Morris tribune., 1896-03-18
CONGRESS NEWS
Interesting Items Cleaned at
the Capital BY the Tribune
Reporter.
All the Important Doings in
the House and Senate Re
corded Weekly.

now unlocked for shall occur to pre-
vent congress can easily adjourn BY
June LIST. For a time it appeared
that the senate might prolong the
session by dillydallying on the appro-
priation bills, but up to this time
there has been no disposition to dc
SO, and present indications are that
the senators are just as anxious Tor an
early adjournment as the members OF
the house are. The house is unusu-
ally we'll advanced upon the appro'
priation bills and, unless there shall
be a wrangle over the river and har-
Dor appropriation bill, which will be
the last one reported, all of them Will
have passed that branch of congress
before the middle of April. The idea
of any tariff or financial legislation at
this session has been almost, If not
entirely abandoned by every body
The at times exciting debate IN the
senate this week on.the report OF the
committee on foreign relations IN tav-
or of accepting the house substitute
for the senate concurrent Cuban reso-
buttons has been highly entertaining
to the crowded galleries, but when
considered as whole it is extremely
difficult to see what was the use of it
at all. The senate had already put
itself on record in favor of resolutions
precisely the same, only differing in
wording, and everybody knew 1t
would not reverse itself by refusing
to accept the report of its committee
So long as the president did not send
the Spanish minister his passports for
having so far forgotten his position as
TO have used the columns of news
paper to question statements made
by senators, as be should unquestion-
ably have done, it would have been
more dignifed for the senate to have
ignored him. But this isn't the first
time the senate has chosen to be
talkative rather than dignifed. When
the senate adopted its original Cuban
resolution the time for speechmaking
on that subject should have ended.
There's no use trying man after he
is hung.
1t seems that Secretary Hoke Smith
has not abandoned the idea of cap
turing the seat in the q. S. senate
which Gen. Gordon will vacate next
March. This was shown by his virtu-
ally compelling the Southern Rail
way, which has recently secured con-
troll of the Georgia, Southern and
Florida railroad, to appoint one of his
friends attorney for the latter road in
Georgia. Secretary Smith recently
complained to the head Of the syndi-
cate which controls the Southern
Railway that the Georgia attorney for
that corporation was using his posi-
ten against his (Smith's) senatorial
aspirations and in favor of ex-Speaker
Crisp. The railroad man not deem
Jug it advisable to quarrel with the
Secretary of the Interior and not dar-
ing to remove the attorney of whom
Dir. Smith complained, who is son
,-of one of the owners of the Atlanta
Constitution, told Mr.. Smith that he
might have one ofhis friends appoint
ed Georgia attorney for the Geor-
gia Southern and Florida railroad.
Mr.. Smith named Mr. John /.
Hall, who has resigned the
position of assistant attorney general
Tor the interior department to go to
Georgia and look after the Smith
boom, and incidently the interests of
the railroad that will pay his salary,
and the Southern Railway has pull
ON both sides
There is some very plain talk in the
majority report of the senate commit
. tee on privileges and elections in fav-
sor of Senator Aliens resolution for
the investigation of the election of
The Alabama legislature which elected
Senator Morgan. For instance, the
report says: '"The case is not merely
rone of local frauds which has hap
pened here and there over the state,
but is that willfully planned and
deliberately manufactured masses of
fraudulent returns, based upon no
votes whatever, but made to apparent
ly defeat state government that was
actually chosen, and to give apparent
title to state government defeated
by the voters" The report says there
isn't the slightest doubt of the right
of the senate to make this investiga-