The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-03
THE COMING SESSIONS WORK.

All bills not passed die at the end Of a
congress. And in the rush Of ashort ses-
sion of congress few bills are passed.
A week from next Monday congress
meets again. There are on the several
calendars of the house / ,465 bills report
ed from the various committees, and the
proportion which will pass at the COM
ing session must necessarily be small.
Most of them are. of course, private
bills (Of which there are 1,100), but there
are also 256 bills on the calendar on the
state of the Union and 80 public bills on
the regular house calendar. Some of
these are of great public Importance and
those interested will, no doubt, do all in
their power to secure action on them.
The powers lodged In the hands of the
committee on rules which give the men,
bers of that committee control of the
house program will make that commit
Zee the practical arbiter of what shall be
submitted to the house for it's action.
That committee is composed, as at pres
ent constituted, Of the speaker, Mr.. Hen
derson of Iowa, Mr.. Dalzeh of Pennsyl
vania, and Mr. MeMillin of Tennessee.
The death of ex-Speaker Crisp creates a
vacancy at the head of the minority Of
the committee, which must be filled by
the speaker. The names principally
mentioned in connection with the va
cancy are Mr.. Bailey of Texas, Mr..
Catchings Of Mississippi, Mr.. Turner OF
Georgia, Mr.. Richardson of Tennessee,
and Mr. Deckery of Missouri.
The bill which in many respects is
fraught this time with the most interest
aud which will press hardest for censid-
Grafton is the Pacific railroad funding
bill. The bonds guaranteed by the gov
ernment are payable early in the COM
ing year and either an extension or a
foreclosure stares the reads In the face.
For eight years funding bills have oc-
oupied good share of the attention Of
congress. he present bill. of which Mr..
Powers of Virginia is the author. was
reported shertly before the close of the
last session. Everything will be done
by those interested in il 10 secure con-
siderstion.
The friends Of the Nicaragua canal
also are bending every energy go secure
action on the bill reported by Mr.. Doc
little. which provides for a guarantee by
the United States of $loo,0oe.0O0 OF
bonds for the construction OF the canal
The war claims committee. which
showed fight OBJ several occasions at the
last session, promises to renew its az
Gressiveness this winter. especially for
| the psssa ge of the claims awarded IN
der the Bowman act and the French
spoiiaticn claim. These claims. the for
mer amounting TO sJS2.4J9 and the lat
ter 10 S27aS. 1876 We're put on the sun
dry civil bill AZ the last sessino. but the
bin was vetoed by the president, and
they were then dropped
Mr. Mahon. vino as chairman of the
war claims cemnsister, sFiIl also press
the Pennsyivaris border c'ainls which
have been pendins Il congress for years
The Loud bill he ssire the abuses Of the
law relating 10 se,-sad-class nail matter
by which newsps - Batieg Is transmit
ted AT cent per poanG and which has
been the subject OF azEra criticism Of
the postoffiee deparf1seial because of the
advantage taken OF Ise law In various
ways for the transmission Of books and
pamphlets. win slso be pressed as viii
the Picker service fusion bah. which oc-
cunies favorable position On the caien-
dar as privileged report Among the