The Washington times., 1894-12-02
CLOAK ROOM AND GALLERY.

The prospects for quorum OF the House
on Monday are not very brilliant. Usually
members preparing to leave homo for Wash
ington telegraph to the postmaster of the
House to hold their mail pending their ar
rival. Up TO last night the postmaster had
received comparatively few orders Of this
kind. and fully three-fonrths Of the names OF
members on the big "ro ter az the House
post-of1ce still stand with the orders for
transfer OF their mails to their homes. About
fifty members have arrived in the city, and
kilograms have been received from bali as
many more directing the postmaster to hold
their mail pending their arrival. Even the
Appropriation Committee, which has been
drumming vigorously for quorum OF Its
members. has not yet been successful.
Notwithstanding the absence Of many Of its
members the Appropriation Committee Of the
House is pushing its work along, aud hopes
to be ableto set the House at work on appro-
priation bills next week. ave shall have two
/ appropriation bills ready for the considera-
I ton of the House as soon as it gets ready to
attend to matters Of this kind. said Chair
man Sayers, talking to TIMES representa-
tive yesterday. Probably the pension bill
will be the first one to be reported, though
( Mr.. Livingston, who is chairman OF the sub
I committee on Notifications, hopes to have his
! bill ready very soon. So it is quite probable
| that we shall present the pension and fortih-
! cations bills to the House for their consider
| alton next week.
! "Is this to be another billion dollar Con-
| gress, Mr.. Chairman The TINES represent
ative asked.
THAT we can answer better at the end OF
| the session. said the chairman with smile.
! 'The total appropriations OF last session came
/ within about seven millions OF reaching the
half billion line and the experience Of the past
| few years have been that the appropriations
OF the second session are somewhat greater
than those of the first We shall do all we
| can to hold the amounts down 10 the limit
! fixed by last session, but whether we viii be
successful is, Of course, impossible to say at
| present. We shall have TO supply five million
! dollars this time for interest on new bonds,
| which will be one item not heretofore required.
| On tho other hand our pension DILL Will be
less than that of last session, as the pension
| office has made its estimate about ten million
dollars less than the one it sent Us last year.
| Our pension appropriation will doubtless
| be about $40, ,0Q0, the amount named by the
| Pension Bureau in the estimates sent in. IL
] has always been the custom OF the Appropri-
alton Committee TO take the figures furnished
| by the Pension Ofice as the proper amount 10
be appropriated. Whatever We may do inthe
| way of cutting other estimates We do not ex-
ercise this prerogatlve in regard 20 pension
| appropriations. There has always been ads
position to depend absolutely upon the iudg-
ment Of the Pension Bureau, and II pension
| appropriations are not satisfactory the re-
| spOnsibility rests with those who prepare
them. We shall be able 20 make something
Of a reduction this time in tha appropriations
for river and harbOr improvements, though
many OF the contract works still demand
large sums for this session. II Is n curious
fact" added the chairman. that we must
continue making these large contracts FOR
| appropriations for rivers and har5ors and
naval vessels up to and including the very
last session Of our Democratic Congress,
while the first session Of the next Republican
Congress will be free from a large proportion
OF them since our appropriations at this ses-
sion will close up most o. the contract work,
especially on the large river and harbor
undertakings which were authorized by the
last Republican Congress"
The friends OF the new tariff law will not
find a very satisfactory record Of its workings
during the first quarter OF the year when they
come together in Congress on Monday. The
law. it will be remembered, went into effect
August 2S and its first three months OF ser
vice ended November 2s. The total receipts
OF the Treasury. including tariff, internal
revenue and miscellaneous. during those
three months were SCI, ,534 ,376 The expen-
ditures during that time were $50, ,s3l ,lSo.
This makes deficiency of s31, ,246, 7S2 during
the three months. This will be especially
painful to the meu who urged in its behalf
| that however great its shortcomings, It would
edo what the Mckinley law does not-supply
money enough TO meet the running expenses
of the government"
Some fIend who doubtless remembers this
assertion so often repeated has taken the
trouble to examine the official records for the
first three months of the Mckinley law and
finds that the receipts under it were S99.O07-
Ol2. while the expenditures during that time
were S94 194. 1876. This indicates that the
Mckinley law in its first three months pro
duced a sum more than fifty per cent greater
than the Wilson-Gorman law in the CORE
spending period OF IT'S history, supplying {
surplus OF 4s72, ,s76, against a deficiency o
S31, ,246, 1872 produced by the present law IN
the same period OF its history.