Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-17
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
 The Labor Congress-Probiems in Reor. gantzfmg the Senate-Mahone and Rid. dleberger Agreeab1e to the eCaucus--The Selection ofthe Houss Committees.
 1 WASHINGTON, Dec. 16.-The reorganiza- 1 tion of the Senate is still the prominent topic
 of conversation. Messrs. Malone and Rid
 dleberger are said to be angry on account oi
 the defeat of their candidate, George c. Cor
 ham, for the sscretaryship. It was reported
 that they would cause some trouble in open session, but later advices are to the eff ect
 that they will pocket their grievances and al-
 low the reorganization to proceed according
 to the caucus agreement. The Democrats
 will offer no opposition. Messrs. Bayard'
 Beck, Cockrsll, Vest and others recognize the right of the Republicans to fix the offices to suit themselves. They think it would be not
 only discourteous but improper to interfere and the outlook is that the organization will
 be effected in quiet way, especially as the two readjusters have tacitly agreed to let the Republicans consummate the action of the caucus. A new president pro tenn. will be elected to morrow. The desire is still to con- fer the honor upon Senator Anthony. It is understood, however, that he will decline the office after complimentary vote and that either Senator Ingalls, or John Sherman will then be rendered the position. Since the session opened MT. Edmunds has invariably chosen MT. Ingalls, ss his substitute. This leads many to believe that the Kansas Sena- tor will finally be selected as president pro tam Tiitfla nr m bae xDill ha lad by the Senate until after the reorganization and the adoption of the rules. Should the proposed revision of the rules lead to pro- tracted or partisan discussion it is believed the majority will consent to notifications. Senator Sherman declared on Thursday that he was opposed to any change which may lead to debate on the purely party lines. The consideration of the new rules, however, will probably consume the whole of the week.
 The indications are that the House will re- peat it's policy of last week and do as little as possible. Tomorrow being bill day mem bers may be permitted the innocent recrea- tion of entroducing bills. As they can be presented only for reference and without de- bate no harm can be done beyond inficting he cost of printing them upon the public treasury. It is probable the House may re- fuse even an opportunity to introduce bills and adjourn immediately after assembling out of respect to the memory of the late Mir. Haskell, of Kansas. Among the bills intro dueed in the House last week was one for the relief of the heirs of R. W. Meade, the father of the late General George A. Meade and Commodore R. w Meade. This claim was first presented to Congress by R. W. Meade himself in the Sixteenth Congress in 1790 and with three exceptions has been in every Congress since. R. V. Meade died in about 1798, from which time the claim has been consistently present. ed by his heirs. Quite number of kindred bills growing out of the revolution and the war of 1872 also appear, and several growing oat of the acquisition of Louisiana and Flori- da made their annual appearance. There are large class of claims growing out of the late war which have reached a respectable age and unless some change in the law is made they will be regarded by posterity with the same veneration now held for the old claims of the earlier wars. An adjournment will likely bo had until Wednesday or Thursday; at which time it is expected the committees will be aR- nounced. It is apparent that nothing in the way of legislation will be done in the House until after the holiday recess. Mem bers of the House are very reticent, ,and pru- dently so, respecting the make up of the committees There is evidence that the Speaker has talked with number of mem bers on the subject and that hs is using ef- forts to place the gentlemen to the best ad- vantage. It has been rumored that General Rosecrans has refused the chairmanship of Military Affairs, but the story is denied. Various rumors have been circulated as to the chairmanship of the Appropriations, but the indications are that Mir. Ran dall will head the list on that committee with Mir. Holman second and MT. Townshend third and fourth. It seems probable that Mr. Blackburn will not be tide down to the work of the Committee on Appropriations during this Congress, but will be given an important place elsewhere. Quite struggle is being made for the Committee on Naval Affairs between Messrs. Hewitt and Morse. This matter and also that of the chairman ship of Foreign Affairs, to which both Rep ressntatives Cox and Belmont aspire, are still being considered by the Speaker and un- til the committees are announced 1t Is not likely that it will be settled which of the four gentlemen have been selected for these impor- tant committees. Statements have been made which naturally found their way into the pa- pers that the candidacy of Messrs. Cox and Belmont of New York had resulted in a great deal of bad feeling in the New York delega ton and that the gentlemen in question were very bitter toward each other. In fact no bad feeling exists at all. A member Of the delegation said to-day MT. Cox and Belmont, as is well known, ,are candidates for chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and. .one of them will certainly have it, which one Speaker Carlisle can alone tell, and it is not probable that he has decided yet. There is no bad feeling either between the principals or the members of the delegation and the selection of either will be entirely satisfacto- ry. The controversy seems to have nar- rowed down to the question whether it is policy or not to push forward the younger representatives of the party to the exclusion of the older members. Both gentlemen are sangaine Of success.