The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-03-18
A REVIEW.

ond Congrcss-Six Hundred aud sixty
Measures Become Laws-A List of the
Important Oncs, Rs We'll as Some THAT
Failed of Passage.
WASHINGTON, March 7--Tho silver and tar.
in questions, the nntioption bill and reduction
OF appropriations were the leading topics OF
consideration by the Fifty-socond congress,
which expired by constitutional Limitation at
i2 o'clock noon Saturday, and secondary only In
importance to these matters were measures re.
lating to the worlds fair, equipment OF raik
roads with automatic car-couplcrs, national
quarantine and immigration, Behring sea and
Hawaiian annexation.
Nothing of an Affirmative nature, except 10
prevent two items in the Mckinley act taking
effect was actually accomplished so far as re-
spcCt5 silver, the tariff or anti-optiOns, the &c.
tion taken on each of these questions in one
branch Of congress being negatiycd by the ac-
tion or nonacton Of the other branch.
Approximately ~ house and 235 senate bills
and joint resolutions became laws, making $50
acts put on the statute books as the result Of
the work OF congress majority OF these
measures were of interest only to individuals
localities, being for the relief OF citizens, for
the bridging of streams, for the District OF Co
lumbia. fer rights Of way, etc. An unusual
proportion Of the claims bills was for the relief
of southern men.
The house passed in round numbers COS bills,
of which 200 failed Of passage in the senate, and
in the neghhorhood Of 825 bills passed by the
senate failed in the house, including long list
OF public.buildng bills, many private pension
bills and other measures involving increased
expenditures
vetoed by the President.
Three bills were vetoed by the president, viz
to refer the McGarrahan claim to the court of
claims Ia second MCGarrahan bill failing OF ac.
ton in the house,, to amend the court of APP
peals act and in relation to marshals in the
ITpitpl Stntpg Alabama frhiG ogt
bill became law by passage over the veto,
Senator Hoar stating that it had been vetoed
through a misunderstanding of its provisions.
The president subjected three bills to n "pock
ct" veto and two other bills failed of engross-
ment in time for presentation to him. All were
of comparatively small Importance.
The pension and census Offices, the whisky
trust, Panama Canal and Pacific Mail com
panics the Watson Cobb charges, the Pinller-
ton system and Homestead troubles the Mayer-
icli and Spring Garden bank failures, the Ellis
island immigration station were investigated by
congressional committees, but nothing came of
the reports submitted
The result OF the agitati tion OF the necessity for
q retrcnchment of expenditures is not apparent
in any considerable change in the aggregate ap.
preparations carried by International supply bills,
for they amount to about as much as in the Fif-
ty-tirst congress, laws on the statute books
preventing some large reductions which other
wise possibly would have been made, while the
decreases which it was possible to effect were
Offset by increased appropriations for pen
sions and rivers and harbors. The con
ditiOn Of the public treasury however,
though it did not result in the Fifty.
second congress getting below the billion
dollar limit, undoubtedly influenced legsla-
tion to q considerable extent and prevented the
authorization Of many proposed new eXpendi-
lures for improvement of the public service,
tor public buildings, payment of claims and for
nj A a Incl ,F fbn
operation of this influence is seen in the fact
that not single public building bill passed the
house and it was only by putting number of
them on the sundry civil appropriation bill that
any appropriations whatever for public build
1ngS were secured.
Struggle Over Silver.
The silver question was kept steadily before
the attention of congress by the alternate eff
forts of the advocates of free coinage and of the
repeal of the Sherman law, The coinage COM
mittee of the house in the first session reported
IL free-silver bill, which after an exciting de-
bate, was saved from defeat by the casting vote
of the speaker but was afterward tlibustered
to death, the friends of the bill failing to secure
the sigma atures of majority of the democrats
to petition for a closure rule in its behalf,
The senate then passed a frce-coinage
bill, but when the free silver men renewed
their fight in the house they were outnumbered
by fourteen votes, and, of course, failed The
anti-silver men met II similar fate in their eff
forts to secure a repeal of the present law, the
senate refusing by a decisive vote to consider
it, and the house killing the Andrcw-Cate bill
by declining to vote so as to give its friends the
parliamentary right to move closure on it, with
out which it concededly could never be forced
to a vote in the closing hours of the congress.
Tactics Regarding Tariff:
On the tariff the dominant party in the house
adopted policy of attacking the Mckinley act
in detail largely for OOlitipnl and
ly for the reason that'in view of the polite
al complexion OF the senate il was practically
out of the question to pass general tarif-re
vision bill through the senate, while special
measures might stand some show of passage.
The result was the enactment into law of two
bills continuing block tin on the free list and
fine linen at 30 per cent ad valorem. Under
the Mckinley act large duties were to take ef-
feet on these items in the near future
Other separate bills were passed through the
house, only to be pigeonholed in the senate, as
follows: Free wool and reduction of duties on
woolen manufactures, tree cotton baggng ties
gins and cotton bagging machinery free bind
ing twine; free silver lead ores, where the
value, not the weight, OF the silver exceeds that
Of the lead in any importation; free tin plate,
terne plate, taggers tin, and the limitation TO
sl0J OF the amount Of personal baggage return
ing tourists may bring into the United States
The anti-option bill passed both houses, but
was killed by the refusal of the house to sus.
lend the rules and agree by a two-thrds vote
10 the amendment put on the bill by the sena te,
the opponents Of the measure maneuvering so
as to prevent Mr. Hatch making effective his
majority in favor of the measure and forcing
him at the last moment to try suspension of the
rules
The pure-food bill, the running mate Of the
anti-option bill, passed the senate, but was
never able to get consideration in the house.
Worlds Fair Legislation.
Worlds fair legislation comprised the grant
OF So 500 900 in souvenir halfdoars in aid Of the
fair, the closing OF its gates on Sunday, the ap-
preparation of various amounts for different fair
purposes and the passage of sundry acts of u
special nature and minor Importance.
An automatic car-coupler bill shorn of its
drastic features enacted into law, as was
also national quarantine bill increasing the
powers of the marine-hospital service to meet
the threatened dangers from cholera, and an
immigration law imposing additional restric
tions on immigration, but not suspending it en-
tirey
The senate averted the bill over the Behring
sea seal fisheries by ratifying a treaty of arbi
tration, 1t also ratified eXtradtion treaties
| with Russia and other countries, but still has
| before II treaty OF annexation of the Ha
waiian islands, The opening of the Cherokee
outlet was provided for in the Indian bill under
a clause appropriatng Ss,295,OOO for its pur.
| chase from the Indians S295 900 to be paid In
cash, and SS,0O0,000 in five equal annual install
mentS
Some Important Measures.
| The following are the more important bills
! which have become laws;
| The car-coupler bill; the Chinese exclusions
| the national quarantine; immigration to gran
| an American registry to two Inman line steam
| ships; to pension survivors of the Black Hawl
1