Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-07-03
CONGRESSIONAL


SENATE
In the senate June %, the HawIey motion
was then taken up, to reconsider the vote bl
which the senate passed the bill prohibitiuI
members of congress from acting as aUtOr
ueys OF land grant railroads. ALE. Beck re
sumed the floor and continued his remark
against reconsideration. He denied that hl
had intended to iuiure anybody by the in
PRODUCTION of the bill. If the senate SHOULD
agree TO the motion to reconsider. tina
would be the last of the bill. Beck real
4iltchelIs amendment, proposing to forbid
members of congress from doing law bust
ness Tor men who were managers of banks
or inspectors OF foreign goods, OF who man,
. u1actur6d or would manufacture butter
oleOmargarine, tobacco or whisky. THAI
Is taking @ lick at creation, ~ exclaimed Mr..
Beck. lie deprecated that sort of amend
ment. -hs motion to reconsider having
been brought to a vote, was agreed to
I yeas 81 nays, 81. The only republican
. voting IN the negative was Van Wyck
l A number of veto messages received from
Z the president were read and laid on the
{ table, Mr.. Logan remarking as to one OF
/ them that he had never before known such
] a construction as that a soldier on Through
] was not IN the line of duty. Mr.. Blair said
] Ll5 president seemed TO LuQ it q Ongeuiai
\ duty to express himself IN the most extra
/ ordinary terms respecting the two houses of
] congress MIR. Blair defended congress from
/ the criticisms made by the presidents state
/ menIs were entire NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the
I his own assertion. He charged that the
/ pension Office was organized to reject claims
/ whenever that could be done. 1T had come
l to be court of chaucery. Some of
| the statements made about the the action
] Of congress regarding pensions were
/ petty, trltIng and contemplate. -
/ The bill to repeal the presumption and tim
/ Der culture laws was then placed before the
I senate and was debated till adjournment.
| In the course of some remarks on the bill
/ Mr.. Plumb said that if there was not some
change IN the methods of management of
| the general land Otice the litigation that
would ensue would Outlast the life OF every
man who heard him and exhaust the entire
value of the lands. The malicious, interest
ed and careless investigations of special
agents, invested with absolute power, would
ruin thousands and tens of thousands of
persons who had never thought of wrOnging
the government. 1t was agreed that at 3
O'Clock tomorrow vote should be taken on
the bill.
In the senate June a, the bill repeating
the pre- eLnptlOn and timber culture law was
cd the senate on the bill. In the course OF
his remarks he denounced the frauds com
mitted on public lands. Mr.. Mitchell
thought the department had been mistaken
ia many cases as to WhatWas called frauds
Mr.. Plumb cited figures to show the enOr-
nous transactions IN public lands IN 1884.
There were Sc, 945 entries under the home
stead law embracing nearly 100000 acres.
j nc lEG6 4DE 1000 were nearly the same
In TINS enormous aggregate OF entries there
had no doubt been some frauds, meaning
thereby a failure to make a strict technical
compliance with the regulations made by
recent order Of the land department,
suspending execution of the prs-emptiOn
and timber culture laws Mr.. Plumb
remarked that whatever purpose there was
in that order, it was the purpose of the land
department, and not OF the secretary of the
interior With regard to the absorption of
the public lands IN the south, Mr.. Plumb
inquired why the land department should
single ont the poor settler In the Wiids of
Dakota while ignoring the organizations
that are absorbing the public lands IN the
southern states. 1T seemed sIuGuIaE Ec him
that an officer of the governments should be
so seriously affected by what Mir. Plumb
could only deuOminate a political, geo
graphical and isOthermal strabysmus.' -
Mr.. George said the absorption referred to
IN the south, so far at least as Mississippi
was concerned, was not in violation of law,
but in pursuance of law. Mr.. Stanford
stated that the provisions of the bill as
amended IN the senate, would absolutely
prevent the reclamation of desert lands.
There were enormous quantities of such
lands, he said, not worth a penny an acre,
and they could only be reclaimed by the eX-
pendlture OF large sums OF money. In or
der to make reclamation possible, he moved
to restore certain words already struck out
by the senate. MIR. Plumb feared the amend
ment might lead to fraud and opposed it.
Mr.. StaufOrd's motion was rejected, and
the bill then came to vote and was passe d
yeas, 81; nays, 20 The Fit John Porter
bill was then laid before the senate. Mr..
SeWel said it was the same bill that had
passed before There was nothing to
be said now that would throw any new light
on its subject matter. A mere statement of
facts would be sufficient. Mr.. SsWeli then
recited the salient facts in the military his
tory OF General Porter and had the clerk
read a number Of resolutions of Grand Army
FHEa ma sol of
people, he continued, had finally come to
see that instead of being a criminal General
Porter was a martyr. "H8 comes now be-
fore you, trust, for the last time to ask for
Justice. The time has gone by to ask that
favor may be granted to this man that has
been WrOnged. i, who have known him as
citizen OF my state and as a man who
lives in the forefront of many a fight, now
demand Justice Of the senate of the United
States for this man who has been so grossly
WrOnged." MIR. Logan obtained the floor to
reply to MIR. Sewell, and after an executive
session the senate adjourned.
In the senate on June 18th, the Fitz John
Porter bill came up for consideration. Sen
atOr Logan arose and delivered an extensive
speech against the passage of the bill. Mr..
Plumb also opposed it. An amendment was
made to include Gen. Alfred PIeasant0n in
this bill and have his name placed on the
retired list. Voted down. Mr.. Logan offer
ed an amendment to place on the retired
list every volunteer officer who received
wounds producing total disability
Rejected Yeas, Is nays %.
Mr.. Logan offered an amendment provid-
ing places on the retired list for the union
officers who lost an arm, leg or an eye at the
battle Of Bull kun. Rejected. The bill
was then brought to a vote and pBssed-yeas
50, nays II as follows: Yeas-Msssrs. Beck,
Berry, Blackburn, Brown Butler, Call,
Cameron, COckrel, Coke, COlquitt, George,
Gibson, German, Gray, HOar, Jones, of
Nevada; MCPHERSON, MaZey Mitchell, of
Oregon; Pugh, Ransom Ridd'ebergeE,
SeWell5 Dance, Vest, Voorhees, 81 altlaIl,
WhitthOrns and Wilson of MaFyland-3O,
kays-A1essrs. AlEich, Allison, Conger, CUl-
lOm, EVarts, Frye, Hale Harrison, HaWley,
Ingalls, Logan Henderson Palmer, Saw
yer, SpOOner, Teller and Wilson of IOWa-17.
A number of pairs were announced. Mr..
Plumb was paired with Mr.. Morgan. The
Dill having already passed the house and
not having been amended by the senate, now
goes to the president for his signature. MIR.
Plumb called up the house bill to provide
or the adjustment OF land grants made by
congress to aid IN the construction of rail-
roads within the state OF Kansas, and for
the forfeiture of uneaEnsd lands. The sen
ate adjourned until Monday.
In the senate on June 9th, the committee
on appropriations, reported back thelegisla-
tive appropriation bill with amendments and
gave notice that it would move tomorrow
to take 1t up. The Judiciary committee, re-
ported g bill providing for terms of court in
merce, reported brck the river and harbOr
bill, with amendments. Mr.. Allison, in the
absence Of mir. Logan submitted the con
ference report on the pension appropriation
BILL the house receding from its disagree
ments. The report was agreed to.
Mr.. Teller introduced a bill authorizing the
president to appoint and retire Alfred
FleasautOn as major general. Referred
Mr.. Edmunds called up the bill granting q
pension of 500 psrmOnth to Emily j. stan
ard widow OF General 5tauard5 of Vermont.