Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-03-20

contractors.
Hook further along on the later
calendar of business and / find i,
crowded with bills of the same kind
have been to the document room
aud have found the bills which rep.
resent the projects which are threat
cning US like an avalanche, and which
whenever they come up here. these
Southern gentlemen who are talking
about economy and about their sym.
pathy with the tax payers and abou,
savings depleted Treasury, are found
voting en- masse for, without regard
to their extent or amount.
Here is a brief list which I have
made of some of the claims that are
bound to come before this Congress
which is to-day attempting to take of
of the Consular service the petty sum
of SIS, 400; not more than that, but di.
vided around in differint places so as
seriously to affect the best officers in
it.
Here are some of the schemes COW
cred by these bills: Here is one for
the Texas Pacific Railroad. When
that comes up l do not know how
how the gentleman from Mississippi
will vote. do not believe his peo-
pie will let him vote against it. But
certainly it will receive a very large
support from Southern gentlemen
| who are sustaining him in his efforts
at economy. And the Texas Pacific
Railroad represents $6O,OO0,O0O to be
assumed by the government. Where
is the tax payer regarded in this
Then there is the Mississippi levee
bill, representing broad, expansive
project, not only of hemming in and
combining the waters of the Mississip.
pi, but of retaining untold quanti-
ties of land that will ultimately be
made valuable to private and public
owners. 1t will take $25,OOO,OOO to
cover the whole project of the Missis-
sippi levees. My friend from Miseis-
sippi, (Mr. Singleton will not vote
against the bill for the Mississippi
levees when it comes up. Scores of
gentlemen on that side of the House,
almost all those from his region of
the country who are crying economy
on appropriation bills, will vote for
that project when it comes up, and If
it is killed at all it will be by the al
most solid vote of this side of the
House. Twenty-Five millions of dol
lars more to go to the credit of dem
ccratic economy.
l find upon the files in the docu-
ment room, a little bill introduced
by Mr.. Gibson, Of Louisiana, provid-
ing for the preliminary work on the
Mississippi, for stopping the crevass-
es and preventing the overflow, pro-
viding for $75, 900 for surveying the
river in advance almost as much as
is attempted to be saved upon this
bill. And then there is an appropri-
alton Of $2,500,0OO to carry out the
work. There is not a southern gen.
tlemsn on that side of the House,
however much he may vex us with
his cry for frugality, who will not,
when the bill comes up, vote for TAX
ing $2,50O,0OO from tho already bur-
dened and staggering treasury for
this purpose.
! find, also, that bills have been in
troduced by Mr.. Robertson and Mr..
Shelley, providing tor the refunding
of the cotton tax an old tax collect
ed by the government years ago and
gone into the limbo of the past. That
involves the taking Of $6OOOO,OOO
from the treasury to be returned Ell
Their to private citizens, or as one of
the bills provides, if the claimants do
not appear themselves, then the
amount is to escheat to the states
where they live. And all those states
are in the south and the money will
60 there. How many men from that
section, when that cotton tax bill is
before the House, will upon roll call,
whatever may be their belief in the
matter of economy, feel themselves
justified in voting against it? 1t
must be defeated, If at all, from this
side of the House. / credit dem
ocratic economy with 100000, coo
more.
Then l find that there is bill pro-
viding for the reopening of the old
cotton seizure claims, where only one
seventh or one-eighth pay of the fund
that belongs to the Government was
paid to legal claimants and all the
rest was rejected and was long ago
barred. But i find that this outlaw
ed claim, which Republicans are
willing should sleep the sleep of ages
in the Treasury Department, lie not
allowed to sleep by gentlemen on the
other side in sympathy with the
member who is conducting this bill,
but bill has been introduced here
reopening those claims, and declar-
ing that they shall be paid uuder GER
tain rules and regulations prescrib-
ed, and pass to the credit of Demo-
cratic economy upon this scheme ST.
OOOO 600 more. find that there are
upon the record more than four hun.
dred private bills involving sums
ranging from 500 to $4,000, covering
these classes of claims, aggregating
millions of dollars, and some Of them
have been already reported. do
not need to say again that when they
come up they will be voted for almost
solidly upon the other side Of the
House and voted against almost or
quite solidly on this side.
But, Mr.. Chairman, the bills do not
stop here they do not stop with APP
preparations Of money in bills that
nave been introduced and reported
by different committees. The drain
upon the treasury is threatening in .
subtler and more dangerous way. l
have hunted up. out of some dozens,
half a dozen different bills covering
Legislation, which will open the flood
gates to that river of Southern claims
which threatens to drown the Treas
ury. These projects are not pigments
of my Imagination; they are bills in
troduced and referred; ! have al
ready given list of several that have
already been reported to the House.
Here is one introduced by the gentle
man from Alabama, Mr.. Shelley to
abolish the Southern elaine Commis-
sion and to enlarge the jurisdiction of
the Court of Claims and for other