The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-01-14
THE VOTE: ITO FOR. |5S AGAINST
THE BILL WAS KILLED on MO
TION TO ENGROSS-ANALYSIS
OF THE VOTE.
SENATOR MILLS DELIVERS HIS CUBAN SPEECH.
The Texan Made Several Sharp Thrusts
ut President Cleveland and Spoke
CONTEMPORARY of Castelar,,
Weyler and Signor Crispi.
Minor Bills Pass House.

| Washington, Jan. 1l.-Intensc interest
was manifested in the outcome OF the
| battle royal over the Pacific railway
funding bill, which came to vote in
| the house today. Before the house con-
yened the floor was crowded with friends
and opponents of the measure and mem
| bers were standing about in groups
| arguing the merits of the bill. Such a
scene of bustling activity has not been
| seen on the floor this session. The gal
leries were also well filled with inter-
ested spectators. 1t required some time
to straighten out the parliamentary
situation. Speaker Reed stated his UNI
derstanding of the status. There was,
he said no pending amendment to the
| bill. There were, however. two substi-
| tutes-that of Mr.. Harrison of Alabama,
| to provide for commission of three
cabinet officers to negotiate settlement
of the debts with the two roads, and the
Bell substitute, providing that if the
roads would clear off the first mortgage
so as to advance the governments lien
to the position of first mortgage, the
government would agree to an extension
of the period for the payment of the debt
ut 3 per cent interest.
To the former substitute there was
pending an amendment proposed by Mr..
Northway of Ohio, providing that the
committee created should be appointed by
the secretary of the treasury, secretary
Of the interior and attorney general, in
stead of consisting of those three cabinet
officers.
The Northway amendment, Speaker
Reed ruled, was to be voted on first then
the substitutes. in their order. If either
of the substitutes were adopted, he said,
it would take the place Of the original
bill. After some wrangling the
speakers statement vi the situation was
accepted 10y the house
The Northway amendment to the Har-
rison substitute was defeated on viva
voce vote after which the Bell substitute
came up, and Mr.. Bell demanded a
record-making vote. His demand was
sustained by seventy odd members,
mostly on the democratic side, and the
roll was called. As the voting pro-
ceeded it was evident the substitute
would fail and the friends of the bill
were accordingly jubilant.
Several senators from the north end of
the capitol were present at various stages
of the proceedings and watched the
progress of the struggle with keen inter
est
There was furry when the speaker
announced the defeat of the Bell substi-
tute, 40 to 1876. The opposition APP
peared somewhat staggered, but 1t was
pointed out that the California members
and others known to be opposed to the
measure voted against the substitute.
The Harrison substitute was then sub
mittcd. On Il viva vocc vote the volume.
of sound was distinctly against the sub
Stitute and the speaker was about to. de-
clare it defeated when Mr.. Harrison
(dcmO of Alabama demanded the ayes
and noes. There We're cries of mo, no.
but he succeeded in securing forty-Seven
members to back his demand. This was
one-tifth of the preceding vote, but the
other side was unable to muster more
than 40 so the speaker ordered the roll
called. which resulted in the substitute
| being overwhelmingly defeated. - to DO.
The opposition then decided to test
| their strength by securing a roll call on
| the usually formal motion to engroSS,
| and the bill came up third time. Ac-
| cOrdngly Mr.. Mcguire ldem) of Califor
| mia demanded the yeas and nays. and
| half the house seemed TO rise in response
| to his demand. As the roll call began
| every one realized that the critical mo-
mcnt had come. The suhdued buzz of
| conversation SubciJnI nnl buSl, foil
| on the house Members listened quietly
| to the responses.
Mr.. Powers and the clerks kept tallicS.
Mr.. Cummings (dem) of New York. Mr..
Mcguire ldem) of California and sew
| eral other members counted the votes.
When it was quietly whispered about
| that ut the end of the first roll call on
| the motion to engross the vote was 81
| to l4T the adversaries of the bill were
overjoyed. Mr.. Mcguire started
round of applause and abandoned his
| tally. The completeness of the defeat of
| the bills advocates became more and
more apparent rs the second roll call
| proceeded. When the clerks had figured
| mp the totals the speaker submitted the
| results: Ayes, 1O2; nays. 16S.
| There was great outburSt of applause
when the defeat was officially an
| nounCed:
| Elghty-SlN republicans and 10 demo-
! Gratis voted for the bill, and % republi-
| cans and rs democrats. u populiSts and
) independents voted against the bill.
The Texas members voting for the bill
were Messrs. Culberson and Crowley.
| Texas members voting against the
measure We're MessrS. Abbott. Bailey.
Bell, Cockrell. Cooper Hutchinson. Kle-
| berg, Pendleton and Savers.
The formal motion of Mr.. Hubbard
| (repO of Missouri TO reconsider and lay
| on the table was carried. and some minor
| business was transacted. Then sud
denly Mr.. Powers seemed to make up
his mind TO try to get further Considera-
| ton of the bill in new form. He rose
and moved that the bill ie submitted TO
| the committee.
1T is, apparent" said he. speaking
very calmly, that the hol sc has mani
Tested its. opposition n IL principle of
! this bill; but think that very member