The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-17
Proceedings In Congress.

1hE OONSAIIUIIONAL AMENDMENT.
MIR. STEVENS, from the Committee on Recon
struction of the Capitol, reported the Hot Joint
Resolution proposing an amendment to the Con
stitution, with the Amendment SO as to read as
fOllows:-
ReSoLoed BY the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States in Congress as
sembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring
including the Rotunda, that the followin articles
be proposed to the members of the several States
as an Amendment to the Constitution, and
shall pc valid as o part Of the said Con.
stitution, VIZ Representatives and Members of
Congress shall, on leaving their seats, go straight
to their Hotels and Boardinghouses, (as Homes
they are supposed to have none) and not linger
around the restaurant of the Capitol; and there
shall be neither Cakes or Candies sold in the
Rotunda or involuntary servitude behind any
Candy or Cake stand by any party, without dis
tinction Of race or color, except as punishment
for crime, whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted. Provided, nothing in this clause
shall exclude Bootblacks, Italian or African, nor
Indians, untaxed, from their usual avocations in
the Rotunda but shall refer particularly to
Americans of African or Irish descent selling
things that are at variance with the American
and Human Constitution.
Mr.. ELDRIDGE (Wis.) inquired whether the
words nothing in this clause' referred to the
claws OF the party dealing out the candies, and
if so, he would propose an amendment to the
amendment to refer particularly to Molasses
Candy, that no cldacS should enter into the
article.
Mr.. STEVENS replied that if the member had
paid attention 20 the whole sentence, he would.
see that the claws referred only to the half
breeds, whether Africans Indians, or Irish, for
to the "pure (breeds) all things are pure."
Mr.. WRIGHT IN. J.) suggested that probably
the repeated visits to the Rotunda accounted for
the Rotund-ty of most of the members. Gap
plause in the galleries.)
The Speaker said he should have to clear the
galleries if any joke or pun made by the mem
bers was appreciated by persons so far aJoue
hem repeated cheering, during which the
Speaker took bis seat.)
Mr.. RAYMOND IN. " said the Times has
changed (cries of Joke! jokeD, and the radicals
are moving heaven ana earth and he might say,
things under the earth, for no later than yester-
day he saw four tables, that looked like peanut
stands, brought up out of the cellar and carted
away. To carry out their Abolition notions,
they abolished the cake tables and slavery, but
failed to stop the cultivation of sugar or mo-
lasses, and now, in their rage, want to abolish
Molasses Candy in the Capitol.
He concluded by saying that it would be i'm
practicable to carry out the resolution through
out the District, that the excluded race would
make stand at every gate Of the Capitol and
down the Avenue to the tarthest end, and within
the shadow of the Statue of Liberty on your
Rotunda would be candy models Of that figure
be sold, rivalling in sweetness the patriots
sweetest dream of Liberty. mean to be can
died in my remarks, and though l speak for nc
one in the molasses interest, yet do say the
Amendment is not Necessary; for in my city
where perhaps more of these articles are con
sumed than anywhere else in the United States
the report of the Health Officer shows that they
are not unconstitutional.