Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1819-01-12
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY q.


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY q.
On motion of MIR. Cro,ceH,
Resotred, That the committee on the public
lands be instructed to enquire into the expe-
diency of authorizing by law the sale OF such
townships OF land in the Alabama territory, as
their opinion worth two dollars per acre, and
consequently not surveyed or offered for sale.
The engrossed bill TO authorize the
President aud Managers of the Rockville
and Washington Turnpike Company TO
extend and make said road within the
District, was read third time and pass
ed and sent to the Senate for concur
renee.
The orders of the day being then an
hounced, a motion was made by MIR.
Smith, of Mary land, TO take up, out of its
turn, the bill making appropriations for
the support of the Military Establishment
for 1919. This departure from the usual
course of business requires the unani-
nous consent of the House. MIR. Mercer,
OF Virginia, objected, and the question
was therefore not put.
Mr.. Smith then moved 10 postpone all
the orders of the day which preceded that
bill, IN order TO take ii up.
On this motion short debate took
place, in the course of which Messrs. VII
fans, OF n. G.. Mercer, Smith, .Storrs,
1ucker, Floyd and Reed spoke. The result
OF the question was, by small majority,
TO go into committee.
The bill in question embraces the fol-
lowing items Of appropriation:
For subsistence, lin addition to S 300 900 al
ready appropriately 5 800, 600.
For forage for officers, 5 % ,l96.
For clothing, S 100000.
For bounties aud premiums. S 81 500.
:. For the medical and hospital department,
For the quarter masters depart't, S $4,000
For contingencies of the army, 6O.OOO
For arrearages, arising from deficiency in
the appropriation TO pay outstanding claims,
3 100000.
For Notifications. S 100000.
For making survey of the water courses
tributary to, and west of the Mississippi also,
those tributary TO the same river, and north
west of the Ohio, 8 $500.
For the current expenses of the ordnance
department, s 100 600
For the armories al Springfield aud Harper's
Ferry. S 375, 900.
For arming q equpping the militia, 8 200 ,0O0
For the erection and completion of arsenals,
TO wit: for compile ting the arsenal al Augusta
IN Georgia, S $1,000 for erecting a powder
magazine at Fraphtord, near Philadelphia
10 900; for completing the arsenal and other
works at WATERFOWL, near Boston, S q, 900 for
completing the arsenal and other works at
Putsburg, Penn. s 1000 for levee round the
arsenal at Watervliet, New York, S 1000 for
a
. 10000.
For cannon, powder and shot, TO fulfil exist.
ing contracts; for mounting cannon, and for
purchase of lead, S I9i, 200. ~
10 provide for the payment of the retained
bounty, and the per diem travelling allowance
OF pay and subsistence to soldiers discharged
from the army i'll the year lSI9 S %, 500.
For the purchase of maps, plans, books and
instruments for the War Department, 5 500
For fuel, maps, plans. books, erection of
quarters aud other buildings, and for contingent
expenses for the Academy at West Point
$500.
For marking and running the boundary line
OF the several cessions of land made by the Ia.
dams, ) Is 900.
For the payment of halfpay pensions TO
widows and orphans, S 300 900.
For the annual allowance to invalid pension
ers of the United States. S 36S, 030
For the annual al lowance to the revolutionary
pensioners, under the law Of March Is. 1878,
S 70S 500.
For arrearages arising from deficiency in
The appropriation for paying the revolutionary
pensions in the year 1918, ) $50, 100 o5 cents.
For the Indian department. including az.
rearages incurred by holding Indian treaties,
S2!3 900.
For annuity to the Greek nation, under the
treaty of 1902, $4,000.
The House having accordingly resolved
itself into a committee of The whole, de-
bate arose, of desuliory but interest
ing character, occupying two or three
hours, in the course of which Messrs.
Ciay, Barbour, Smith of Md Iifmbie,
Iacker, Mercer, Williams, OF n. G.. Lowndes,
johnson, of Va, and johnson, of Kentucky,
bore part.
a brief sketch of the Debate, but, as
brief as il is, too extended for to day,
shall be given ia our next.
The result of the Debate was, that the
committee rose, reported progress, and
obtained leave 10 sit again.
After ordering some papers relative 10
one of the items Of the bill to be printed,
ii was, on motion of Mr. Mercer,
RsSoired, That the Secretary of War lie d-
rected TO report to this House the present
strength and distribution of the army of the
Quilted States, and to subjoin TO such report
the number aud value Of the extra DAYS LABOR
performed by the several detachmeniS thereof
respectively, in the year ending on the Both
day ofOctober last, upon roadso other objects
Of fatigue duty, together with statement Of
such objects, IL any there are. of similar ma
ture, TO which il is contemplated to direct the
labor of tive troops in the current year, distin.
gushing the sums expended on roads.
And the House adjourned.
THURSDAY, JANUARY z.
MIR. I6Ue,more, from the committee on
posi- Offices and postroads, reported a bill