The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-03
HOUSE FkVORS GOOD HARBoRS
APPROPRIATION BILL PASSED
OVER THE PRESIDENTS VETO.

The Vote 22O to 6O-ThIrty-Nine
Democrats Recorded in Favor of
Passing the Measure Despite the
Adverse Action of the President.
StOyyd of North Carolina the Only
PODuIist Who Voted in Favor of
Passing the Bill.
Washington. June 2.-In the House to-
day Mr.. Henderson reported from the
committee on rules an order making the
hours Of meeting for the remainder OF
the session II O'Clock. 1t was agreed to.
IN this connection Mr.. Dingley, chair
man Of the committee on ways and means.
called the attention of the members to
the necessity of maintaining a quorum
in attendance in order that the business
of the House might be successfully prose-
cuted. Seven Of the appropriation bills,
he said. were still in conference, with
several matters Of difference between the
two houses, likely to cause friction, and
upon which yea and nay votes would
doubtless be demanded before they were
settled. In order to close up the business
of the House he warned members pro-
posing to leave that the presence of a
quorum was absolutely necessary. If a
quorum be broken, Mr.. Dingley said, he
desired to warn members that it would
be necessary to send for them.
Mr.. Cannon. chairman of the commit
tee on appropriations, state that, in his
judgment, there was no possibility that
The present session of congress would end
before Wednesday Of next week, and
probably not before Friday or Saturday
Mr.. Henderson-That depends upon a
quorum remaining?
Mr.. Cannon-Oh, yes; certainly. With
out a quorum the session would run along
for a month.
The Speaker-The speaker expresses the
hope that the quorum-keeping viii be-
gin promptly at II o'clock.
The report of the committee on rivers
and harbOrs recommending the passage
of the river and harbor appropriation,
'the objections of the President TO the
by Mr. Hooker, rep, Of New York, chair
man, and read. The report states that
5bdS ap IN he em b GI a eEeept awe6H GqH
seven are for projects contained in bills
which have heretofore become laws and
which have been for years in process OF
construction by the government. No new
projects were added to the bill of 1884. It
will thus be seen, the report states, that
been the investigation and examination
of improvements to which congress has
and harbor bill of 1890 appropriated So
100000 and placed certain works under
the contract system, Wnlcn lnVOlNeQ the
additional expenditure or $l5,OVO,UOO II
appears, therefore, that by far the great
er number Of the projects appropriat@ed @
for in this bill were also approprlated Tor
in the bill of 1890, and which are not yet
completed.
referred to Gen. Casey, then chief of the
United States engineers, who reported to
President Harrison that only eight OF the
items seemed to be of limited or local
benefit. The gross amount appropriated
for these items was $4,000. From TINS II
will be seen, the report continues thaI
the larger part Of the projects contained
in the present BILL passed the scrutiny
and received the approval OF Gen. casey,
and have gone unchallenged until now.
President Harrison, and the bill OF 1874
was permitted by the present executive
to become a law by limitation.
The committee impeach the Presldent
declara ton that many of the objects Tor
which the money is appropriated are not
related to the public WeHare; Ihey as
sert that the bill was carefully prepared
after exhaustive hearings, ana tnat they
scrupulously avoided making approprla-
tions not in the interest of commerce.
Referring to the Presidents criticism
that not a few of the improvements nave
been so improvidently planned ana prose-
cuted that after an unwise expenditure
of millions of dollars, new experiments
for their accomplishment nave peeh en-.
tered upon, the committee say tnaI ~
has often occurred after project mas
been adopted in accordance with certain
defined plans submitted by the engineers,
that the interests of commerce required
that a greater and more effective inn
urOVement than that first contemplated
ebonId he made. In such cases it had long
been the custom of congress 10 order from
time to time new estimates to be MADE
with view to enlarging the scope OF
these projects. In making appropria-
tions for these enlarged projects the plil
often directed that the money appr0pIla-
ted should be expended IN accoE lance lance
with the notifications of the engineers.
The committee believe, therefore, thal
the President may have inferred from the
language SO used that the original plans
had been improvident and lll-adVlsed ana
the money wasted, when the money gsA-
pended UPON the original plans was Ju-
diciously expended and would nave peen
expended even If the modified plans had
these modihcations is found in the case
of harbors at Baltimore, Portland, New
York Wilmington, Del, Savannah, ana
A careful re-examination of the bin war
rants the committee in asserting that there
is no foundation for the President state
rnent that the bill carries appropriations
for work which private parties nave act-
ually agreed with the government 10 90
in consideration OF their occupancy VI
Referring to the Presidents further
criticism that the blll conteIilPia tes d, an
81 immediate cash expenditure OF nearIy
$l70O0,000, including $3C9@OeO carried IN the
sundry civil appropriations Dlll IQI con-
tract work, the committee asserts InaI I@ns @
President is in error, and only Sl2,6zl,VJ9
are to be expended during the two hscal
wears ending June 80, 1898. The statement
is also made that the bill does not appro-
Il pirate $50, ,000,0OO for contract work. put
only $50 $4,000.
II is also shown that if all the contracts
authorized by the bill are promptly enter
ed into by the Secretary of War the max
imum amount that can be expended in
any one year is S16,6 900 and not S20,000,O00
as the President asserts.
Referring to the Presidents further crit
icsm that the appropriations for the
smaller schemes not covered by. con-
tracts which will fall due two years hence,
viii net be less than $30o00,0O0. the COM
mittee say that the next river and harbor
bill will only cover the cost Of prosecut-
ing these smaller works for the two fiscal
4 years ending in 1900 and that no addi-
tional appropriations for the smaller ones
viii be made for the year 1898
Passing to the Presidents accusation
q Of extravaganza, the committee shows
that the average appropriations for the
past six years have been S16,700000 a
year, while, including the present bill
and the two others for the remainder OF
this century, the total amount for those