Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-02-17
FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON, February II
SENATE.

n joint resolution was r6pOrlou Wy
Mr.. Sherman, from the committee on
foreign relations, permitting the Secre-
tary of War to detail an army officer,
not above the rank of captain, for the
position of instructor in the military
school of the Greater Republic of Gen.
trail America and was passed.
A resolution was offered by Mr.. Pet
tigrew and was agreed to, calling on
the Secretary of State for copy of Sir
Julian Pauncefote's reply to Secretary
Gresham's letter calling the attention
of the British government to the utter
failure of the regulations of the Paris
tribunal for the protection of the fur
seal herds of Alaska, and requesting a
revision of the same.
A resolution was offered by Mr.. Vest
and was agreed to, calling on the
Secretary of the Interior for in.
formation as to the proposed cree
ton of a steam elevator in Yellow
canon, Yellowstone Park, and request
ing him to withhold action thereon I'M
til the propriety of the matter can be
determined by Congress.
A resolution heretofore offered by
Mr.. Allen inquiring of the Civil Ser
vice Commission in relation to the I'M
authorized discharge of certain en-
ployes in the Bureau of Animal Industry
in South Omaha, was taken up and
discussed by Mr.. Allen.
He related his unavailing efforts to
get information on the subject and
spoke of the treatment which he had
received from the civil service commits
sion as "a violation of all the decencies
and proprieties OF official life" The only
excuse given for the discharge of two
employees Miss Dalton and Miss
Flynn was, Mr.. Allen said, that they
had a picture of Mr.. Bryan on their
| window; while six other women in the
bureau had pictures of Mr.. Mckinley
in their windows, but were not even
reprimanded. Two others of the dis
| charged had been victims of the civil
service law because they were support
ers of Mr.. Bryan. He denounced the
civil service law as a fraud, suare and
| delusion. The resolution was agreed
to. 1t directs the civil service commits
sion to report all the facts and circum-
stances to the Senate.
The conference report of the immi-
grafton bill was laid before the Senate,
| and was briefly explained by Mr..
Lodge, in charge of the bill.
Mr.. Palmer denounced the bill as an
outgrowth of nativism-a doctrine for
which he had the most profound and
earnest detestation. He believed in
the ancient declaration of mans right
to life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
piness. He believed in the right of ex-
patriation and immigration; but he de.
tested na5ivism. The educational con-
ditions imposed by the bill upon immi-
grants were, in his opinion, essentially
and radically unjust and would be, in
practice, found to be absolutely useless.
They would exclude q harmless and
useful class, and would not exclude the
"brawling anarchists" all of whom
could read and write.
AS to the exclusion OF occasional la.
Dor, which was aimed at Canadians
crossing the border during the summer
months, Mr.. Palmer said that if other
nations followed that miserable, mar
row example" and adopted retaliatory
legislation, American laborers in Mex
| lean and Canadian mines and forests
would suffer. Such legislation he de-
clared to be "an outrage on the comfy
of nations and on the civilization of the
age" In the course of his speech al
fusion was made by MIR. Palmer to the
State of Massachusetts as the only
northern State which refused suffrage
to men who could not read and write.
The defence of his State constitutional
provision in that regard was taken up
by Mr.. Hoar, who spoke of such
statements as ''pure demagogy.
He was told Ivy MIR. Palmer that
he (Mr. Hoar) did not seem to realize
the dignity and importance of the rights
of an American citizen; and he was re-
minded that, during the war, Massachu-
sets had sent emissaries to the south
and filled her quota of troops with col
ored men who could not read or write.
MIR. Carter gave notice that, if the
conference report were disagreed to, he
would move for another conference,
with instructions to the Senate con-
ferees to insist upon an amendment
that it shall not apply to the citizens of
any country on this hemisphere.
Mr.. Gallery also opposed the con-
ference report. He sent to the clerks
desk and had read the letter from
"Ouida," published in the morning
papers, in praise of the illiterate Italian
peasantry as contrasted with the trash
of the cities-emasculated, corrupt and
debauched.
Mr.. Chandler did not let the oppor.
tunity pass of reminding Mr.. Gallery
that in no State of the Union were
Italians treated so badly as in Louisiana,
where many of them had been killed
off and the U. S. government obliged to
pay indemnity.
HOUSE.
The conference report on the bill as
to the times and places of holding
United States Courts in Utah was
agreed to, the House receding from its
amendments.
After rather o lively debate on the
policy of granting large pensions to the
widows of officers, the conference re-
port on bill granting pension to the
widow of Col. ]. Scott Payne was
rejected, % to 96, and new conference
asked. The Senate fixed the rate at
$50 per month the House at $50 and
the conference agreed on $50. The
conference report on the legislative, ex.
ecutive and judicial appropriation bill
- kA