Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-12-03
WORK In SIGHT FOR CONGRESS
FIFTEEN HUNDRED
BILLS ON THE CALEN-
OARS OF THE
HOUSE.

Only a Few Will be Acted Upon
Question Of Legislation fol
Mere Revenue Depends OF
the Senate.
Washington, Nov. 3O,-It il
not probable that the House, a,
the coming session of Congress,
which begins a week from to-
day, can dispose of much of the
proposed legislation which encum-
bers it's calendar. Little is usually
accomplished at the short session
beyond the passage of the regular
supply bills. Still, the House,
with its instrumentalities for the
expedition of business, can nccom-
plish great deal in a brief time.
The question Of legislation for adj
ditional revenues for the govern
ment will depend on the Senate,
to which body the House sent the
Dingley bill almost a year ago.
Should it be impossible Or be
deemed inexpedient to press that
measure through the Senate thors
is, of course, a possibility that the
proposal to increase the revenues
by an additional tax on beer or the
imposition of a duty on tea, cot
fee, ETC., may take tangible form,
and if SO, such legislation must
originate, under the Constitution,
in the lower branch of Congress.
There are on the several calen
dars of the House, LAOS bills re-
ported from the various commit
tees, and the proportion which
will pass at the coming session
must be, necessarily, almost in
6nitesimal. Most of them are,
of course, private bills, of which
there are l LOO, but there are also
256 bills on the calendar on the
State of the Union and 80 public
bills on the regular House calen-
dar. Some of these are of great
public importance, and those in
tercsted will no doubt do all in
their power to secure action upon
them.
The powers lodged in the hands
of the committee on rules, which
give the members of hat COM
mittee control of the House pro-
gramme, will make that COM
mittee the practical arbiter of
what shall be submitted to the
House for its action. That COM
mittee is composed, as at present
constituted, of the Speaker, Nj.
Henderson, of iowa; Mr., Dalzell,
of Pennsylvania and MI. McMil-
Ian, of Tennessee. The death of
Ex-Speaker Crisp creates a va
cancy at the head of the minority
of the committee, which must be
filed by the Speaker. The names
principally mentioned in connec-
with the vacancy are Mr..
Bailey, of Texas, Mr.. Catchings,
of Mississippi; Mr.. Turner, of
Nh. Richardson, of
and Mr.. Dockery, of
Missouri.
The bill which, in many re-
spects is fraught at this time with
most interest and which will press
hardest for consideration is the
Pacific Railroad funding bill. The
guaranteed by the govern
ment are payable early in the
coming year and either an extern
or . foreclosure stares the
road in the face. For eight years
funding bills have occupied a
good share of the attention of
The present bill, of
which Mr.. Powers, of Virginia, is
the author, was reported shortly
before the close of the last session.
Everything will be done by those
in it to secure considera-
ton. The friends of the Nicar-
aqua Canal are also bending every
energy to secure action on the bill
reported by Mr.. Doolittle, which
provides for a guarantee by the
United States of 81, 600, 900, 900
bonds for the construction Of
he canal.
The war claims committee,
showed fight on several oc-
,asions in the last sessions, prom
Ises to renew their aggressiveness
this winter, especially for the pas
sage of the claims awarded under
The Bowman act and tho French
claims. These claims,
former amounting to $685.
t59, and the latter to So, 708, 1876.
we're put on the sundry civil bill
the last session as a rider of the
but the bill was vetoed by
The President and they were then
Mr.. Malone, who is
of the war claims COM
nittee, will also press the Penn
,ylyania border claims, which
nave been pending in Congress for
years.
Tho Loud bill to cure the abuses
IF the law relating to second class
mail matter, of which newspaper