for amendment, was passed.

The Senate was not in session Saturday. In the House several minor bills were passed by unanimous consent. They included a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to reclassify the public lands if Alabama. Also the following bills: To extend the provisions of the homestead laws to certain lands of the Yellowstone forest reserve; to extend the time one year in which the Kensington and Eastern Railway Company shall complete its bridge across the Calumet river in Chicago. At I o’clock the pension calendar was taken up and 416 bills were pass'll in sixty-four minutes. . Note* of the national Capital. Old age of veterans is sufficient evidence to secure a pension, according to * bill passed by the House. Reports received by the Department of Commerce and Labor show coal niftf coke exports in 11X15 of $31,215,628. Rabbis Krauskopf of Philadelphia, Guttmachey of Baltimore and Simon of Washington, nccompanied by Herman F. Haha of Chicago, composing a committee appointed by the national conference of rabbis, called on the President to present resolutions congratulating him for his work Id behalf of peace.