The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-03
THE TIDAL-wAvE CONGRESS.
A Complete Record of the Business Trans
acted in Four Months.

Special to tho indianapolis journal.
WASHINGTON, April 2.-In the fall of 1882
there was throughout the whole country a dispo-
sition upon the part of the people to try the
effect of a Democratic House of Representatives
once more, and in spite of the fact that when the
experiment was tried few years ago the outcome
was not reassuring. At the closing of the polls
that memorable day in November 1882, it was
known that the people had elected Democratic
House by such majority as to assure reform"
! if reform should be the order of the day. Dur
ing the first session of the Forty-seventh Con
gress, in which the Republican party had slight
working majority, there was a disposition, fire.
! quently shown, the part of the press, to
blame the inactivity of the members of the
lower house, and the legend, adjourn and go
home,' was printed at the head of
the editorial columns of hundreds of
Democratic reform papers from the time Con
gress assembled, after the holiday vacation,
til the day of final adjournment came, in
August Last December the Forty eighth Con
gress met for the first time, and elected
Speaker pledged to reform. Promises were made
| that the work of the session should
| be well under way before the ides of March
The principal appropriation bills were to have
been reported in January, and the work of the
House so thoroughly in hand that an adjourn
ment could be had long before the hot weather
set in. The programme. in fact, was so nicely
laid out that it seemed decidedly unlikely that
the Republican party would ever again obtain
control of the lower house. or that it would sue
ceed in electing its President this fall
How well this Congress has fulfilled its prom
ises of reform in the manner of doing business is
shown by the following statement of the work
actually performed thus far this winter-blls and
resolutions introduced and acts passed and ap-
proved Up to date there have been introduced in
the House 6295 bills and PA resolutions; in the
Senate 1868 bills and seventy-nine resolutions,
a total of S,551 or within about 2 900 of the en-
tire number introduced during both sessions of
the Forty seventh Congress. In this respect the
present Congress leads all competitors. At the
present writing l62 bills and joint resolutions have
passed the Senate, and exactly the same num-
ber have attached to them the signature of
the Clerk of the House, showing that that num-
Der had been favorably acted upon by the popu-
lar branch. About So per cent. of these are
private, either pension claims, patent or relief
bills of some sort. But it must not be supposed
or that even half that number only await the
signature of the President to be entitled to
place in the statute books of the land. On the
contrary, exactly thirty-three in all, acts have
received the approval of the President after
having passed both houses. These are divided
into the following classes:
Public acts, 13; public resolutions, 10; private
acts, 2; private resolutions, g. The thirteen pub
lie acts are:
No. Ito fix a time for holding the District
Court in the district of Maine at Bangor
No 2.-Making an appropriation for continu-
ing the improvement of the Mississippi river.
No $40 authorize the increase of the capital
stock of the First National Bank of Fort Worth,
Texas.
No 4-Providing for the removal of the re-
mains of Majorgeneral E. 0. C. Ord, United
States army, from Cuba to Washington.
No 5-Making an appropriation to pay the to-
bacco tax rebate and to provide for the expenses
of the Legislature of New Mexico.
No 6-TO change the name of the National
Lafayette Bank of Commerce to that of the Ma
tional Bank of Lafayette
No TO fix the time of holding the Circuit
and District Courts of the United States in the
Northern district of Iowa
No shaking all public roads and highways
post-routes.
No. 9-To complete statue of the late Rear
admiral Samuel F. DUPONT, United States
navy
No 1O-Making an appropriation to supply the
deficiency in expenditures for the survey of the
South pass, Mississippi river.
No Ito establish standard of time in the
District of Columbia.
No 12-To change the name of a national
bank in Nebraska
No. l3-To change the name of a national
bank in Maine.
The private acts are:
No. Ito remove the political disabilities of
S. H. Lockett, of Alabama
No. 2-For the relief of Louisa Boldly.
No. 3-For the relief of the devisees of the late
Daniel Carroll. "a District of Columbia case)
Public resolution No l, extends the time fixed
for the joint committee appointed to consider
the difference in salaries of House and Senate
employees, to fix their report
No. 2-Authorizing the payment of salaries of
employees of the two houses Dec. y, Ito give
them a chance for Christmas festivities
No. 3-Relating to the surrender by George
Washington of his commission.
No. 4-Authorizing the Secretary of the In
terror to detail two clerks from his department
to assist certain House committees.
No. 5-Authorizing the Secretary of War to
receive two young men from Central America
for instruction at West Point
No. 6-To correct an error in the enrolment
of bill of the last Congress
No. Fixing time when the pay of certain
House employees shall begin.
No. S-Appropriating 800, 900 for the relief of
certain destitute Indians.
No. 9-Authorizing the Secretary of War to
issue rations to the sufferers by the Ohio river
overflow
No. lO-Making an appropriation to fit out the
Greedy relief expedition
No. 11-Authorizing the printing of $500
copies of the report of the health officer of the
District of Columbia
No. l2-Making further appropriations for the
relief of the Ohio flood sufferers.
No. 13-Authorizing the expenditure of money
for Indian educational purposes.
No. 14-Fillng the vacancy in the board of
regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
No 15-For the printing of eulogies on Hon
Dudley C. Haskill.
The private resolutions provide for the relief
of E. H. and II. w. Walker, and for yhe relief of
Frank Gait.
The above is an official transcript of the work
actually performed by the Forty eighth Con
press brought in on the great tidal waye of 1850