Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-05-20
Forfy.Ihird Congress.

FOrty.Ihird Congress.
In the Senate Wednesday Mr.. Window
presented a preamble and resolution re-
lating to the various cheap transportation
schemes; Mr.. Davis addressed the Senate
on the bill to reimburse citizens OF west
Virginia for losses incurred by reason of
the war: the new Finance bill was then
taken mo: the amendment of the Finance
Committee reported on Tuesday was re-
iected 16 to 81; Mr. Sherman gave notice
session to-day until the bill was disposed
Of
In the House, the Passenger Steamboat
bill was passed; the consideration of the
Deficiency bill was then resumed.
In the Senate Thursday the cOnsidera-
ton of the Finance bill was resumed; the
first vote was taken on Mr.. Wrlght's
amendment offered Wednesday, and it
was agreed to; a motion to lay the bill on
the table was rejected; various other
amendments were offered and voted upon,
and finally the bill was passed.
In the House. the Deficiency bill came
ND for action This bill, one of the most
troublesome of the appropriation bills, had
been heretofore briefly considered in COM
mittee, and very little progress made. 1t
was resumed to-day and rushed through
the House like whirlwind. Very few
amendments were made and they were OF
an unimportant character. One item in
the bill was to pay John w. Wright, an
old Indian agent, who has become rich
from tie advantages he has had. $4,000
for rem of buildings occupied by the gov
eminent. Mr.. Shanks of Indiana, Wright's
state, denounced Wright in the severest
language He said he was public plum
derer-a plunderer by instinct-besides
being a forger, and bestowed upon him
other designations not less complimentary.
He said he did not expect to defeat the
) item, but he wanted the public to know
what sort of a man rented buildings to the
/ Government The item passed, and the
bill also was passed. The Consular and
Diplomatic bill was then taken up.
In the Senate Friday resolution was
adopted calling on the President for the
correspondence relative to the Arkansas
troubles: after the transaction of some
other business the Senate proceeded to the
consideration of reports from the Claims
Committee.
The House did small days work, which,
doubtless, was a good thing for the Treas
Iurv, as it has been what is known as pri-
vate bill day Half Il dozen private bills
were passed, involving a greater or less
expenditure, but they all received ample
consideration, and provoked opposition.
The Senate a long time ago passed a res
olution prohibiting the publication in the
Congressional Record of any speech, or
part of a speech, not uttered in either
House This resolution was reported IA
vorably by the House Committee on Print
ING with an amendment limiting all
Il speeches in either House to one hour
General discussion seemed probable, but
the whole subject was laid on the table
Mr.. Cox was on hand as usual, and tried
to make funny speech. but he did not
rise above his usual efforts.
Mr. Window introduced a bill to estab-
fish a Bureau of Internal Commerce. to be
attached to the Treasury Department. and
Il be under the direction of a Commissioner
of Internal Commerce. who shall be APP
pointed by the President and confirmed by
the Senate. The duties of the bureau shall
be to gather, cOllate, and annually report
to Congress statistics and facts relating to
commerce among the states. and especial
ly to railroads and their charges. manage
ment, &c. The bill provides that it shall
be obligatory on all corporations to make
annual reports to said bureau. giving in
formation in detail on these and cognate
subjects.
Saturday the Senate was not in session.
The House after some unimportant bust
ness, at Il o'clock. went into Committee
of the Whole on the diplomatic and consul
lar appropriation bill. Mr.. Cox addressed
the House on the cost of the diplomatic
system of the government.
Mr.. Orth moved to amend by striking
] all ral1f n late n,
! the bill known Us the consular bill. regu-
/ lating consular service heretofore agreed
upon by the Committee on Foreign Affairs
/ The bill fixes the pay of the most impOr-
Iant Consul-Generalsa rs follows: At Cairo
| $1,000; mt London. Paris. Havana Rio
JaneirO, $1,000 each; at Calcutta and
Snanghae, 5000 each; ut Melbourne
$500; Montreal and Berlin. $1,000 each
at Vienna, Frankfort and Constantinople.
| $4,000 each; at st. Petersburoh, Rome and
Mexico. $4,000 each; ut Liverpool, $500
Consulates are divided into seven classes
The amendment was adopted, and also an
amendment directing the Secretary of
State to determin the maximum amount of
time actually necessary to make the transit
between each diplomatic station Mr.
! Orth stated that this amendment would
save the government $4,000. Mr.. Orth
offered IN amendment appropriating S51,-
800 to repay to-the government of Brazil
money fraudulently claimed by IN Ameri-
can sea captain and paid to the United
! States.
! This involves the reputation of James
/ Watson Webb, who was Minister at Brazil
and wrongfully collected S14,252 of
that government, for bat $1,000 to our gov
eminent. The amendment was agreed to
and the bill passed. The Post Office appro-
priation bill was pissed in Committee of
the whole, and the House then adjourned.
In the Senate Monday the bill to relieve
ships and vessels from compulsory pilot
! fees was discussed and passed. the Legis-
lative Appropriation bill was then taken
up and the amendments of the Senate Com
mittee agreed to, and the bill was laid over
until Tuesday. Tue passage OF the pilot
age bill, if it becomes ii law. will dispense
with the services of some 30 pilots mt He'll
Gate, New Iork. alone. These pilots have
been eXacting fees averaging some $1,000
Il year each, when these services were not
needed. The Senate have agreed to ad-
journ June 22d, and did a large amount o
work to-day preparatory to that consuma-
ton. Nearly - pages of the Legislative
appropriation bill were gone through with.
In the House Il number of bills were in
troduced and referred the currency bill,
with IL Senate substitute Therefor, was re-
ferred to the Banking and Currency Com
mttee, with leave to report at any time :;
an hour was spent in discussing District of
Columbia affairs
I A step was made in the direction of re-
\ storing the Franking Privilege by piece
meal by the adoption of Judge Hoar's mo-
ton to make an amendment to the Post
Office appropriation bill, providing that the
postage on the agricultural report shall
not exceed ten cents per copy. When this
amendment is offered an amendment to it
providing that the report shall 90 free OF
postage will be german, and will undoubt-