Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-02
THE EXTRA SESSION.
What Has Been Accomplished in
Both Houses Of Congress.
BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED.
A Large Number Have Passed in
the House.
W AITING SEN ATE ACTION.

NOW that the extraordinary session Is ap-
parently SO near its end it may be interest
ing TO recall what has been accomplished.
Inc session began on Monday, August T.
The Presidents proclamation, calling at
tention to the distrust and apprehension
concerning the financial condition of the
country and stating that he had called Con-
gress together to the end that the people
might be relieved from the impending dan
ger and distress through legislation, was
read In the Senate and House on the 7th,
and on the Sth the Presidents message, urg-
ing the prompt repeal of the purchasing
clause of the Sherman silver act, was re-
ceived and read.
The Repeal Bill.
The House spent the first three days of
the session in organizing and discussing the
contested election case of Belknap against
richardson. On Friday, August IL, Mr.
Wilson of West Virginia presented his bill
repeating the purchasing clause of the Sher-
man law. Debate on the subject was lin
ited to fourteen days. On Monday, August
the 2Sth, the bill was passed by a vote Of
2S9 to los. The same day the bill was sent
to the Senate aRd referred to the finance
committee. The next day august 29 Sem
ator voorhees,, from the finance committee
reported to the Senate a substitute for the
was taken up and Senator Sherman of Ohio
opened the discussion with a speech in favor
OF 1t. Wednesday, November 1-All Saints
day-the Senate substitute for the House
Dill passed both Houses of Congress and be-
came law by the Presidents signature.
Senate Bills and Resolutions.
OF the LBS other bills and SO joint resolu-
tions introduced in the Senate only about
a dozen passed. They include bills making
appropriations for hall of records and the
Senate folding room; to aid the mid-winter
exposition in California, and relative to
homestead entries in Oklahoma, and Joint
resolution granting to the state OF Illinois
the brick battleship built in connection with
the worlds fair. for the use of it's naval
militia This last has become law by :he
action of the House.
Similar Measures I'm the House.
In the House 4.291 bills and so Joint reso-
lutions were introduced. Committees re-
ported on about $50 of them and about so
were passed. Among the more important
measures which were acted on by the House
were the following:
Important Ones Acted On.
For the relief of purchasers Of timber and
stone lands; for the protection of persons
furnishing labor and material for public
works; amending the timber culture laws;
fixing the times for holding u. s. courts in
Idaho and Wyoming (became a law); for
the better control and to promote the
safety of national banks; relative TO the
disqualification of registers and receivers
of public land offices; disqualfying justices,
judges and U. s. commissioners from sitting
as such in cases in which they are interest
ed providing revenue cutters for the great
lakes, San Francisco harbor and the New
England coast; increasing the number of
army officers to be detailed to colleges; re-
quring railroads operating on territory over
which right OF way has been granted to
establish stations at town sites established
by the Interior Department.; extending the
time for completing the eleventh census
became law; amending the law relative
to the fees of u. s. district attorneys mar
shals, commissioners and clerks of courts:
the public printing bill; repeating the sec
tion of the statutes requiring proof of Icy
atty in pension cases: adding the Secretary
of Agriculture to the list of eligibles for the
Presidency in case of the death of the
President; regarding the disposition of arti-
cleS imported for exhibition at the worlds
fair; allowing the settlement of the prop
erty of the Mormon Church held py a re-
ceiver; for reporting, marking and removing
derellcts and other menaces to navigation
in the North Atlantic ocean (became a law);
and fixing the qualifications to vote and
hold office in the Cherokee outlet
Waiting on the Senate.
The great majority of these bills, though
passed by the House have not yet been
acted on by the Senate. All will be in or
der, of course, al the opening of the regular
session as unfinished business. The Chinese
bill is still before the Senate; the New
York and New Jersey bridge bill, which
passed both houses, is in conference with
some doubt about an agreement being
reached during the extra session The ur-
gent deficiency bill is also in conference
the principal point in dispute being the
payment of Senate clerks during the re-
cess. The bill releasing owners of mining
claims from the necessity of doing one
hundred dollars worth of work each year
on their claims, during the present depres-
sion of silver mining, became a law and is
an important measure of relief. The bill
providing for the printing of enrolled bills
instead of their engrossment so as to avoid
mistakes, has also passed both houses and
will be among the important measures of
the extra session. 1t will thus be seen that
Notwithstanding the length of time devoted
to discussion of the silver bill some impor-
tant work has been accomplished by the
extra session.