Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-01-09

harbors should be regarded as in the line OF
| Improvement, SO that the committee on appro-
| priations might recommend annual appropria-
| tiOns for them.
! Mr.. Hooker was glad that the committee On
| rules had been SO very nearly unanimous in the
views which it had entertained with regard to
the necessity of change of rules. The rules
as they stood seemed to be designed as an i'm
pediment in the way of legislation. The COM
mittee had, however, not adopted certain
| suggestions which had been submitted last ses-
| sion. He had proposed that the rules should
| be so changed as to take away from the COM
mittee on appropriations the duty of reporting
any general appropriation bill except the legis-
| latiye, sundry civil and deficiency bills, and
| imposing that duty on the committee to which
it more properly belonged instead of distrib-
uting the powers of the House. However, the
committee on rules had deprived the committee
on commerce of the right to report the river
and harbor bill for action. There was
no argument offered in support of that charge
except the graphic figure of the gentleman
from Ohio, Garfield, who said that tho two
great committees of ways ind means and ap-
preparations should stand back to back, the
one fronting the people and the other the
heads of the government departments. 30 far
from that being the functions of those two
COMMITTEES he had been tere long enough to
see that the committee of ways and means had
been dwarfed in it's importance, as every other
committee had been varied by the committee
on appropriations. If the committee on sppro-
priations was to stand behind the committee
ON ways and means and dictate the mode in
which taxation should be imposed, the House
might as we'll dispense with the latter COM
mittee entirely.
MIR. Randall said that he felt it incumbent
upon him to affirm there had been on the part
Of the committee on rules no Intention to
,br he of mittaa Of the
House or to say word even by inference der
ogatory to any committee. He denied that the
committee on commerce was degraded. On
the contrary, the committee on rules had af-
firmed the wish of the House, in giving the
committee on commerce the preparation of
river and harbor bills. The House was not de-
prived of the power of suspending that very
rule and passing the bill. The committee on
rules had confined itself to an admonition that
the time had come when appropriations Tor riv-
ers and harbors should have full consideration
and shouldn't be as excessive as they some
times were. He argued from figures prepared
by officials of the house to show that during
the ten ears that the river and harbor bill had
been separated from other appropriation bills
it had been gradually growing in the extent of
its appropriations. These figures showed con-
slant increase from year to year until from
80, 1000, 900 they had been run up to $4,000, coo.
He produced these figures in order to warn the
Heuse against the proposition looking to a
division Of the duties Of the appropriation
committee.
Mr. Barber asked whether it wasn't better to
have the committee on appropriations notify
the committee on commerce early in the ses-
sion of the amount that could be devoted to
the improvement of rivers and harbors.
Mr. Randall thought it might be we'll SO to
amend the rule, but if all the great appropria-
lions were to be assigned to committees having
those special subjects in charge, and if there
were to be so many heads, where there should
be only one head, path Of extravaganza
would be entered on that would end in the
bankruptcy of the treasury. He disclaimed on
the part of the committee rules any inten-
ton of charging or abridging the jurisdiction
of any committee of the House. He admitted,
at the suggestion of Mr.. Reagan, that one rea-
son for the increase of river and harbor apprO-
priations had been the restoration of the South
ern States, but he still maintained that the
amount of appropriations for such purpose,
without discussion In the House, was greater
than it should be. He Thought that if the
amount was limited to 100000 year that
would be acceptable to the people.
The discussion was continued at some length
by Randall, O'Neill, Cox, Stevenson and Cal
kins, when the committee rose without action.
The speaker laid before the House message
from the President recommending the passage
of bill for the reclamation of the harbors of
Washington and Georgetown. Referred. Ad-
iourned.