Omaha daily bee., 1892-01-29
RECEIVED IT WITH APPLAUSE
How the House Heard the Last Message OF
the Chilian Situation.
HUMOROUS Mr.. ALLEN OF MISSISSIPPI
His wit Keeps the House In Laughter
Rules Observation-Disclosures Hale on
Rcciprocity-Proceed Yester-
day i'm the House and Senate.

w NhohiNuioNs ~ ", vah' -O' uO P'O''ooN,
ings OF the house of representatives were
marked by two significant events today. One
was the receipt of the presidents message,
announcing that the war cloud had lost
its somber hue and that the administration
now felt able to cope with Chilli without spe-
cial orders from congress, and the abundance
of American humor, which will burst forth
US the aftermath of all periods of national
crisis. The former was an indication that
the administration felt that the hour of dam
ger had passed; the latter was an evidence
that the house shared in that feeling of as
surance entertained by the chief executive,
and the two incidents combined have created
q feeling of easy confidence in public and Off
cial circles that has not prevailed at the ma
tional capital for months.
Applauded the Message.
The reading of the PRESIDENTS message and
accompanying dispatches was frequently in
terrupted by applause, which was by no
means confined to the republican side of the
| house. and when that portion Of the message
was reached where the president alluded to
the general support which had been given to
| the administration an illustration of 'unity
and patriotism of the people, the sentiment
received enthusiastic applause from the dem
ocratlc side
| The discussion of the report of the commit
tee on rules occupied the remainder of the
| day, and il was during the afternoon that an
| adroit motion of MIR. Allen of Mississippi
once more drew the attention Of the house to
the Chilian controversy. The Mississippi
| democrat moved to amend the rules by in
| creaSing the membership of the committee
| on foreign affairs from thirteen to seventy
| fve and the speech that followed contained
fnli do,
it was hardly regarded by the republicans as
a typical political arraignment of the repub-
lican party.
| Objected to the Number Thirteen.
"Now, Mr.. Speaker" said Mr.. Allen, "the
great struggle to which thirteen men, the
| members Of the foreign affairs committee,
have been subjected for the last few days
has prompted me to offer this amendment to
| increase their membership from thirteen to
seventy-fve. Laughter. We have ro right,
sir, in my humble Judgment, to impose so
much responsibility upon thirteen men.
| Laughter. Thirteen, you will remember,
| too, is an unlucky number renewed laugh
terI-and do not want any unlucky things
| to happen when we come to deal with for
eign affairs. Laughter and applause. Now,
| l suppose that in ordinary times of peace
| should never have thought of making this
proposition, but have been prompted to it
by tho tremendous excitement to which we
have been subjected for the last few days
|
| would oe proper for me to state the reasons
| why my views upon this question of our for
elgn relations with Chill have not appeared
in public print, and why have not, like the
| [Great laughter. Sir, some thirty years
| ago went to war--rather hastily. Tumul.
tuous laughter and applause. ..r
War Made Him Cautious.
my experience in the war has never
daunted my courage-[laughter]- but it has
| made me decidedly more cautious Renewed
| laughter. / do not want now to reflect on
any of my confederate brethren who have
| rushed into this war with a zeal that think
is somewhat precipitous, but it strikes me
| there are some of them who seem to feel that
| their reputation for patriotic devotion to the
| country is little impaired and they want to
repair it. Laughter.l But, sir, my repu-
tation for patriotic devotion to the country
| and my courage in time Of battle are so well
established that do not need to rush into
| newspapers to give advice. Renewed
laughter. But think that that committee
| should be great conservative committee
l for one, do not blame the foreign affairs
committee with any haste. and l am not
going to censure them; but you know how
easily thirteen men might be taken un-
awares and rushed into war with some sort
of precipitation. [Great laughter.l Now,
sir, recurring to the incidents that were re-
| our government and Chilli today want to
say that never would have spoken on this
| subject until there was satisfactory settle
ment OF it. Laughter.
| How He Killed His Enemies.
II am not as familiar with diplomatic cor
respondence between nations, perhaps, as
| the present secretary of state, Mr. Blaine,
but 1 do know, MIR. Speaker, the code OF
| honor that governs gentlemen In affairs OF
| this kind, having spent the most of my life
in living under that code and in lighting
duels [Grest iaughter.I Most Of the men
| Uil1ad Sir I haun Hliai
that code renewed laughter -butif we have
to resort to the code, ] must say that there
has been some precipitation in our action
In Mississippi IT, when one gentleman insti-
tutes a correspondence with another and
brings him down to the point of difference
and finally sends blm his ultimatum-[ laugh
terl-if that man, after sending that ulti-
matum were to rush into print and publish
the correspondence before he had had time
to hear from his ultimatum he would be q
persona non grata in that state. TGreat
laughter and applause. 1t is not the proper
thing when you have sent your ultimatum tc
your adversary to rush into print and give
your side of the case to the country before
you baye hear from the ultimatum. Re
newed laughter.
| just as an Illustration.
"Just to illustrate how this thing strike:
me will road q sentence from an interview
with distinguished gentleman who once sat
where you sit, Mr.. Speaker-I mean ex-
Mr.. Keifef thinks the sentiment In the re-
publican party Is drifting rapidly toward
Harrison. (Laughter His message on tn,
Chilian imbroglio was issued just In time,
[Great laughter and applause on the demo
cratic side Now, Mr.. Speaker, just sup
pose he had waited a little while longer,
think what might have happened. Laugh
ter This drifting of sentiment in the re-
publican party toward that distinguished
gentleman, the president of the United
States, might have been stopped II he had
not got in here with that Chilian HI essag,
! Just in time [Laughterl Why, sir, l re
member that not great while ago. 1t was
stated in the public prints that on one occa-
sion, when the president was to go TO New
York the. train that was 10 have left tn,
depot at ten minutes TO 10 O'CLOCK was de
layed until ten minutes after IL, lest tn,
president should travel on Sundsy-Ggrea
laughter and yet am informed that thu
president had number OF printers working
all day last Sunday In order to get that mes
sage in here Just In time GGreat applause
and laughter Jn the democratic side.
II see also from the newspaper, Mr.
| Speaker, that the chairman of the commltte
on foreign affairs was interviewed by anothe
member of that committee, the gentleman
! from Michigan, Mr.. Chapman. Mr.. ChIpmal
} said to the gentleman, You must be gla
1 that the committee is relieved from the grea
a - a.. -