Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-08-12
What Congress. pid-rhe Presidents ve.oos.

|
! in the two Houses Il, 202 measures of which
! 1904 were House bills and PA House joint
! resolutions and 2, 1891 bills and eighty-three
joint resolutions of the Senate. The meas
ures proposed for enactment into laws ex-
ceeded in number by 2, $40 those introduced
at the first session of the Forty eighth
congress, which sat for seven months and
four days, or 1865 days of actual working
time. They covered all sorts of subjects
from the payment of q laborer at the
capitol for extra services to the complex
questions of tariff legislation and legisla-
tion with respect to national finances. or
the entire number comparatively few
were Of what may be termed of national
Importance. The greater number were
measures of a private nature or of merely
local Importance, such as relief and PEN
sion bills; bills for the erection of public
buildings; for bridging rivers; for grant
ing right of way to railroads through
military or Indian reservations; for the
removal of political disabilities; for
changing judicial districts; for establish.
ing new land offices; for changing the
name or location, or increasing the capital
lie documents etc.
A very small percentage Of the whole
number of bills introduced, of either a
general or private nature, became laws. A
comparatively small number succeeded in
getting through the committees to which
they were referred and reaching the calen-
dars of their respective Houses; some
secured passage in the House in which
they originated but failed of action in the
other branch, and very large number
still remain unconsidered by the commit
tees to which they were referred
The total number of measures that pass
ed both Houses was 1.101, being 24l Senate
bills and SEQ bills which originated in the
House. OF this total SOC became laws with
the presidents approval, ISL became laws
by limitation. the president failing either
to prove or disapprove them within ten
days after their presentation to him; 113
were vetoed and one failed by reason of
adjournment without action by the presi,
dent OF the new laws TAG
were House measures and 24l
were Senate measures. The
laws that became such by limitation WERE
with two exceptions, private pension and
relief bills. The exceptions were the bill
to authorize the Kansas City, Fort Scott
Il Gulf Railway to construct q railway
through the Indian Territory, and that to
retire Lieut.. Randall.
OF the measures vetoed by the President
thirty-six were Senate bills and seventy
seven bills of the House. Twenty-eight of
the Senate bills vetoed were private pen
sion bills: three were for the erection of
public buildings lat Dayton, G.. Sioux CITY,
Ia, and GAINESVILLE, o. zone was to grant to
railroads the right of way through the
Indian reservation in Northern Montana
one to make Springfield, Mass. a uport OF
delivery; one to provide that the bodies of
paupers, criminals and strangers dying
within the District of Columbia, unclaim
ed within a specified time after death
Ixan l. 49,. a. .x.al II
leges, and one to quiet title to settlers on
the Des Moines River lands, and one TO
provide for the construction of bridge
over Lake Champlain. OF the House bills
disapproved by the President seventy -four
were private pension bills and three
were for the erection of public
buildings The proposed public building:
were for Asheville, n. c., Duluth, MINI.
and Springfield Mo. The number of meas
ures vetoed during the session was four
more than have been vetoed from the
foundation of the government to the be
ginning of the session Just closed. While
nearly all of the vetoed bills of the Senate
were reported back from committees with
the recommendation that they pass not
withstanding the presidents objection
and while similar action was taken on
some of the House bills, only one-that
granting pension to Jacob Romiser-was
passed bv the two Houses over the veto
The Des Moines river bill passed the Sen
ate over the veto, but failed to receive the
requisite two-thirds vote in the House
Motions to pass the bills to grant pension
to Mary Anderson and Andrew j. Wilson
over the pre- Sident's veto was defeated In
the House. The consideration of the other
veto messages has been postponed until
the next session. The measures of general
importance that have been enacted into
laws during the session in addition to the
regular appropriation bills were as fol
lows:
| H. fal otAyx Ia IL. tav
vide for the study of the nature and effect
of alcoholic drinks and narcotics; to re-
move the charge of desertion against
soldiers who re-enlisted without having
received discharge from the regiments
in which they had previously served &c
legalize the incorporation of national
trades unions: to give the receiver of O
national bank the power to buy in any
property of the bank sold under fore
closure when necessary to protect his
trust; to regulate the promotion of grad.
yates of the United States military
academy; to permit the owners of United
States merchant vessels and of any prop
erty on board thereof to sue the United
from mismanagement Of any government
vessel; accepting the Grant medals and
trophies; to provide that surveyed lands
granted to railroads co-terminous with
completed portions OF such roads and in
organized counties shall not be exempt
from local taxation on account of the lien
of the United States upon them for the
costs of surveying, selecting or conveying
them. ct also makes provision fol
selling such lands on the refusal
or neglect OF the companies to pay
cost of survey; the oleomargarine bill
the bill for the increase Of the navy; &c
provide that homestead settlers within the
railroad limits restricted to less than 16C
acres shall be entitled to have their addi
tional entries patented without any
further cost or proof of settlement and
CIVILIZATIONS; to reduce the fees on domes
s., from eight cents to five cents; to allow
steam towing vessel to carry in addition
to their crews as many persons AS the
supervising inspector may authorize: fol
the relief OF Fitz John Porter; to provide
for the sale Of the Cherokee reservation
to increase their capital stock and tc
change their name or locations: authoriz
ing the construction of building for the
accommodation of the congressional
library; providing that after July I, 1856
no fees shall be charged to American yes
sells for measurement of tonnage, issuing oil
licenses, granting certificate of registry
etc, and amending the laws relative to the
shipping and discharging of crews
' the liability v Of owners asr th rs
!; forfeit lands granted to the Atlantic e. Pa
cifc Railroad Company, and restore the
month the pensions of widows and depend
emit relatives of deceased soldiers and sail
ors; declaring forfeited certain land grants
made to the states of Mississippi, Alabama
and Louisiana; to amend section 1896 OF
the revised statutes so as to require brew
sum equal to three times the amount oil
the tax which they will be liable to nav