Mower County transcript., 1892-08-03
REVIEW OF WORK
WHICH HAS BEEN DONE BY THE
FIFTY-SECoND CONGRESS.

WHICH HAS BEEN DONE BY THE
FIFTY-sECoND CONGRESS.
or the Two Thousand Bills Placed on
the House Calendar Four Hundred and
Fifty Have Passed-Important Meas
ures Acted Upon in Each Branch.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-After session
of eight months the first session Of the
Fifty-second congress is about to end
and review of its work may prove in
teresting. The house devoted the first
two months to the discussion and adop-
ton of code Of rules, after which reg
ular business was taken up. Bills to the
number of 9,6S7 have been introduced in
the house and referred to committees.
OF this number 2, 115 have been reported
and placed on the calendar and about
$50 have passed the house. The most
important measures considered by the
house, excepting the general appropria-
ton bills, were the silver bills; the tar
itf measures reported from the ways and
means committee; the Chinese exclusion
act; the "intermediate" and army nurse
pension bills; the bill to- enforce recip-
rocal commercial relations with Canada;
the bill increasing the pay Of the life
saving crew; to establish lineal promo
ti6n in the army; for the better
control Of national banks in
regard to loaning money to directors and
officers, and to add the name of the Sec
retary Of agriculture to the cabinet Of
ficers who may act as president in GER
tain contingencies. The Bland silver
bill failed in the house, as did the free
coinage bill which passed the senate.
The several tariff bills passed by the
house failed in the senate. as did also the
bills providing for the admission of New
Mexico and Arizona as states.
Of the 3,492 bills introduced in the
senate 1,0l2 were reported upon by COM
nittees and 800 Of them passed. Among
the most important measures passed by
the senate and not accepted by the
house We're the following: To facilitate
the settlement Of claims for arrears of
pay and bounty; for the construction Of
revenue cutters two each) for service
on the great lakes and the Pacific coast;
the ''pure food" bill; to increase the
rate Of pension for certain cases of der f.
ness; to fix the price of lands entered u-1-
der the desert land l.ws; to authorize
the secretary of war to cause a survey
to be made for the ship canal from Phil
.adelphia across New Jersey to New
York bay ap the better enforcement Of
the immigration laws. A large number
of public building and claim bills passed
by the senate also failed in tie house.
Four hundred and three bills have
passed both houses and been sent to the
president for signature. There are
twenty Of these bills still under consid-
Grafton by the executive; one has been
returned to the house by It's request
without signing; two have been vetoed
the bill to amend the organizing Of
circuit courts of appeals so as to give
them jurisdiction of certain Indian
cases, and the bill referring the McGar-
rahan claim to the court of private land
claims.
Investigations were feature of this
congress especially in the house and
committees devoted much time to them.
The pension Office and it's management
received the attention of q special COM
mittee which reported mismanagement
of the bureau generally under the ad-
ministration of Commissioner Raum
and recommended to the house that the
president be asked to dismiss that off,
cial. The committee on public lands
looked into the management of the Yell
lowstone national park and reported q
bill to rectify the condition of affairs
there. The report also criticised Russell
B. Harrison, the presidents son, for his
connection with leases there. The COM
mittee appointed to investigate the GEN.
sus Office began their work late in the
session and finally postponed it until
next session. ..
In both branches Of congress q large
number Of important bills which had
been referred to committees and re-
ported back will retain their places on
the calendar in the second session.
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