Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-04-25
CONGRESSIONAL NOTES.
IN THE SENATE.

was filed and every State represented,
fact upon which the Senate and the
country might well congratulate them
| selves.
Senator Summer presented petitions
/ from thirteen hundred citizens of the
( Uuited States against recognizing God
in the Constitution.
Senator Buckingham, from the Com
mittee of Commerce, reported with
amendments the House bill for the
protection of seamen by the appointment
of shipping committee, etc. The
amendments among other things pro
vides that the twelfth and tbirty-fith
sections relating to contracts with and
the payment of seamep shall not apply
| to the masters and owners of vessels
where seamen are entitled 20 share in
the profits of voyage, nor to cOasting
and lake vessels that touch at foreign
ports.
The report of the Senate on the privil-
/ eyes and election committee ON the
! House resolution declaring that the sub
stitutiOn by the Senate of its bill TO re-
duce the existing taxes for the House
| bill repeating the duties on sea and cof-
| fee was unconstitutional and notifying
/ the Senate that the same had been laid
on the table, presents an extended
argument ON the clause Of the constltu-
ton, which reads: ALI bills for raising
the revenue shall originate in the House
of Representatives, but the Senate may
propose or concur with the amendments
as in other bills. After discussing
1 the scope of the word amendment
1 the Committee call attention to the
/ fact that the language Of the eOnstitu-
ton is not that all bills affecting the
revenue shall originate in the House,
! but that all bills for raising revenue
shall 50 originate, and then proceed to
discuss the question, "What is a bill for
raising revenue2r taking the ground
that q bill for raising EsveHue may be a
bill 10 increase or diminish existing
rates. This view is sustained by refer
ence 10 the constitutional provision that
Congress shall have power to raise and
support armies, and the parliamentary
expression that the committee was
raised for certain purposes, etc. In these
instances il is evident that raising is
not used in the sense of increasing, un-
der the constitutional provision empow-
ering Congress to raise armies. 1t may
diminish as well as increase an army.
To raise an army is to establish
or create an army. So bill for raising
revenue may be bill to increase or di-
minish existing rates. Suppose, says
| the report, that an existing law lays a
I duty of fifty per cent. on iron; bill re-
pealing such law and providing that after
a certain day the duty on iron shall be
only forty per cent. is still bill for raising
revenue, because that is the end in con-
! temptation. Less revenue will be
raised than under the former law,
! still it is intended to raise revenue,
and such bill could not con-
stitutionally originate in the Senate
nor could such provisions be engrafted
by way of amendment in the Senate,
on any House bill which did not provide
for raising, that is collecting, revenue
their report then shows that the House
bill totally abolishing the duties on tea
and coffee, cannot be termed or con
sidered bill for raising revenue.
After further argument on the pOini
that the Senate is not prohibited from
originating bills that merely affect the
revenue, but only bills that raise reve
nue., the Committee on Privileges anC
Elections, reporting through Senator
Carpenter, came to the following con
clusion:
Your Committee are therefore Of the
opinion that the House bill under con
1 sideration was not a bill for raising rev.
enue within the meaning Of the COnsti
tuition, and therefore, while the Senate
might have amended it so as to abolish
the duties altogether on other articles
the Senate hRd no right to engraf
on, it as it did in substance
an amendment providing chat ths
revenue should be collected on othel
articles, though at less rate than pre-
viously fixed by law; that the amend
4 ment would have to become provision
in the act for raising the revenue, be
cause the revenue, at a certain rate
would have been collected by the opera
ton of the act. 1t is due, however, t.
the Senate TO say that its departure
from the true principle in this case wa
owing to a desire to conform to thu
views of the House of Representatives
as expressed by the House in relation t.
the Senate bill abolishing the tax Of
incomes, and thus to preserve harmon!
between the two Houses; but since tn,
House of Representatives, In eNaltint
its prerogative asserts on one occasion
what it denies on another ii has becom
necessary to review in the light Of tn,
LpHnciple and seek for a solution O
the difficulty in conformity with tn
- --+ion, to which il is hope
cOnstILu. ~ and to which II is tn
House viii assel.., ~Ahere, whethe
duty of the Senate to L.. You
the House shall assent or dissent.
committee recommend that the Senate
adopt the following resolution:
! ReSOlUed, That the Secretary of the
Senate he and he is hereby directed tC
deliver a copy of this report to the
! House of Representatives
The deficiency bill was then taken up.
The pending question being on Sena-
tor Bayard's motion TO lay ON the table
the amendment of Senator Morrill,
! Vermont, restricting the Jurisdiction
of the Court of Claims in suits for the
value of captured and abandoned prop
erty, to cases commenced within two
years after the suppression of the rebel
! lion, and in which the claimants prove
that they never gave aid or comfort to
the rebellion, the vote was, yeas 25, nays
| %. The Nice-President voted in the
negative, 50 the motion was lost.
The question was then recurred on the
amendment, and Senator Hill spoke
against it at length.
] ldNOICu IL.
Senator Sherman said that if Congress
had limitation for the jurisdiction of
the Court of Claims, to the claims
brought by loyal men, or could not so
| limit, he was in favor of abOlishing the
court.
Senator Alcorn moved the following
amendment to the pending amendment:
Provided, That the provisions of this
/ -, IL
property seized or taken by military
| forces, or any officer of the same, or
seized, taken or impressed by any agent
or agents of the United States govern
ment at any time after the prOclama-
ton by the President declaring war to
have ceased; but claims for property so
seized or taken may be prosecuted be-
/ fore the Court of Claims by any citizen
of the United States, at any time within
twelve months from approval Of this
act.
Senators Howe and Sherman said that
in cases described in this amendment
nobody, whether loyal or disloyal ante
cedents, could have remedy of this Court
| of Claims,
Senator Alcorn advocated his amend
ment.
The Senate went into executive ses-
sion and soon adjourned.
IN THE HOUSE.
A report from the Committee on
| Printing, recommending the publication
of ten thousand five hundred copies of
the American case presented to the
| Geneva arbitrators, produced consider
| able stir in the HOllse Brooks Cox and
others asking questions and making sug-
gestions. Mr.. Cox wanted the printing
to include the counter case and all the
correspondence. Some members sug-
gested that that would cost one hundred
thousand dollars, and Mr.. Cox asked
what was the use, when the govern