The Press., 1897-03-25
washington Letter.
Washington, Mar. aand 1897.


 The senators do not propose to waitun- til the house passes the new tariff bill, upon which the debate was opened today to last until the 31st inst, when it will l be voted upon and passed. The senate committee on finance has decided to take the bill up at once and to "perfect" it. That may mean an almost entirely new bill by the time the senators get through their perfecting process. The finance committee has two vacancies, caused by the retirement of Sherman and Voorhees,, which are not likely to be filled at the present session. Assuming that Senator Jones, of Nevada, will vote with them, he has said that he would-the con- mittee will be controlled by protection ists, and therefore friendly to the under lying principles of the Dingley tariff bill. This isn't bit pleasing to the gentlemen who have been working for months to prepare the Dingley bill, but they can hardly be surprised. The constitution gives the house the exclusive right to or- iginate bills dealing with the revenue, but the senate has used its right to amend to such an extent, of late years, that the Mckinley and the present tariff law were both practically senate-made.
 Those who thought that the failure of four of the regular appropriation bills at the last session would make it necessary for Speaker Reed to at least app oint the committees in the present house to handle those bills, must feel little bit dazed. Speaker Reed has shown them that he knows lightning legislative trick or two. He has rushed all of those bills through the house just as they stood when passed by the last congress, and that with out the aid of a single committee, except that on rules, of which he is the chair man. It is daily becoming more evident that so far as the house is concerned, there is no general legislation upon Speak CT Reeds programme for the extra session. The house has allowed itself mileage for the extra session.
 There arc two kinds of tariff democrats
 
 by no means certain that the minority of the house will act as a unit in opposing the republican tariff bill. So far as the bill itself is concerned, it makes no diff gether against it or split up for and against parts of 1t, but 1t may have very im- portant bearing upon the future of the democratic party and incidentally of the populists. Although denied by men of prominence, it is none the less true that Mir. Bryan is being made to figure in the squabble among the democrats in the house to certain extent. That Repre- sentative Bailey, of Texas, the new lead CT of the democrats, is not partial to MT. Bryan, is well-known.
 President Mckinley after Investigating the connection of Land Commissioner Lamoreux with the Chicago lake front case, concluded that there had been nothing illegal or improper done by him, and directed Secretary Bliss to accept his resignation, which was rendered before lnO AOW obOAAAhASGAoIAOA SeSA4O AAs HAAs . LamoIeux is now sick at his home in Wisconsin, but his friends say that as soon as he gets well enough, he iscoming to Washington to make things lively for those who mixed him up with this land claim scandal. It was in connection with this case that the new administration met the first cabinet resignation rumor in it's career. Secretary Bliss was the man made to resign by rumor, because of his resentment at the order issued by the president. So far as known in Washing ton, this rumor had no better foundation than that Secretary Bliss went over to New York to attend to some private busi- ness. He had been doing this every Saturday since he entered office and re- maining with his family, who have not yet moved to Washington, until Monday morning but this time he went over Friday and the rumor-maker at once jumped to the conclusion that he had re- signed on account of the Lamoreux case |