Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1897-03-04
RECORD OF CONGRESS
DIGEST OF THE WORK OF THE
FiFTY-FOURTH SESSION.
Total appropriations Near the Billion
Mark Many Pension Bills Pass
War Claims Are Few-Mensures for
Relief of Settlers.

War Claims Are Few-NIeosures for
Relief of Settlers.
Work of Lawmakers.
Washington correspondence:
Speaker Reed and other leaders of the
House entered upon the final session of
the Fifty fourth Congress with the avow-
ed determination that no legislation which
compelled great expenditures of public
money should be enacted during the SEES
sion. They felt compelled to adopt this
policy because of the condition of the
treasury, and they have generally adher-
ed to it, although the regular appropria-
ton bills for the support of the Govern
ment have brought the total appropria-
tons Of this Congress well up to the
billion mark.
Many of the appropriations, notably
those for river and harbor improvements
and for public buildings, were necessary
to continue works authorized by other
Congresses. No public buildings have
been started by this session, and no new
battleships or vessels of any description.
although the creation of ''new navy"
begun several years ago, has by no means
been abandoned. The intention of the
House leaders at the beginning of the SEES
sion was to confine the work, so far as
possible, to the appropriation bills, and
they have been successful in living up to
their policy. These bills, moreover, have
been numbered with fewer new projects
and less general legislation than usual.
Necessarily the policy Of the House to
avoid new legislation which involved ex-
penditures has been enforced upon the
Senate. The Nicaragua canal BILL which
was discussed at great length in the Sen
ate, but not voted on, was not taken up
in the House, nor was the free home bill,
which the Senate passed, given hearing
at the other end of the capitol
The Pacific Railroad funding bill met
a decisive defeat in the House, so the Sen
ate found it useless to discuss that propo-
sition. One feature of the sessions rec
ord worthy of note is the great number Of
private pension bills passed, many of them
placing the widows of officers on the PEN
sion rolls at ratings ranging from $50 to
S75 a month. Private claims and war
claims, on the other hand, have been few.
Several of the pension bills were vetoed
by President Cleveland, but Congress en-
acted some of these. despite the veto, by
the necessary two-thirds majority.
The immigration bill establishes an ed
ucational test for immigrants and bars
out laborers who maintain their homes in
other countries.
One act written upon the statute books
this session is noteworthy as being the
work practically of one man. That is the
act to reduce the cases in which the pen
atty of death may be inflicted, a move
| 20 -
has devoted the best efforts of his con-
gressional career. The abolition of the
death penalty has been long cherished
enthusiasm with Gen. Curtis. Now, after
years of agitation of the subject, he has
succeeded in erasing from the statute
books all United States laws imposing
the death penalty for other crimes than
murder, rape. treason or piracy, and en-
dowed juries with the power to stipulate
whether or not capital punishment shall
be inflicted for these crimes.
An agitation by dramatists, composers
and theatrical managers has resulted in
securing law ct this session fixing heavy
penalties for public performances of copy
righted dramatic or musical compositions
and empowering all United States Circuit
Courts to enforce the orders of any such
court regarding these performances. The
interstate commerce laws have been ex-
tended to prevent traffic in obscene litera-
ture or articles designed for immoral
uses.
The shipping laws have been amended
to enable yachts belonging to American
or foreign clubs to enter or clear from
the customs houses without tonnage taxes,
also to require naphtha or electric boats
of more than fifteen tons burden to be
subjected to all requirements for inspec-
tons and for pilots and engineers. A new
law compels the name and draft of every
registered vessel to be marked on the stern
and bow. New regulations have been
made for the compensation of inspectors
of steam vessels for their travelling ex-
penses. All persons who make signal ex-
ertions in rescuing wrecked ship or a
drowning person are. under a law of this
session, eligible for the life-savng medals
which formerly were given only to the life
saving crew men.
The friends Of the Tennessee centen-
NAL exposition of 1897 have succeeded in
securing an appropriation of $4,000 for
a Government building and exhibit, while
the Nebraska delegation is working to Sc
cure like recognition for the Omaha ex-
position.
One of the most important pieces Of
public land legislation permits the patent
ing of lands containing petroleum or other
mineral oils under the mineral land laws.
Another extends to Jan. 1, 1899, the time
in which purchases may be made of the
railroad grant lands forfeited to the Gov
eminent under the act Of 1880, and an
other confirms cash entries which have
been declared invalid because the lands
entered were never offered for sale.
Other acts confirm the titles of settlers
in Greer County, Oklahoma: Mississippi
settlers ON swamp lands in the grants Of
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and settlers
on some $1,000 acres in Louisiana.
Among the acts of the session relating
to the courts were these: Fixing the fees
in the Circuit Court of Appeals; with
drawing from the Supreme Court juris-