, 1888-02-10
CONGRESSIONAL.
The Senate Discusses the Cost
Of Public Buildings.
A Vigorous Attack on Jay
Gould by Anderson.
Another Hearing on the Lard
Question.
Congressional

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-Ihe bill to
authorize the sale to aliens of certain
mineral lands was taken up in the senate
to day, and after a discussion Ringing
upon the fact that none Of the Demo
cratic members of the committee were
present at its consideration, Edmunds
moved to recommit to the committee on
mines and mining, and suggested that he
could see no good reason why a distinc-
ton should be made between mineral
lands and agricultural lands.
Reagan argued that there was a strong
popular sentiment to which the act of the
last session prohibiting alien ownership of
lands in the territories was the response.
Stewart replied that a silver mine in the
mountain was as worthless as a desert
without capital; that capital, 50 far from
interfering with the laborer and bearing
him down, brought employment to him
and raised the price of his labor. 1t was
the laboring men of the territories who
were demanding the passage OF this bill.
They were asking that capital should not
be kept out Of the mines and themselves
deprived of employment. The law OF
last congress was an unjust restriction on
the development OF the territories, a dis
elimination against them which no state
in the Union had put upon its own mining
industries.
The bill was r~ccommitted to the COM
mittee on mines and mining, and Stewart
gave notice there would be a meeting of
that committee next Tuesday morning.
In the senate the bill appropriating
S50,000 additional for the public building
at Pensacola, Fla, was taken up and be-
came the theme for general discussion as
to the erection OF public buildings
Vest, from the committee on public
buildings, stated in reply to a question
from Edmunds as to the aggregate amount
of bills for that purpose now before that
committee, that he was unable to furnish
the information, but that the tariff bill
and the Blair bill would sink into insig-
nificance as compared with the estimates
for public buildings.
Dawes related his experience in regard
to public buildings, and mentioned the
cases of the st. Louis post Office, where
the original limitation of the cost was
$500, 900 and where the actual cost had
been $1,000, 600; the New York post
office, where the limitations of cost were
changed and increased three several times;
the Boston post Office, where the cost had
run up to three or four millions in the
same way. Every man connected with
such increases of expenditures should be,
he said, indicted.
Plumb gave some amusing illustrations
of how money appropriated for public
buildings is wasted.
In the house to-day, when the bill re-
quiring subsidized railroads to maintain
and operate separate telegraph lines was
taken from the calendar, DockerY of Mis-
souri, said the simple proposition in the
bill, in plain, unvarnished English, was to
compel the Union and Central Pacific
companies to construct the telegraph lines
required by their charters instead of con-
tracing with the Western Union and
giving that corporation the monopoly of
all telegraph franchises west of the Mis-
sissippi river. He submitted that one of
the most pressing questions before con-
gress was the hedging about and restrict
ing of the powers and encroachments of
the Western Union Telegraph company.
Anderson of Kansas, the author of the
bill, vigorously supported it. The rail-
road companies had bartered away their
franchise by entering into a contract with
the Western Union by which the railroad
companies refused to perform their tele-
graphic services and by which they gave
the Western Union absolute monopoly
over half the continent. Through the
genius of that most INSCRIPTIONS pirate
of this century, Jay Gould, that monopoly
had been created. The pending bill was
simply a proposition to inject a little bit
of Gods burning Justice between the peo-
pie and Jay Gould. The people of the
country were praying for relief from the
bowelless and merciless grind of the most
~extravagant, enormous, INSCRIPTIONS, pi-
ratIcal set of incorporated scoundrels on
the continent. This bill was a square
blow between the eyes of Gould, the
W estern Union monopoly, and each of
the Pacific railroad companies, saying;
Gentlemen, there is power in wealth
and power in combination of monopoly,
but there is more power in the arm ofthe
American people and you shall obey the
law"
White of New York argued that view
ing the matter in the light o public policy
it was unwise for the government, which
was the largest creditor of the Pacific rail.
roads and was interested in the manage
ment to that property, to entail legislation
which would have the effect of reducing
the profits of those roads. He then pro-
ceeded to make a legal argument to the
effect that congress had no right to in
terfere with contracts lawfully entered
into.
The matter then over and its discus.
sion will probably be resumed on Satur-
day.