Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-06

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pass the senate To transfer the revenue
marine service to the navy; to authorize
the construction of a tunnel under the
Detroit river at Detroit, Mich; for the
relief of telegraph operators during the
war.
Among the measures on which neither
house acted, except in some cases by
committees, were the sub-treasury and
farm-mortgage bills, the service pension
bill, the Canadian reciprocity resolu-
ton, the bill to encourage the construc-
| tion of an intercontinental railway, the
| postal savings bank and postal tele-
graph bills, the Butler bill to aid ne
groes to immigrate to Africa, woman
suffrage and prohibition constitutional
amendments, the income tax bill and
various other radical financial and polit-
ical measures
The following measures became laws
throughout the congress without the
Presidents signature: Act for the relief
Of the sureties of George w. Hook Civ
ing the court of claims jurisdiction of
claims on account of property of the
Chesapeake Female college; for the re-
lief of j. Hollis McBlair; for the relief of
A. S. McCreary, administrator of j, NJ.
Hiatt, deceased; to provide American
registers for the steamers Montauck and
Nlineold. Ten private bills, which had
passed congress, failed to become laws
because of their failure to receive the
presidents signature.
Important Acts of the First Session.
The first, or long session is notable
for the number of other important
measures that became laws. Wyoming
and Idaho were admitted to statehood
making the number of states forty-four.
A general land grant forfeiture bill,
providing for the forfeiture to the gov
ernment of all unearned lands granted
to aid in the construction of railroads
opposite portions of roads uncompleted
at the time of the passage of the law,
opened new lands to settlement The
prohi bition of American meat from GER
tain foreign markets brought about the
passage Of the law to provide for the
inspection of meats intended for ex-
port.
The bills to prohibit the expectation
of adulterated articles of food and
! drink, and to enable the president to
prevent the importation of impure or
adulterated articles of food and drink
are worthy of special mention, while
among the less important but generally
lowing: Providing for an additional
assistant secretary of the navy and as
sistant secretary of war; providing for
the expectation of fermented liquor in
bond without payment Of internal reve-
nue. tax; extending the criminal juris-
diction of the Federal courts to the
great lakes; increasing to $72 month
the pension OF those permanently dis
abled; authorizing the construction of
railroad terminal bridge over the North
river at New York; directing the super
intendent of the census to collect statis-
tics of farms and mortgaged indebted
ness; for the promulgation by the
president of regulations to prevent the
spread of contagious diseases from one
state to another; granting certificates of
discharge to those who enlisted under
assumed names in the war of the rebel
lion; to prevent the importation from
one state into another goods prohibited
by the latter state, except in original
packages; to prevent collisions at sea;
to apply portion of the proceeds of the
sale of public lands to the endowment
and support of agricultural colleges; to
discontinue the coinage of three dollar
and one dollar gold pieces and of three
cent nickel pieces; transferring the
weather bureau from the signal corps
to the agricultural department; provid-
ing for naval armament experiments
with nickel and ore matter, and author
ing the postmaster general to test the
free delivery system in small towns.
Immigration.
Frequent complaints concerning the
inefticiency of our Federal immigration
laws brought about the enactment in
tl,a1 Nf IL
to correct the alleged abuses. This bill
was prepared by joint committee of
the senate and the house after thor
ough investigation. 1t makes the con-
tract labor law more binding in some
particulars and less obnoxious in others,
and extends and strengthens the laws
concerning the exclusion from the
United States of improper persons
from foreign countries,
Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts,
The enactment of a measure to extend
the jurisdiction of Federal courts will
undoubtedly relieve the overcrowded
docket of the United States supreme
court.
The act provides for additional circuit
Judges who will call, in conjunction
with justices of the Federal supreme
court, an intermediary appellate circuit
court, in certain cases between the lower
courts, and the highest judicial trib
bunals in the country. Another meas
uIe of the second session was the direct
tax bill which provides for refunding
the amounts levied in certain states, un-
der the direct war tax of 1861. This bill
became famous in the Fiftieth congress
through the long and weary deadlock in
the house of representatives, caused by
the efforts to pass it. 1t was disposed of
quietly and without any great show of
resistance in the congress just ended.
An Error Not Corrected.
A few blunders in legislation occurred
during the rush at the close of congress,
but the only notable one was in connec-
ton with the agricultural appro-
priation bill, whereby a measure appro-
priating $3.50, 900 for the relief of the
drough sufferers in Kansas, Nebraska,
the Dakotas and other western states,
was Improperly engrossed in the regular
agricultural appropriation bill. During
the closing hours this proposition,
known as the "drough sufferers seed
and grain bill" was incorporated in the
agricultural bill, but the conferees on
the part of the two houses agreed to
strike it out. 1t was so supported in
both houses but the engrossing clerks
did not understand the decision, and, in
their hurry, left it in.
Chairman Funston, who was at the
head of the conferees for the house,
asked to have the error corrected by the
adoption of a Joint resolution, as the er-
ror had become part of the regular
agricultural bill, which had received the
presidents signature at the moment and
could only By corrected by the enact,