Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-29

more so. If the Senate was willing
TO nut itself in that attitude he
had no objection. He proposed to dis
cuss the question on its merits. not con-
siderinp what the President might think
about il. The President was, in regard
20 the bill in its present stage, private
citizen-~no more, no less. His opinion
might he good, or it might I've had, but
he could only express il in the way pro.
yided by the Constitution and laws. AT
ali events senators were not to put them
selves prone on their fronts aud ask the
President in advance whether he was
going 10 sign an act.
MIR. Teller protested against the Sen
ate being threatened with an Executive
veto. He had never heard OF such
thing before in the Senate, and he
hoped he would never hear il again. 1t
seemed 10 him to be great degradation
TO the Senate for senator to stand up
and say that he proposed TO be governed
in his vote by what the Executive
thought. or felt, or wanted.
Mr.. Beck hoped the Senator from Col
orado would tell the Senate what he
thought OF the speech of the Senator
from Nebraska (Mr. Manderson) as to
the action Of the Grand Army of the Re-
publlc-the beneficiaries under the bill
as TO what their lodges and posts had
determined that the Senate should do,
and how far that was legitimate. The
Senator from Nebraska had told the
Senate that the action OF the Committee
on Pensions in reporting the bill had
grown out Of the action of the Grand
Army of the Republic, which was to be
itself beneficiary under the bill. The
Senator's speech, he said, was more de-
grading to the Senate than any mere al
fusion to the Presidents action on the
bill could be.
Mr.. Blackburn said he deprecated the
violation of that very proper rule which
prohibited q Senator or Representative
from undertaking to influence legisla-
tive action by any reference to the pre-
sumed course of the Executive. He had
heard that rule violated by three sena-
tors-Messrs. Davis, Henderson, and
Blair. These senators had all said that
bill had to be framed and fashioned to
avoid a veto message ut the hands
of the Executive. He did not know
what authority they had for the state
ment, but he did know that there was
but one political organization 10 the
country to-day which was in perfect
marching order, ready to take the field,
with knspsacks packed and all things
ready. 1t was the Grand Army OF the
Repnblic. which represented the only
efficiently organized political system
on the continent to-day. The Sena-
tor from Nebraska. who so ably
cbampioned the bill, had told the
Senate and country that the bill was
a demand made by the Grand Army OF
the Republic, and bad protested sub
stantially against any material amend
ment of it, because that organization
had formulated what? Not its petition
TO an American Congress, but its de-
mand on an American Congress for legis-
lation in which (as his colleague had
said) it was itself to be the beneficiary.
If the Senator from Nebraska was to be
accepted as authority, then the bill was
not petition but demand sent to Con-
gress by great aud well-organized and
perfectly systemized political agency
| that proposed to remove the trouble
which environed both houses, to do
awav with revenue bills AID tariff
rivisions. and the additions Of internal
revenue taxation, and to dispose of
the Treasury surplus by such bills
rs this. and that was to be the only prac-
teal solution TO be offered by the Re-
publican party for the financial difficult
ties in which the country was involved.
He denied that the Senator from Maine
or New Hampshire or any other senator
had any right or authority to charge or
10 intimate that the President had made
nh his mind to veto the bill if it went to
him in one shape or in another shape.
After some remarks by Messrs. Man
derson and Blair Mr.. Blackburn went on
| 10 say that it was not to be wondered at
if those senators III their zeal should I'M
dertake to warn the super loyal Of the
land against the disloyal policy of loyal
! Executive. If those senators were unwil-
ling to submit the bill for the deter
mination OF an American Congress.
but insisted that it should 60
through in q stereotyped form, after
the procrustean fashion. because the
Grand Army of the Republic so decreed
it, and if they meant to dispose OF the
surplus in the Treasury in that way and
no other, they should be frank enough
to face the issue and to go to the coun-
try upon i.
After further debate by Messrs. Teller,
Hoar. Blackburn, Blair. and Henderson,
the bill went over without action and the
Senate proceeded to executive business,
and at p. NJ. adjourned.
House of Representatives.
Mr.. Gaines, OF Virginia, from the Com
mittee on War Claims, reported a bill
authorizing the Secretary OF the Urea
sury TO settle the claims of certain States
and the city of Baltimore growing out
of the money expended for military pur-
poses during the War OF 1872. Referred
TO the Committee of the Whole.
In the morning hour the House re-
snmed in Committee of the Whole the
consideration of the bill for the organiza.
ton of the Territory OF Oklahoma.
Mr.. Barnes, of Georgia, gave notice
that he would at the proper time offer
substitute Tor the appointment OF com
mission to negotiate with the Indian
Territory with view to opening a por'
ton of the Territory lying west of the
nipety-eighth meridian of longitude tc
white settlers. He said il was with regret
that he found himself compelledto oppose
the report which had been made by the
majority of the Committee on Territories
but the pending bill was subject to sucf
serious objections that he could not con
scientiously give it his approval. de
sketcbed the history Of the Legislation
pertaining to the Indian Territory !rou
the time il was acquired from the Frencl
in 1893, and he quoted from treaty stipu
lations with the Cherokee Indians tc
show that the land known as Cherokee
outlet was held under the same patent
as seven million acres east OF the
ninety-eighth meridian of Longitude.