The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-05-01

absolute Impotence in legislation.
The Senate passed the Indian appro
priation bill carrying over 50, 900, co
Friday. Since it has devoted most o
its time to the Naval bill, which appro
PIRATES between S3l, 900, 600 and $32
600, 600, and amendments adding to i
and pretty uniformly passed. Their
was brief but lively debate Monda,
over the section forbidding retired
naval offers from accepting privat,
employment. Tillman charged that tn,
Carnegie and Bethlehem companies
who have employed such officials arr
charging this government 1900 tol
for the same armo. as they sell Il
Russia at $780, German defended them
saying they did sell Russia at thu
latter price at one time to keep thei
works running and that the armor hat
proved to be so superior that a further
supply had been ordered at prices
about the same as the United States
government was paying and now il
looked for the first: time in the history
of the country as if the United States
would compete with England by send
ing steel blooms from this country tc
London and Liverpool.
German followed up the attack We'd
nesday charging the Republicans with
bud faithsfor their tariff bill, admitting
that the Democratic bill had been fail.
ure as regards revenue, and pointing 10
the extravaganza of this congress APP
propriating S600,000.000 in the face of
these facts. Dockery made 4 similar
argument in the house and Dingley ad-
mitted that the appropriations would go
above S500000.000
The house Tuesday passed the gen
eral pension bill by vote of lS1
to 81. The bill is estimated to add
| $40, 900, 600 a year more to the pension
roll. Its method consists in creating
new difficulties in proving fraud in
pension Investigations, in removing the
! protection OF confidential evidence. IN
! relaxing marriage. in fixing the date of
the close of the war for pension pur-
poees>at July 1860, in permitting an
honorable discharge after previous
desertion, in equalizing the rates for
the status of dependent widow. The
committee on rules brought in an
order Monday requiring a vote Tuesday
after an hour and half of debate un-
der the five minute rule-a measure
necessary as Crisp pointed out, ito
protect the $50 Republican majority
from itself" by shutting off the chance
for amendments. But the order was
passed by vote of II to IS. Still
some amendments were passed, in
Guiding one by Hepburn, Iowa, requir
ing that in all cases the law shall be
construed literally and in the interests
of claimants and that fair preponder
anco of proof, instead of such as ex
cludes reasonable doubt shall be
sufficient to establish claim. Can
non said the law of 1890 benefited
400. 600 deserving old soldiers. but
the present administration had by one
stroke of the pen taken away the
rights of 1000 Of these, and had put
the remaining 800, 600 in state of fear
The bill did not go as far as he
wished, but it was the best that could
be done now. One amendment, how
ever, by Connolly of Illinois, which
would limit the granting of pensions
to ex -confederates whose service in the
confederate army was involuntary, or at
least ended 80 days before the close
of the war was rejected.
The Republican Senatorial caucus at
Washington has agreed on May Is as
a proper date for adjournment and
named committee with Sher
man at the head, to desig-
nate what business shall be undertak
eu before that time Bot no one sup
poses that ALLOTMENT will be reached
so soon.
President Cleveland refuses TO sign
the agricultural appropriation bill,
with its slap at Secretary Morton in
the restoration of seed distribution.
This doesn't indicate that there is any
unpleasantness between the president
and the secretary as gossip has so often
had it.
Senator Morgan has made an en-
phatic minority report against the
Pacific railroad bond refunding bill
and in favor of Government operation of
the roads until their debt TO it is col
Iected. He arrays the evidence of
fraud and speculation in the con
struction and management of the roads
which has brought them to bank
ruptcy and points out how four
men who owned the stock in the
Central Pacific railway company and
few who owned that Of Union Pacific
company built the roads under |
contracts made with themselves
through contract and Finance
company and Credit Mobilier
company which they also owned, and
they have blazed up before the country |
in a glitter of wealth that eclipses the
wealth of the greatest monarchs OF the
earth. Refusing to account for the |
trust funds they have received and car
ried into their colossal fortunes, which |
would more than pay these companies
out of debt and still leave them
rich. they demand that congress shall
wait century for the payment of what
they have left to us legacy of crime.
and shall surrender to them, under a
new contract and new conditions, this
great national highway for half its |
value" But the Supreme courts de-
cisiop in the Stanford case shuts off all
hope of getting back any of the sway
and the only question now left is how
to save something for the government
from the wreck of a scheme into
which il never should have gone.
The populist dream of government
grain storage appears to have come
true in part. The post office in Wash
ington is filled with seeds sent out by
the department of agriculture, tons
and tons of them beyond the capaci-
ty of the office TO handle so that the
postmaster has called for an extra
force Of help. The congressman also
are swearing furiously at Secretary
Morton because he is making them
their own clerical work. Congress
neglected to provide force of clerks