Huntsville gazette., 1888-09-15
50TH CONGRESS.
BUSINESS THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN
TRANSACTED.
THE WORK OF A NINE MONTHS
SESSION.

An Unusual Long Session and the Cause
of Its Prolongation-What Has Been At
ed and Accomplished portant
Bills >t.n Pending III Both Bodies-yari-
ouS oihrr Washington News
WASHINGTON, Sept. l4-Nine months Lad
elapse on Wednesday, the 9TH inst, since
the first session of the tiftie,h congress con
vened The session on that day had already
exceeded by three or four weeks the usual
length of sessions, and there has been less
than half dozen sessions since the forma-
ton of the government which have cen of
greater duration than the present one 1t is
not probable, however, that there will be
more net results in the first session of the
fiftieth congress than there has been from
other sessions The work has been delayed
and the session prolonged by consideration of
the tariff bill, and an effort on the part of
both parties to gain political advantage in
the pending campaign.
The following information has been com
piled from the records of congress by repre-
sentatives of the United Press During the
nine months which en,led on Wednesday, the
5th inst, there were introduced in the house
ii ,362 bills and joint resolutions against
10 1874 i'll the first session of the last congress
In the senate there were introduced :, $50
bills and 107 joint resolutions, against =, SS1
bills and fifUy-six joint resolutions in the
first session of the last congress. There were
reported from committees i'll the house 3, 407
bills and joint resolutions, against 3,447 in
the first session of the last congress; while in
the senate there were submitted :, 112 written
reports, against 1,5ol in the first session of
the last congress.
There We're reported from committees to
the senate, approximately, go bills and joint
resolutions without written statements. All
of the bll, reported from committees to the
house were accompanied 10y written reports,
as the rules OF the house require a written
statement with every measure rep 'rted from
committee while i'll the senat, bills may be
returned from committees ami placed upon
the calendar without written reports, but
with the simple word Favorable" or "un-
favorable"
1t will be seen by comparison OF figures
that while the number of bills introduced in
this session Of congress is about 10 per cent.
larger than the first session of the last con
gress, the number of reports indie sting the
amount of committee work has decreased
proportionately.
1t will be seen also that the senate has done
far more committee work than usual. The
business in the senate is also III much better
condition than that i'll the house. The house
calendar on Wednesday contained 10 pages
of bills in the various stages of completion.
1t shows the title about eight hundred or
two thousand measures The senate calen-
dar on the same day contained but twenty
four pages and only about three hundred
and twenty five bill, nearly all of which
were of general character. The greater
ma jority of the measures on the house cal
endar are Of a private nature, mostly pen
sions In fact the private calendar Of the
house contained sixty nine pages, or approx
imately 966 private bills.
A very large portion of the bills introduced
and reported from committees III the house
were for private pensions. They were re-
ferred alone to the committee on invalid
pensions.
There were g, S65 private pension bills in
troduced in the house, and 523 private bills
which came over from the senate, while the
number of general pension bills referred to
that committee was 1875, a total of 1883
The committee made OPS favorable and 237
adverse reports ON these bills-a total of
], ,262. In the last congress the total number
of bills referred to lat committee was 4, 157
and the total numher of favorable reports
was 1,0l0 and adverse $50. The senate com
mittee on pensions received | 1874 senate bills
and $50 house bills, Il total of LIZA against
$40 last year 1t reported favorably ,36e
senate bills, 545 house bills, and reported ad-
versely $50 bills, making a total of 234
ports upon the 1,144 bills the committee re-
ceived.
During the first session of the last con-
gress it reported 800 bills 1t will thus be
seen that the senate committee on pensions
acted upon about n per cent of the total
number of bills referred to it, while the
house committee on invalid pensions took
action favorably adverse upon ~ per
cent of the measures it received. There are
fifteen members of the house committee on
invalid pensions, and nine members of the
senate committee ON pensions. 1t will be
seen, however, that the house committee
made nineteen more reports than the senate
committee Following is a comparative
statement of the work done by some of the
principal committees in the house during
the present session, and the first session of
the last congress:
The committee on ways and means re-
ceived lS5 bills and twenty resolutions 1t
reported back TO the house twenty Of these
measures. In the first session of the last
congress l95 bills ana resolutions were re-
ceived, of which number thirty were acted
upon and reported
Naval affairs received l54 house bills and
sixteen senate bills OF which number it re
ported forty two of the house measures and
SIX of these from the senate. In the first
session of the last congress, POS bills were re
ceived and fifteen were acted upon.
Indian affairs has received los bills and re-
ported forty-one. In the session of two
ye rs ago, it received 363 bills and reported
twelve
Judiciary received 293 bills, reported favor
ably sixty-seven and adversely eighteen In
the session two years ago it received 213
bills, of which number US were acted upon
Commerce received $40 bills and took
action upon 225. In the session two years
ago it received 245 bills and acted upon 100
There were nine contes ted elections in the
house, and all but two have been disposed of
by the committee on elections The Smalls-
Elliot and the Sullivan FELTON, contest from
California are yet before the COMMITTEES