Evening star., 1897-02-23
IN CONGRESS TODAY
Both noo3s s5is.s.a On App''pr'-
at6n Bills.
SENATE LQKll6 lF1ER rHE INDIANS
Ame"dmaats Hered to the Naval
Bill ia4the House.
A DEBATE ON DRY DOCKS

/
A DEBATE ON DRY DOCKS
In the Senate to day Mr.. Morrill, Ct.)
gave notice that he would address the
| Senate on Thursday on the pending Came
| ron resolution for the recognition of the
| independe nee of Cuba
| With routine business disposed of, the
| Senate resumed consideration of the Indian
appropriation bill. the pending question
| being on Mr.. Villas point of order against
the clause opening to entry the Uncom-
pahgre Indian reservation in Utah.
Mr.. Villas spoke at length. urging that
| the enormous valuable gilsonite deposits
on this reservation should yield a hand
| some royalty to the government
Mr. Cannon OF Utah argued that the
| lands should be opened.
The Senate has agreed to the amend
| lnent In the Indian bill opening the I'm
compahgre reservation in Utah.
The Presidents PrOclama ton.
In the course of Mr.. Cannon's remarks
Mr. Wilson Wash.) alluded to the Presi-
| dents order of yesterday withdra wing
| from the public domain some 21,OO,O0O
acres of land, and constituting various for
est reservations.
Mr.. Cannon declared there was not the
slightest knowledge of the subject on the
part Of the officer making the designation
and that land in Utah had been designated
as forest land when in fact there was no
| timber on 1t larger than jack rabbit
| bush. The point of order of Mr.. Villas was
not sustained, and the amendment opening
the uncompahgre reservation was agreed
| to-31 to 16.
The Indian bill was laid aside temporarily
| to allow Mr.. Mills CTex) to present a reso-
| luton requesting the President to send to
| the Senate information as to the arrest,
| Imprisonment and death of DR.. Ricardo
| Ruiz in the Jail at Guanabacoa. Cuba. and
the correspondence between this govern
| meht and Spain relative to the case, and
also the correspondence between the State
| Department and Consul General Lee on the
| case.
The resolution was agreed to without di-
vision.
Following this. a communication from the
| President was received transmitting fur
| Cuba.
The Uncompahgre question came W
| again when consideration of the Indian
bill was resumed it being held that the
former vote did not have the effect Of
| csrrying the amendment
Mr. Brown Utah) spoke for the amend
| ment
Mr., Clarke Wyo) made vigorous
| speech, In which he criticised the Presi-
dents order of yesterday Withdrawing d.
| 100000 acres from, the public use 1t was
an trder without authority of law, declared
Mr.. Clark \, -.r-
1t was part of that solid law of oppost-
ton to western interests. 1t drew away
from the public millions of acres of land
which should, have been open to happy
homes. Ostensibly the withdrawal was for
servation M. Clark said there was not
enough timber on some Of this land to
build four-tail fence around it,
THE HOUSE.
The members crowded about the Speak
| er's desk at: the opening of the session to-
day, and clahfored Tor recognition for bills
of local Importance. Quite a number of
| recognittons were made, bat few bills ran
the gauntlet of objections One Of them
was bill to pension the widow of Gen.
Thomas L. Casey, late chief of engineers
| at so. The bill carried s75, but Mr. Blue
| (Kan) declared that no bill carrying more
than $50 would be passed If he could pre-
vent it. and Mr.. Wheeler (Ala.), who had
the bill in charge, accordingly agreed to
reduction to $50.
The House went into committee of the
| whole, and resumed the consideration of
| the naval appropriation bill.
Dry Dock at Boston.
Mr. Barrett Mass.) offered an amend
| ment for the construction of concrete
dry dock at the Boston navy yard. to cost
| 81 ,OO0. 600 of which $1OO, 900 is to be appro-
| prtated by this bill
| Mr. Sulloway On. H) reserved a point of
order against the amendment.
| Mr.. Barrett, speaking to his amendment
| said that the purpose of navy was de-
| fense or offense in time of war Naval ex-
perts agreed that In time of action one out
of every three vessels was constantly in
| dry dock. This country had but two ma
| tions to fear-Great Britain and Spain, The
| latter had base of 0nerati0pS n E1lha
| the United States had done its duty he re-
| marked, parenthetically. the Spanish navy
| would have been wiped of the surface OF
| the ocean. Great Britain had Halifax and
Bermuda as bases of supplies.
He argued that IL a great naval battle
| were fought 1t would in all probability &C.
Cur off the New England coast. and Bos-
| ton would be the base of operations An
| adequate dry dock at the Boston yard WAS
| a necessity, If our vessels after an action
| were to pe sustained. The New York dock
was the only one en- the Atlantic seaboard
capable OF accommodating our largest bat
| tie ships. He said dry docks had been
| built at Brooklyn and Norfolk because New
York and Virginia were doubtful states.
| A Statement Challenged.
| Mr. Hall tMo) challenged this statement,
inquirins Mr.. Barretts authority.
| The latter replied that he had received
| his information from prominent naval
| officer" but he requested tha. he he not
pressed for the officers name.
Mr.. Hall did not pursue the question fur
| ther.
| Mr.. Doolittle {Wash.) defended the stra-
tegic advantages Of the Porth Orchard dock
| in Puget sound. to which Mr.. Barrett had
made disparaging reference by comparison
| with the advantages of Boston.
| Mr.. Sulloway conceded with Mr.. Barrett
in the opinion that there should be dry
deck on the New England coast. but Bos-
| ton. in his opinion, would be the worst pos
sible selection. He painted the beauties and
advantages of Portsmouth. NH. In glow
| ing colors. t-3--
Mr.. Barretts remarks also drew from
| AIR. Tyler (ya.) defense Of the dry dock
| at Norfolk. Norfolk WAS the port from
| which Washiagton=~oul lie defended, and
he was amazed. he said, that the gentle
| man from Massachusetts, should consider
| the protection Of Boston, in the event Of
| war, of more Importance than the preserva-
| .ion Of the nStionae capital.
Mr.. Boutell (Me.), in concluding the de-
bate. said he sympathized with Mr.. Bar
rett's desire for dry dock at Boston. but
| he dissented from MOST of that gentlemans
conclusions.
The strongest recommendations that have
reached the committee officially, he said.
had come in favor of Portsmouth. N H