Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-01-07
CONGRESSIONAL.
Sen ATE,

SENATE,
WASHINGTON, January 6-Presi-
dent pro. tenn. Davis, few minutes
after the assembling Of the Senate,
vacated the chair for the day to
Senator Garland.
A number Of resolutions were IN,
troduced and referred; among them
was the following, by Senator MaXey:
Instructing the Secretary of the
Interior to furnish a report Of any
of the survey of the United States
and the Texas boundary commission,
made under the act of June 5th,
1858. II no final report of said COM
mission was made he will re-
port that fact, together with
with maps Of surveys and report of
work, SO far as it was prosecuted.
He explained that The purpose of the
act of 1858 was to ascertain the true
northern Texas boundary, that is to
say what is the main Red River line
as laid down on the Mellish map of
January 1st, 1918, by which the
boundary was fixed between the
United States and Mexico under the
treaty of 1928.
The work of the commission showed
nothing definite on the point. Texas
claimed the north bank and the In
terror department the south bank Of
Red RIVER according to Mellish's
map.
A resolution by Senator Jones, OF
Florida, was adopted, calling on the
Secretary of the interior for informs-
ton relating to the selection of swamp
lands in Florida in violation Of law;
whether or not any Investigation OF
the subject has been had under his
question whether any of the State
officers are involved, and have been
notified of the fact, and also whether
upon the facts the whole matter
ought not to be Investigated by Con
gress?
Senator Jones said he had seen it
stated in the public press and in our
papers as If coming from the Secre
tary of the Interior, that the State
officers Of Florida had been connect
ed with a ring which was engaged in
making the selections of land in the
State unlawfully He knew nothing
of the facts, but from bis own knowl
edge of the persons referred to, be~
heved that there was no foundation
for the statement. In justice to
them he would favor an lnvestiga-
ton of the matter.
The resolution was adopted.
Senator Sherman moved to take
up his per cent bond bill.
Senator Mcpherson objected and
gave notice of an amendment, making
the bonds redeemable after January
l, 1891, instead of payable after
January 1, 1887, aud extend the time
of payment to thirty years from date
of issue.
Senator Plumb gave notice of an
amendment Quoting the use Of all
the funds now held in the Treasury,
for the redemption Of United States
notes in excess Of S10O,000,00O for
the redemption of 81 per cent.
Senator Hoar, obtaining leave to
make a statement, had read a news
paper cutting which he had received
In letter of a correspondent. 1t
asserted that as chairman of the
Senate committee on claims, Senator
Hoar was sending out letters to the
representatives OF the Southern
claims, which had been presented to
Congress, stating that the Republi-
cans IN Congress are not opposed to
the payment of the Southern claims,
but, on the contrary, favor their pay
ment where the claims are just; that
he invited the sending on OF
the proofs, and that his course
was an ususual one for even
conservative Republicans. He said he
had not thus far in his political life
felt compelled to contradict or e1
plain any ridiculous statement III re-
gard to himself, but he had received
so many letters from interested par
ties concerning these claims, he
would now say he was not chairman
of the committee on claims that he
had written no letter to warrant any
such statement, and SO far as he
knew, had written none on any sub
ject. It was possible that in re-
ply to correspondence, he had
stated that claims from any quarter
would receive due consideration by
the proper committee, and that as
the committees were in the habit of
acting on such things judicially, the
claimants had better send them
proofs but he had written nothing
of the kind described in the article.
The calender was then taken up
and occupied the day, the morning
hour being extended for its eonsld
GRAFTON.
Several resolutions, including one
for a woman's suffrage committee,
were passed over because OF the alb