The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-01
THREE BILLS IN PERIL.
Appropriation Measures Loaded Down
with Amend ents.

with amendments
Special to the Indianapolis Journal
WASHINGTON, Feb 2s-An lingering
fears of an immediate extra session of the
of the vital appropriation bills in the Sem
ate, were dispelled this afternoon when the
Senate passed the sundry civil bill and inn
mediately began consideration of the legis-
lative. judicial and executive bill. All at
tempts at financial legislation have been
removed from the sundry civil bill. The
provision for naming delegates to any inter
national bimetallic conference to which this
government may be invited has no really
serious significance. Experience has indi-
Gated again and again that these interna-
{. tional conferences are never anything
than series of pleasant junkets for the
delegates who attend them. The last con-
ference of the kind-that of Brussels, in
1S92-was the same old story of endless
speeches and final fzzle so far as prac-
teal results are concerned. and it is hard
ly likely that either Germany or Great
Britain will forget the Brussels fasco, in
spite of the recent bimetallic furries In the
Reischtag and in Parliament. Even il an
other conference Is called, no real danger
of any 16 to / ratio threatens.
At the same time. while there is no danger
of an extra session on account of failing
appropriation bills, there is grave possi-
bility that at least one, and possibly even
three, of the appropriations bills will fail
In the first place, the naval appropriation
bill, loaded down as it Is with millions for
new battle ships. must be jettisoned of
these millions or the bill will sink. Senator
German, who has in the past been the tire
less advocate of liberal appropriations for
new navy, announces that the treasury
c;,,,
Hence the House must surrender that item
or the bill will be killed in conference. In
this event, a joint resolution will be hurried
ly whipped through both houses, continuing
this years appropriations for the naval
establishment, so that the machinery of the
Navy Department will not be stopped.
The same situation obtains of the consular
and diplomatic bill. The House to-day again
Indicated its unalterable opposition to the
Hawaiian cable project. The probabilities
in this case favor surrender by the Sem
ate, although Chairman Morgan of the
Senate conferees, has permitted himself to
be quoted as favorng killing the bill before
surrendering the cable Should he persist in
this determination, similar joint resolu-
ton will be put through. continuing the ex-
listing appropriation for the State Depart
ment. Then there is the general deficiency
House with revolving lot of petty grabs.
The Senate has apparently a high sense
of the proprieties, not unmixed with sar-
donic humor, for the appropriations COM
mittee of that honorable assembly has
stricken out the dsgraceful steal by which
the members of the House, under the glse
of an extra months salary for their clerks,
voted themselves an extra hundred dollars,
and has inserted instead an extra months
salary for the Senators own clerks. There
will be little wrong done If this bill fails.
The principal subject of controversy in the
conference over the sundry civil bin viii
be the Senate amendment for. this years
sugar bounty. The House conferees Will
oppose 1t, and, as Senator German, who Is
one of the Senate conferees, has taken the
stand that this bounty, while proper claim
in justice and equity, ought not to have
been slipped on an appropriation bill to it's
jeopardy. it is quite likely that the Sem
ate will yield IL the House shows itself de-
termined in its opposition.
With this brief resume of the sta tus of the
different appropriation bills, all further
discussion of extra sessions may Tor the
present be postponed. The only factor in
specializing on extra session is the ability
Of the Rothschild- Morgan syndicate to keep
exchange down tn the point where the
shipment of gold offers no attraction to the
patriots in Wall street. SO long as that is
the case there is danger of an extra
session. But the day they fail an extra
session becomes only question of time. for
another issue of bonds will be useless to
meet the situation