The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1894-03-30
PROBLEMS.
Congressman Holman Says Congress
Is Making Good Speed in Leg
islative Business.
All Efforts to Repeal or Modify the
Civil Service Law Will
Be Rejected.
WASHINGTON, March 24.-ISpecial. +
1t Will Take Three Years More to
Complete the Work of the
Eleventh Census.

"This congress- says Judge Holman, sis
making an exceptionally good record for
promptness and speed, and its critics are
making quite as much noise as is usual at
about this stage. 1t is always the way.
Each new congress scarcely gets its COM
mittees organized and at work before there
Is a great cutlery that it is IA do nothing
congress and ignores the needs and wishes
Of the people"
Whether the public is to believe this
must depend on their judgment of what is
done. But congress now has quite a num-
Der of interesting questions before it,
among them these: Does the Wilson bill
as 1t passed the house abrogate the reci-
procity treaties, and, if SO, how much, and
what are we to do about it? Shall the
constitution be changed so as to give the
president power to veto a single item in an
appropriation bill? Shall the civil service
law and the whole business be abolished
outright, as provided for in the bill intro
duced by Mr.. Anderson of West Virginia,
or shall it be extensively moderated, as in
the bill by Mr.. Wheeler of Alabama Shall
We have free ships, taxation of all kinds
of money, antioption and so on? And
these are but a few of the pending conun-
drums.
4 Curious Complication.
Several members of the committee have
given it as their opinion that both the AL
derson bill and the Wheeler bill will be re-
jected, and that civil service reform has
come to stay. The Wheeler bill would give
the appointing power to heads of depart
ments, president and secretaries, as of old,
but with the proviso that the appointees
must pass a civil service examination be-
fore they can qualify. In short, it would
put them on about the same footing as ap-
pointments to West Point and the Naval
academy, and il either bill secures favor
in the house it will be this one.
A rather curious complication on the
matter of imported cattle has been devel-
oped, and several Texans are urging the
senate to consider their interests. A bill
introduced by Hon. 4. NJ. Paschal of the
Twelfth Texas district and passed by both
houses provided that cattle might be taken
into Mexico for grazing purposes and
brought back free of duty, this privilege
being contingent on the passage of a like
measure by Mexico. which country places
both an export and an import duty on cat
tie, ranging from rs cents to 50 per head.
Assurances were given from the Mexican
capital that such a bill would be promptly
passed, but it has not been done.
The Paschal bill limited its own opera
tons to one year, and the special cause of
it's introduction was the drought prevalent
for the last two years in all western Tex
as. 1t now appears, however, that it has
long been the custom to allow cattle taken
into Mexico for grazing to be returned du-
ry free, and at Eagle Pass alone about e.
900 head have thus been exported and re-
imported within the last five years. Was
there any law for this, or was it only pur-
suant to a treasury ruling? The senators
who have examined it declare there is no
such law, and therefore the Paschal bill
has been tackled on as all amendment to
the Wilson bill, and if adopted it will make
the privilege permanent.
A Proposed Constitutional Amendment.
The legislative, executive and judicial
appropriation bill and the general deficien-
cy bill are the only ones still remaining in
the appropriations committee, and both
will be completed and in the house early
In April. The hearings on the first have
long been completed and on the second are
still in progress. On neither do the esti-
mates show any important change from
previous years. 1t is estimated that by the
close of the present month about 900 pri-
vate pension bills will nave been introduce
ed during this session. and that certainly
not more than SO of them will have receiv-
ed favorable action. Nor is it believed that
more than one in twenty of such bills will
ever be passed by this congress.
The sentiment in favor Of the resolution
for amending the constitution so as to give
the president the special veto power above
indicated is quite strong in both houses,
or at least the men who favor it are the
ones who do the talking. 1t is quietly
limited, however, by the opposition that a
good deal OF this talk is for effect, it being
the understanding that while many seem
to favor the resolution very few really do,
and that congress is at heart opposed to
having its powers curtailed any further in
that direction.
A Good Showing.
Another measure which is being urged
with some force is that providing for a per-
manent census bureau. 1t is now conceded
that the year 1897 will probably he here
before the last work is lone on the elev-
enth census. and it is only within a few