Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-03-04
NATIONAL CAPITAL.
Fault Found With the Fur
Seal Lease.
DEFECTS IN THE CONTRACT.
Senator SpsOner Attacks the Blair
Educational Bill-Other Gen.
gressiOnal News.

Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALr
WASHINGTON, March 3.-In the Senat
Goday, Voorhees, offered a preamble an(
concurrent resolution reciting that in th
recent lease of. the fur seal islands o
Alaska to the North American Com
mercial Company, certain provisions o
law had not been complied with, ant
directing the Secretary of the Treasury
to furnish the Senate complete copies O.
all the bids for the lease, with all the
accompanying papers, testimony, mem
oranda, arguments. letters, correspond
ence, etc., and that the Secretary refrain
from executing or delivering the lease tc
the North American Commercial Com.
pany until its object be inquired into
by the Senate. He asked to have the
resolution referred to the finance com.
mittee, as that committee meets tomor-
row. So ordered.
The bill fixing the salary of judges OF
the United States District Court at
5000 per annum was taken up, and,
after discussion, passed, 33 to 13.
The Senate then resumed considera-
tion of the Blair Educational bill, and
was addressed by Spooner. He had
voted once in favor of the bill, not with
out some misgivings as to its policy.
When it came up again before the Sem
ate he had felt constrained to vote
against it. And now as it was once more
pending for action, he was impelled to
vote against it, and desired to state his
reasons for so doing. He agreed with
the Senator from New Hampshire as to
the necessity of education among the
masses, and could not with
hold tribute of his respect
and admiration for the superb industry,
courage, ability and constancy
with which that Senator had pressed the
subject on the consideration of the Sem
ate and country. Referring to the claim
that the Republican patty was pledged
to support the bill, he read a extract
from the Republican National platform,
and denied that it contained the COM
initial OF the party to the bill. It could
hardly, with justice, be said to be party
measure, and he submitted that no
proposition of the kind ought to become
party measure. He argued that it was
for State, not for the Federal Govern
ment, to declare what school system a
State should have. He asserted his be-
lief that, since the bill was introduced in
1880, there had come over the country
a great change in feeling as to it's exped-
iency. One strong evidence of that was
the attitude of the newspapers. In the
Northwest several leading Republican
papers bitterly opposed the measure.
Nf hn G%.ta
posed to it through their Senators. The
NO longer in favor of it. Spooner went
on to speak in terms of praise of the pro-
visions for common school education
in the Southern States, and said
the people in these States had
not only been doing we'll in
the education of white children, but had
been doing we'll in the education of col
ored children also. He had seen, he
said, no stronger condemnation OF the
measure than the argument of the Pres
ident, in his annual message, and which
the Senator from New Hampshire con-
sidered as an argument in it's favor. The
President had said: "Such aid should
be given (as always had been>, as sug-
gested by some exceptional conditions"
We're there, Spooner asked, exceptional
conditions which justified the appropria-
ton of money for school purposes to
Kansas, to Wisconsin, to New York. to H.
linois, to California. or to Iowa. If Con.
gress were to offer to appropriate six
million dollars for school purposes in
New York, it would be laughed at. He
believed with people as with individuals,
self-help was the best help. He be-
lieved the tendency of the day was too
much for paternalism in the government,
and the policy of tho bill, if entered
upon, would never end. All things con-
sidered, the step was dangerous one,
unless it were necessary step, and he
denied that it was necessary step.
After executive session the Senate ad.
journed.