The San Francisco call., 1897-12-06
Organization Completed and
Appointments Made at the
Extra Session.
HUNDREDS OF BILLS ON
THE CALENDAR.
AnnexatIonists No Longer Have the
TWo-thirds Vote Necessary to
Ratify the Trea y.
Special Dispatch to THE CALL
CALL OFFICE. RIGGS HOUSE, ]
~ MASHINCTnN Dec 3

| Inc regular or long session OF congress,
as it Is called. because there is no consti-
tutional limitation upon the period of its
| duration, opens at noon tomorrow.
! The leaders and a large majority of the
mem be.s of both houses are here TO par
ticipate in the opening ceremonies, and
| President Mckinley has made the journey
TO Washington from the bedside of his
! dying molher that his absence might not
delay the national Legislature at its as
! embling.
| The extra session robs the opening of
| the regular session of the excitement and
interest which usually attaches to it. On
the eve of a regular session ordinarily
| Washington thrills with excitement. The
! hotel lobbies surge with place hunters in
! the wake of the various candidates for
speaker, clerk, doorkeeper, ETC., the mem
bers are struggling for committee assign
ments and the air is full of rumors and
| plots and coun:er-plots. But as the
House was completely organized at the
extra session and all the committee as-
! signments made then, beyond the natural
| stimulus produced by the returning states
men, the regular hsngers-on of legislation
and the outlining of schemes by mem bers
of the third house." or lobby, Washing
| ton tonight is tranquil.
The programme at the House to-mor-
row is very simple and beyond the spec
| taculsr show which it offers to the curious
has in itself. little attraction. The House
will be called to order by the Speaker,
who, after the chaplain's invocation, will
direct the clerk to call the roll. This hav-
ing been accom- plished. and The presence
of quorum demonstrated, the clerk
WI ho cd To no
the House is ready for business, and
| committee will be appointed to wait on
the President. After that there will be
recess to await the arrival of the Presi-
dents annual message. which will be
read upon its reception ana be followed by
an adjournment until Tuesday. This is
! the regular routine and unless something
unforeseen occurs will not be departed
| from.
1t is the intention of the House leaders
to proceed with the business of the ses-
sion as rapi lily as possible. The commit
tee will begin their Iabors this week, and
as all of them have more or less bills on
hand, which were introduced at the ex-
ira session, there will be no lack of ma
terial for the House to work on after the
committee hoppers have begun to grind
The Appropriations Com mittee has been
at work for ten days and Chairman Can
non expects to pass ut least two of the reg
uar budgets before the holidays-the
Legislative. Executive and Judicial and
the pensions appropriation bills.
One or the other of these bills it is ex-
pected Will be reported by Wednesday
and the end OF the week promises to see |
the House down to business.
Among the early general measures to |
receive consideration will be the bank |
ruptcy bill. Whether it will be the Mel |
son bill, which passed the Senate at the !
last session. or a modification of the Tor |
rey bill, depends upon the temper of the |
Judiciary Committee, which will submit |
the measure to the House. Beyond doubt |
there will be several resolutions OF inquiry |
during the first week which may be more |
or less >ensation a. and some of the radical |
pro-Cuoa measures will attempt to get |
consideration for a Cuban resolution be- |
fore the Foreign Affairs Committee can |
act Congressman Livingston of Georgia |
is one of these. But owing to the nature |
of the House rules all these hasty efforts |
will prove abortive and the measures |
proba bly, will take their course.
There Will be nothing except indisposi- |
ton on the part of the mem bers to pre- |
vent the Senate entering promptly upon |
its work upon congeling tomorrow. as |
there is calendar already made for it |
with about 300 bills reported from COM |
circum stances should prevent the recent |
of the Presidents message on Monday the !
probabilities are that the Senate will ad- |
iourn over without taxing up any other
business until the message could be re-
ceived.
With the message read 1t will remain |
with the Senate to decide as to whether IL |
shall seriously enter upon the work Of the
session after Monday or begin a system of |
delay intended to throw all important |
questions over beyond the Christmas hol- |
idays. The ind ications are now for a little |
more activity than usual during the pre-
holiday session. This is largely due 10 |
the fact that the supporters of the admin |
istra tion and advocates of annexation are
very anxious 10 secure he earliest possi-
BILE consideration of the treaty with Ha-
waii.
Senator Davis, chairman of the Com
mittee on Foreign Relations announces
his purpose of pressing annexation at the
earliest possible moment, but it is proba-
bic that the matter will not be taken nm
serlou>ly until the committee can have a
meeting to decide on the details of the
procedure. The committee will be called
together Wednesday for this purpose. One
point which the committee will be called
upon to decide is whether to proceed To
ratlly the treaty of annexation or 10 an
mex the islands by resolution. The an
neXationists have lost some votes dur.np
the vacation, and there is now apprehen-
sion that the two-thrds vote nece ,sary TO
assure the ratification cannot be secured
NO satisfactory canvass is possible until
all the senators arrive, and if it is then
made manifest that the necessary two.
thirds vote cannot be secured it is likely
that the proceeding by means of resolu-
ton, which would require only majority
vote, will be inaugurated.
The mem bers OF the Foreign Relations