Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-01-23
FORTYTHIRD CONGRESS,
FRIDAY, January 3.

McGregOr, Lansing, and other cities of Iowa,
asking the authority of Congress for all rail.
roads to cross the railroad bridge over the Mis-
siss, ppi at Clinton, Iowa Referred to Commit
tee on Commerce.
Mr.. Conkling presented a memorial of tha
New York Chamber of Commerce, asking
change in system of moieties.
Mr.. Spencer presented memorial OF Mobile
Chamber of Commerce, asking an appropriation
tor the i'm provement of Mobile bay and harbOT
Referred to Committee on Commerce.
Mr.. Upton, from the Committee on Public
Lands. reported bill to confirm the titles to
| certain lands purchased on the Fort KeaTUey
military reservation; which was passed.
MIR. sherman, from Committee on Finance,
reported bill, with amendments. providing fOl
| the payment of the bonds of the Louisville and
Portland canal.
| COMPLAINT AGAINST THR DISTRICT GOVERN
MEST.
Mr.. Thurman presented a memorial
| signed by several citizens of the District
OF Columbia, complaining of grave cases
| OF NAL administration in the District gov
| eminent, and asking the appointment OF
| a joint select committee TO investigate the
| conduct of the District government, and par
| tcularly the operations of the Board of Public
| Works from the beginning. He (Mr. T.
would net now move for the appointment ef a
| select committee, but wait until the charges
were sustained by the testimony which he un-
| deTstood would soon be produced. He moved
| that the memorial be printed.
MIR. COnkling thought this would he unneces
sary, as the memorial would be printed in all
the papers.
Mi Salisbury thought the memorial should
what these charges were, particularly they
were constantly called upon to vote large ap-
propriations for the District He moved 10
print the memorial.
| Mr.. Sherman objected to printing any memo
rial containing charges not supported by testi-
mony.
| The motion to print was referred 10 the Com
mittee on Printing.
| The bill TO authorize the Secretary of War to
deliver TO the authorities of the state of Rhode
| Island gun, marked battery b, First Rhode
Island Light Artillery, Gettysburg, to be placed
| among the archives of that state, was passed.
Mr.. Edmunds introduced bill to change the
| name of the registered steamer Cakes Ames TO
Champagne. Referred to Committee on Com
merce.
asceTtaning and settling private land claims in
Gel tain states and territories. Referred to Com
mittee on Private Land Claims.
MIR. Wright, from Committee on Civil Service
and Retrenchment, reported the House bill to
| abolish the office of deputy commissioner OF in
teTnal revenue.
Mr.. Frelinghuysen remarked that there was
| great inconvenience arising from the sending
| OF documents to public institutions, colleges
| and state libraries, and he had bill providing
| for dist ensiDg with the payment of postage in
| such cases, and TO reduce the postage in such
cases to % cents volume, and ii not called for
| the volumes to be sold 10 pay the postage. Mr.
| +. then formally introduced his bill and II was
| referred 10 the Committee on Post Offices.
TIE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
| Mr.. Spencer called up bill for the protection
| OF the public works at the mouth of the Ms
| sissippi, and to facilitate the execution OF the
/ same.
Mr.. Thurman objected TO the power conferred
| by the bill on the Secretary of the War To
| control absolutely the mouth of the Mississippi
| Mr.. Window said there was never a more out
r8geous monopoly than that OF the tOw-boat
company which controlled the navigation OF the
| Southwest Pass, and related instances to show
| that the whole commerce passing through was
in its power, and also instances where it had
| deliberately inter1ered with the operations OF
| the government engineers in deepening and re-
moving distractions from the channel.
| ma sd hau rarll, aFa s,,r str,,t
est regulations on this subject, as Congress had
| clearly the right to prescribe them. Ii was
| proper for Congress to pass laws on this sub
ject, but he de MED that il had the power TO del
| egate such authority to the Secretary of War or
TO any one else.
| Mr.. Carpenter said he was in New Orleans
last summer, and knew that everything sail by
| the Senator from Minnesota (WisdOm) was
| true, and that some remedy should be devised
| to protect this important avenue of commerce
Congress could regulate it, but it could not
| delegate its authority in this particular. The
| bill he considered to be clearly unconstitu-
| tonal.
Mr.. Conkling held that Congress could not
confer the power conveyed in this bill, and said
that If he had been present when it was consid-
cred in the Committee of Commerce, he would
have dissented from the report.
MIR. Morton and Mr.. Sherman indicated that
| they would favor the bill.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| O'Brien md presented the memorial OF Harry
G. Tyson, one Of the heirs of Seth Russell and of
otner mtrcnhnts OF Baltimore, praying the pas
sage OF 6Il to pay the French spoliation
Under the call in the morning hour a number
OF private bills were prese nted, but as each con-
tanned an appropriation they were referred to
the Committee of the Whole on the private
| calender.
The House then resumed consideration of
THE WEST VIRGINIA CONTESTED ELECTION
CASES,
and speeches were made by Mr. Lawrence (OhiO)
in favor of the validity of the August election;
| Of hp ms
report based on the facts before Ii. but he does
not thiuk the cases are fully developed, and
thinks they should be recOmmitted; and BY Mr.
Hyde MO- in favor of the report OF the ma
| jority, holding the August election not to have
election was invalid.
| Pending discussion the hour of two O'Clock
arrived, and the Speaker announced that the
Committee on the District of Columbia was
entitled to the floor.
Mr.. Pelham (Ala) reported bill TO provide
| for the better education of the blind in the
District of Columbia.
| Mr.. Kasson (Iowa) made the point OF order
| that the bill made an appropriation and must
GO to the Committee of the Whole.
Mr.. Pelham said it did not make an appro-
priation. 1t simply reenacted an old appropria-
| ton. 1t merely changed an appropriation
vived.
| The Speaker decided that it was not amen
able to the objection that it contained an ap-
| preparation, because it simply provided for the
| disposition of monies already appropriated
After further discussion, however, it was de-
cided that the bill should be sent to the Com
The Farmers Movement.
MEETING OF THE WISCONSIN STATE GRANGE.
The state grange of Wisconsin convened al
GAINESVILLE this week with attendance of
about 300 members. The secretary's report
shows that 500 oranges were reported organized