The sun., 1891-01-21
DRAINING THE TREASURY.
.,ou MT ErpENsITE WORK IN THE
HoUsE or REPRESENTATIVES,

s.xe,.ee. Regular Appropriation hills
,.s,sa-An Extra Session Forcsha hadowed
The Force Bill Barrins tegisiation-
v.,r the Session Gone and Very Little
ns.s-Cougressnnu CumminGs Describes
s..e very Raoy Scenes In the House.
v,sHrSoroN. Jan. l6.-Half OF the short sos
.,.n Of the Fifty first Congress is gone. and
All, tsree o, the seventeen regular appropria-
.or Sdls have passed the House. Everything
A.Ajes,os . grand Jam OF legislative business
..a.rl the end OF tho session. Tho interests
',,h. p.ople are imperilled. and there may be
.Y,r. session The Force bill seems to dam
=. rsy TO all other legislation. The efrect in
s.e.nate is reflected In the House. The only
..,ropristion bills passed In the House up to
"a, i6 were the Pension Appropriation bill,
An. rortihcations Appropriation bill. tho Army
I,nropria,ion bill. and printing deficiency
Mn Each bill lsi 70 lively discussions. Dom
..,,tlc legislative veterans watched each item
A. sxpenditure. and drcw out the why's and
vhsreforea There were hot political tilts.
,.rssion ally running into personalities. Tho
Asru.sions were pointed. md Eive ana tako
v.s tho rule. At times tho House wss
4, great confusion. Points OF order were
,.,,sd and questions OF privilege arose. TWAS
!. aubieot o, general remark that the Speaker
"a. not 90 arbitrary In his rulings as In the
nrsyicus session. The old srrt. however
.,oppsd ont when he used the whip. whllc Louis
r McComas tr ed TO spur the District OF Co.
i,mbia Appropriation bin through the House.
The Democrats wore on the alert III an in
.,,nt They resented the tyranny OF the
SNEAKER, and demanded plenty Of time for dis
.n.sion. The Speaker was obstinate. but
orally gave way to appeals from the Ropub-
Is.n leaders. Thev saw that more time would
he lost in tho preliminary skirmish than in the
asht itselL Tho Democrats were finally al
lowed Al, tho time that they asked.
1.-The PENSION APPROPRIATION BILL
Arpropr alton bills are p'ivilesed. They can
IA called up u, any time when the member In
charge can secure recognition. Tho Pension
Appropriation bill was the flrst on tho carpet.
II was called up by tho Hon. william W. Nor
NV Of California on Dec. 4. 1t appropriated
slssl730s5 for the payment OF army and navy
PENSIONS for the fiscal year ending juno 30
1892. Mr. Morrow is the eighth man on the
Committee on APPROXIMATIONS. There are six
democrats and nine Republicans on this COM
mites, Morrow engineered the bill through
tho House with consummate skill. He is
serving his third term, and was not o candi-
data ut the recent OicCllOu. Suo t0St vi tuo
ability OF the Tilot OF an appropriation bill Is
shown In the way he tries to limit debate. II
ne crowds the opposition too Close 1t is apt to
av jn his face and flibuster. Thus more time
IL wasted in arranging preliminaries than
would probably be asked by the opposition for
eeperal debate.
Morrow got his bill In Committee OF the
Whole at l O'Clock. He wanted general debate
to close at 1. This would give an hour and .
half to each side. The Democrats demanded
three hours on . side. Morrow wanted to COM
promise on two hours but finally yielded TO
the demand. Then he open ed the debate. He
said that the sum appropriated was probably
the largest single item OF appropriation In any
statute o! tho United States. The money would
be distributed among 654.7l5 pensioners. 1t
was the largest number OF benetlciaries ever
provided for In any single ilem. These PEN
sionsrs would receive an average OF 5000. 40.
Gov. McCreary Of Kentucky called the Cali
iornian's attention to the fact that there was
deficiency Of 100000 for this year, and
asked II the amount appropriated IN the bill
wis sufficient to cover tho deficiency. Mr..
Morrow replied that tho committee thought 1t
vas and that he believed there would not bs .
dsaeisncy next year. Watchdog Holman OBJ
served that the estimate OF tho Commissioner
was t2.0s0.oO more than tho appropriation,
aud Mr.. Morrow Acknowledged that tho COM
mittse had made the reduction. believing that
the circumstances would Justify 1t.
In anaiyzinG the lgures Mr.. Morrow gave tho
House an idoa OF how fast the veterans are
marching into the next world. Judging from
past data Mr.. Morrow estimated that 42.G3S
soldiers drawing pensions would die before
January /. 1892 This would be nearly fifty
f,,rl n-i k-;-
visions and moro than an army CORPS
Mr. Morrow estimated that 81 100000 OF tho
anpropr alton would 60 TO examining sur
Ceon'. $4,000 10 disbursing pension agents.
AID SO 100 for clerk hire. rent, fuel, and
lights In the eighteen pension agencies. The
ann opr Al on for the expenses OF the Pension
OficA In Washington is sl.92j.70o.
Tha discussion brought out the fact that
aol' o:h.T per cent of all ths psnsion claims
fl"i are eventually allowed. 1t also brought
on, III" statement that ihs sum paid for pen
Sins will lie s. S0O3.OJ1 les, than the taxes COL
le''l from snirtS tobacco. and bee- during
Tia fiscal year cnhinS June 30. 1892.
''". Snynrs OF Texas replied to Mr.. Morrow
lid rra' IL every instance the estimates
o. tho Psn lon OGice have fAliea far below
~ xn'n'iitures. lie declare that the total
d'' isnry Tor the present fls al rear was sat-
o''op TWAS 'n.r.o presume taa. the Com
ns"on'rs e,.im ties for 1892 wero equally
Iauiy. 20; the committee had cut down the
e'tina,es over s200O.O2O. Mr. En.oa Of Ton
. 'ro olght ont the fact ;hnt under both
itpuihlcan and Democratic a'lmi in,strRtionS q
iafGsi O. num b-r o! per sions had been granted
10 residential election years than in other
years !ioi. Sayers sh'd that no WAS sincerely
opinion that Comm ssiorer Runm's rstl-
mate WAS 10, small by at least $3O.Q)O.OOn. and
M ManM u would he tho dutyof the next Demo.
rTIMie House to supply the deficiency. Mr..
ietsrs S.s"r;et that 4 Democratic Admin a.
u"t on lat y Gon,tency "f s26.OOU, 900 for the
"rrpnbi'chn House 10 provide for.
.t tGe 2atura oi the debate WAS an attack by
I'e hon GrorGe ". Ccoper OF Inda on the
nr,,nmissinner :, of len ions. Mr. Cooper Is the
" am os,n!or s,,, OF Commissioner Kpnm before the
ttommltte t,Imm on igaiIon., He allrGei that
tn' ,"s' :! dld everything in It's power TO protect
I've Commissioner. He read many extracts
u"m me testimony 10 y: owe hiS assertions.
tn,iash tMe iashrd COMMISSIONER Ruum for gong down
tnto hls dist let In ths late camIa gn and en-
a.avorlnE u prevent his reelection to Con-
eress DE asserted that circulars we o sent
oeut out 70 The soldiers OF the district asking them
w. " ~ present at the meetings where the Com
s,htssioner smke. and .n;imat!nG that those
ILnn dil 50 would huva preference In getting
sael claims through the Pension ONCE. His
ps1ora'lon was MS follows:
JuainasA aias great vonerxtion for that institution on
vnseMIy 'o1Ars ia l,ND or , iUb EN- piovees are
s~ss ~. OF mercy In s ssered .rehive, are stored
nsmp 10 bIvousc and In battle. Into it's codsrA a.
SssM w ats grateful people pour annually OF their