Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-03-03
FIFTY-FoURTH CONGRESS.
WASHINGTON, March 3.
SENATE.

SENATE.
The gallery doors of the Senate were
kept locked until quarter before II
O'Clock, and when at that time they
were opened the sections that are free
to the general public, without card,
were Immediately filed up TO the last
seat, while hundreds of people were
left outside. The section to which ad-
mission is by cards had few vacant
seats left, while the section reserved
for the families Of Senators remained
quite empty even for some time after
Chaplain Milburn made his farewell
prayer-consisting of one of the COL
lects from the Episcopal prayer. book.
In order to save time the reading of
yesterdays journal was dispensed with.
The conference report on the District
of Columbia appropriation bill was pre-
sented and explained by Mr.. Teller.
The report showed compromises on
both sides; on the question of charities,
however, no compromise had been et-
fected and it still remains in contro-
versy. The Senate receded from its
amendment for the construction of q
crematory in Potter's Field. This
amendment had been offered by Mr..
Gallinger, and when Mr.. Teller's ex-
PLANTATION ended Mr.. Gallinger express
ed his regret at the Senate conferees
abandoning it, as he said the condition
of things in the cemetery for the indi-
gent poor was not paralleled in any
other great city in the world.
The conference report was agreed to
and further conference ordered on
the matters still left open.
A conference report was presented on
the bill to amend the laws relating to
navigation. When it was read an in
quiry was made by Mr.. Allen as to
whether the bill now contained any OF
the fogging clauses.
Mr.. Frye, chairman of the committee
on commerce, who presented the con-
ference report, made a full answer to
the inquiry. The existing law, he said,
punished any master or officer on board
of an American vessel on the high seas,
or within the admiralty Jurisdiction OF
the United States, who should assault
sailor from malice, hatred or re-
venge" And the courts had held that
the sailor had to prove that the assault
had been made from malice, or hatred,
or revenge. The committee on com,
} MERGE had believed that to be an un-
| Just burden on the sailor and had
therefore, in its bill, struck out the
words "malice, hatred, or revenge"
He had been vicariously suffering for his
committee andthe charge had been made
that he had restored logging on Amer
lean merchant ships. How anybody
could have believed that was beyond
:, his comprehension. The man who be-
lieved it must have bern fool or in
sane. And yet he had been described
in one or two newspapers rs that bru-
tai Senator Frye-the man who had
restored flogging to the merchant ma
rine.o He regarded the charge as fur.
nishing amusement to ignorance and
incapacity and as doing him no possible
harm. The conference committee had,
however, added to the bill clause that
nothing contained in it should be con-
strued to repeal or modify section 461l
(passed in 1850 which those wise gen.
tlemen had never read, and which en-
acted that "aogging on board vessels OF
commerce is hereby prohibited" He
trusted that that explanation would be
entirely satisfactory to any sailor, no
matter how crazy he might be.
Mr.. Allen was entirely satisfied with
the explanation, and discussion on
the subject was carried on for some
time. Then the conference report was
agreed to.
Mr.. Gordon presented paper detail
ing the scene in Carpenters Hall, Phila-
delphia, on the fourth of March, 1897,
when Washington delivered his fare
we'll address and took his leave of Of
fetal life, and he asked that the paper
be published in the Record. 1t would
do no harm, Mr.. Gordon said, to revive
that scene, when George Washington,
in his severely plain black suit, was
bidding farewell to his weeping hear
ers, and when John Adams, his success
sor in the presidency, sat in his no less
severely plain drab suit, with his 'ruf-
he-bound" hand covering his face wet
with tears, as the Father of His Coun-
tryn was utteriDg those solemn, golden
and everything words.
The paper was ordered printed in
the Record.
Mr.. Dubois, chairman of the COM
mittee on Public Lands, presented the
report of that committee in the case of
the inquiry into the issue of patents for
land in the Perrine grant in Florida,
and Mr.. Pettigrew presented minori-
ity report. The majority report justi-
ies the action of the department, while
the minority report favors the annul-
ment of the patents and the opening Of
the lands to public settlement. Both
reports we're ordered to be printed, and
went over without action.
The conference report on the postof
fee appropriation bill (GnaD was pre-
sented and agreed to.
Mr.. Vest made statement on the
subject of the new library building
apropos of lecture delivered few
days ago by Major, or Colonel, Green,
superintendent of the building, in
which lecture it was stated that
the building had not been erect
ed on the plans of Messrs. Smith
meyer and Pelz, the architects. Mr..
Vest expressed his establishment that
such a statement could have been
made, in view of the fact that on sill
yer plate now in the library is an in
scription prepared by General Casey,
naming Smithmeyer and Pelz and his
own son as the architects. He describ-
ed the building as "a dream of beauty"