The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-10-25
THE WORK OF CONGRESS.

The Longest Session fn the History ~ the
Country - work Completed and stat
Pending.
WAsHiNGToS, J-t 9o-To.day at one
o'clock the Est session Oi the Fiftieth
Congress ended-tne longest continuc1"
session in the history Of nearly n century
of Congresses, having lasted 32l days.
The longest previous session ran %2 days,
ending SeTte''rber W.
Apart from the protractct INT interest
ing discussion q the tariff question IN
both houses aud The unparalleled dead
lock in the cons Liberation of the bin 70 re-
fund the direct tax, the session EcT been
remarkable in several ways, but III none
more than IN the ENORMOUS HVrnber OF
.tes-u'e- .,t"rt,"od IN both branches.
In the Senate 3Gil btIa &H1 62i
Joint resolutions were presented, and IN
the House the record ran up to the un-
euualed figures Of II j9S bills and 23O joint
resolutions, making the grand total OF
6.5Si measures introduced in one session.
in the Senate 9,39i measures were re-
ported back from committees and ria"eJ
on the calcmder--R ipuch larger proper
ton than in the Ho.is;, ....hHte sos meas
ures Of the total number of ll,s2o .E'rH-
ducel still sumbeI in the committee rooms.
.ila.n- the measures of public interest
that have become law are the fol-
lowing: Relating to the perf''"a'-
bic marks on mail matter; for the
division Of the Sioux reservation; for
a conference with the South and Central
American nations. limiting the hours OF
letter carriers making Lieutenant-Gen-
eral Sheridan tenerb n the army; to es-
tab5ieh Department o. labor: t'f - m
ternatiouai I1hr.ti"e conference; requlr-
ing the Pacihc .a.'""sG companies 70
maintain telegraph lihes; to pE>h re
coming of Chinese labOrers to the IhIte"
States to create boards Of afbitruIoh 10
settle controversies between common car
riers and their employees; to prevent the
return Of Chinese lah1rers to this country;
to all state homes for disabled soldiers,
and .h:ug'ns4 the Aats Of meeting OF the
! Electoral College.
In the next stage--that is, i'll conference
/ between the two houses-are two bills o.
/ the fir,t mportance-TepealnG the Pre-
emption and Timber Culture law and pro-
vding general homestead law and de-
! claring forfeiture Of uneaTned railroad
/ land grants.
Pending before the eenate - the House
! Tariff bill and the senate substitute. The
Senate passed bills TO divide Dakota and
to admit the southern half as State anG
to aid the common schools tthe Blair Bib
but they never reached The House fol
/ action. In the Senate the same thing car
le said of the following bills which passeC
the House: The Fisheries Retaliation bill
the passage Of which was recommendee
F by the Presidents; authorizing the issue o
fractional silver certificates; allowing th'
ar,fy ilXt-s,, cha tore
by the United States.
The following nre the most importan
/ bills unacted upon in the Senate calendar
For the admission Of Montana and wash
ington Territories; to prohibit the alco
ho!ic liquor traffic; to declare trusts I'M
lawful. The following measures Of i'm
portance were reported from House com
mitteeS and are still on the House caltn
/ dar: To refund the direct tax Ia vote OF
which VIII I've taken early in DecembeI
next under an agreement by which TIT
memorable deadlock over this bill va
I brokeu): for the payment of arrears .
/ pensions: requiring the investment of th'
National bank redemption fund In clrcu
lating notes: the Pacific Railroad Funding
bill dictated but newer reached the poin
of action: to include telegraph companie
NJ, te commercial union with Canada; Il
Incorporate the Nicaragua Canal Com
! pGnv: and for the organization OF the Ter
ritorv or Oklahoma debated but never
finally voted on.D
The following are important Senate bill:
/ which slumh,r in committees: Request
in the President to open negotiations
with Great Britain looking to the anneXa
ton of Canada to the United States; fo1
the free coinage Of silver; to repeal tn,
{ OlcomaEgariue act; to provide q naval re-
| serve; the Hennepin canal bill; to reduce
! letter postage to cent: TO grant woman
. suffrage, and measures proposing radlc2
| changes in the Governments hnanCia
/ policy.
/ The following are original House bills
/ which likewise never got out of commit
tees: TO repea! the internal revenue laws
! and the tobacco tax; to prohibit the mall
! ing of newspapers containing lottery ad-
/ vertiscments: to lay a graduated income
! tax; for a bounty on sugar: to repeal the
! civll-service laws; for full reciprocity be-
/ tween the United States and Canada; tc
restrain judicial proceedings to bt
! brought against the Pacific railroads: tc
/ provide more efficient mail service be-
tween the United States ana South Amer
ica; to break up trusts, and vario hs meas
ures proposing changes in the pension.
tariff and financial laws.
The most important private bills Of this
session We're those pensOning Mrs. Logan
and Mrs. Frank p. Blair both of which be-
came laws, and the bills to pension Mrs,
! Waite aud Mrs. sheridan, which passed
( the Senate but were never acted upon by
/ the House.