The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-06-13
A LONG, SHORT SESSION
CONGRESS Expected TO ADJOURS
TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY.
Brief Session Due to Political Differ
ences Between Senate, House
and President.

seems probable, the lISL Sos5lOn VI lHS
Fifty-fourth congress adjourns this week,
1t will be the shortest so-called long
session" since that of the Thirty-fifth
congress. and one of the shortest in the
history of the government. This reco.d
is probably due 10 political differences be-
tween the senate. house and the presi-
dent which have forestalled agreements
on lines of legislation, and partly due TO
the determination which the republican
leaders in the house have carried into eff
feet Speaker Reeds caucus prediction
that the congress would be a do-nothing
assemblage.
Legislation means appropriations, as
the house leaders have said. and as their
opinion was that the treasurys condition
warranted no appropriations except the
most imperatively necessary, they have
held the doors tightly shut against
classes of bills which usually receive
the parings. Foremost among the inev-
liable and regular acts of congress are
the annual appropriation bills for the
support of the government Their prep
aration has constituted a large part of
the work of the session, and five of them
yet hanging between the house and
senate with some of their details unset
tied and for this reason il is impossible
to give the exact totals of .he bill on the
grand total of appropriations made by
this congress, which aggregate about half
billion dollars; but the disbursements
authorized during the session will be dis
cussed hereafter by Chairman Cannon of
the appropriations committee and eX-
Chairman Sayers from the points of view
of their respective parties.
Tariff or financial legislation of any
general character was abandoned for all
practical purposes when the disagree
ments between the house and senate were
demonstrated by the fate of the two bills
prepared by the house ways and means
committee. Other lines of business were
also tabooed by the house because of the
alleged lack of revenue notably the pub
lie buildings. public and provincial claims
and all sorts of private bills; bills entail
ing expenditures except pension bills, 10
which last the usual amount of time has
oeen given. One of the most bitterly con
tested fights which has occurred has
crept out from the provisions of the In
dian and District of Columbia bills for
government aid to church schools, feat
ure which still holds both bills in con-
ference. The Indian bill contains pro-
visions giving the homestead settlers on
all ceded Indian reservations an extern
sion of one year in which to make pay
ments, and for the completion of the sur
veys of the land in Indian territory.
Incidental to the legislative, executive
and judicial bill was an entire revision
of the salaries of attorneys. marshals and
commissioners, with the stipulation shat
the term of office of commissioners ex-
I, Ill
conferred upon the president authority
10 suspend the prohibition against i'm
portations of meat cattle, domestic ami
mails and hides on the certihcation of the
secretary of agriculture that countries or
parts of countries are free from con-
tagious or infectious diseases of animals;
authorized the president 70 take steps to
secure the abrogation OF the regulations
by Great Britain prohibiting the impor-
tation of cattle from the United States
into that country alive.
In the sundry civil bill the most i'm
portant legislation is to make effective
the Carey arid land act, which ceded arid
land to the public-land states for recla-
nation, by authorizing the states to give
liens on the land to cover the expenses OF
reclamation. The most noteworthy legs-
lation pertaining to the navy is contained
in the appropriation bill. The house pro-
vided for 15 new torpedo boats and four
battleships, but the senate reduced the
number of battleships to two, and a con-
ference is pending over that difference.
The bill made provision for the enlist
ment Of 1000 additional seamen. 1t also
made unlawful the employment of naval
or marine officers on the active or re-
tired list by parties furnishing supplies
or materials of war to the government.
A special report authorized the accept
ance by the government of the ram
katahdin. which failed to make the speed
required by the contracts, but which sat
isfied the department, being largely IN
experimental craft. The naval reserve
system was strengthened by a plan de-
signed to draft vessels engaged n the
coastwise trade into the service IN time
of war. An act was passed to establish
a naval training station on Yerba Buena,
or Goat Island, San Francisco harbor.
The secretary was empowered to accept
certified checks in lieu of bonds from
contractors for naval uspphes. No special
legislation was contained in the army
appropriation bill. Special bills were
passed, however, creating the positions
of chaplain, who will also be professor
OF history, geography and ethics, and an
assistant professor of the same branches
At West Point academy, making the ma
''~~al military park fields for maneuvers
the national guards or militia, and a
esolution appointing General Franklin Of
Connecticut, General Thomas Henderson
of Illinois, Representative Steele of In
diana and George l.. Beale of Maine
members of the board of managers Cor
the national soldiers home.