Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-11-30
NO END OF WORK
NEAR 1900 BILLS TO DISPOSE OF,

About . thousand u which, However,
Are Private AAAirs-Some Measures That
WIN Challenge and Obtain Attention.
Pacific Railway Measure L. Urgent =
Treasurer Morgan Reports . DeAcit Of
SEA. 100. 900. eli, 200, 600 Less Than IL
Was . Year Ago.
Washington. Nov. so.-It is not prob
able that the house at the coming ses-
sion Of congress. which begins a week
from today. can dispose of much Of the
proposed legislation which encumbers
its calendars. Little is usually accom-
plished at the short session beyond the
passage Of the regular supply bills.
The question Of legislation for addi-
tional revenues for the government will
depend on the senate, to which body
the house sent the Dingley bill al
most year ago. Should 1t be i'm
possible. or be deemed inexpedient, to
press that measure through the senate
there 10 of course a possibility that the
proposal to increase the revenues by
an additional tax on beer or the i'm
position OF a duty on tea, coffee. etc,
may take tangible form. and IL SO
such legislation must originate in the
lower branch Of congress.
Nearly 1,5OO Bills ON the Calendar.
There are on the several calendars
of the house Lass bills reported from
the various committees, and the pro-
portion which will pass at the coming
session must be necessarily almost in
intestinal. Most of them are private
bills (of which there are 1,100), but
three are also 256 bills on the calendar
on the state of the union and ninety
nine public bills on the regular house
calendar. Some of these are of very
great public Importance. and those in
terested will no doubt do all in their
power to secure action upon them. The
powers lodged in the hands of the COM
mittee on rules, which give the MEM
bers Of that committee control Of the
house programme, will make that COM
mittee the practical arbiter Of what
shall be submitted to the house for its
action.
Important Bills on the List.
The bill which in many respects Is
fraught at this time with most interest
and which will press hardest for con-
sideration Is the Pacific railroad fund
ing bill. The bonds guaranteed by the
government are payable early in the
coming year, and either an extension
or foreclosure stares the roads in the
face. For eight years funding bills
have occupied a good share of the
attention of congress. The war claims
committee promises to renew its aggres-
siveness for the passage Of the claims
awarded under the Bowman act and
the French spoliation claims. These
claims, the former amounting to $562, =
459 and the latter to 81. 70S, 1876, were put
on the sundrycivil bill at the last ses-
sion as a rider of the senate. but the
bill was vetoed by the president and
they were then dropped.
OF Interest to the Newspapers.
The bill to cure the abuses of the law
relating to second class matter, by which
newspaper matter is transmitted at one
cent per pound and which has been the
subject of much criticism of the post.
office department because of the ad-
vantage taken Of the law in various
ways for the transmission Of books and
pamphlets. will also be pressed. Among
theother bills are the Wadsworth bill
for the creation of bureau of animal
industry for the inspection Of meat and
the regulation of the transportation Of
live stock, the immigration bill, the
Chickering bill for ascertaining the
feasibility and cost of a ship canal
from the great lakes to the Hudson.
and several important public land bills.