The Portland daily press., 1897-03-12

House and May Be Presented Nheh
Committees Are Appointed.
ESPECIAL TO THE PREss1
Washington, March 11--Although she
extra session Of the new Congress Is now
but few days of, the policy..to be pur-
sued in regard to the appolntmoho u
committees has not been announced, anu
probably has not yet been absolutely de-
termined on. Whether general leglsla-
tion as we'll as tariff bill shall be .un-
dertsken is matter of momentous lm-
portance, and one which cannot be deter
mined off-hand by the Speaker. 1t ls
going to he NO holiday task toiget the new
tariff bill through the SeEate, altnough
sundry gentlemen In that body who nave
in the past distin2 2uished themselves Ior
dexterity in planting knives IN tne he-
publican party are now talking very
Soft behooves the Republican
leadership to be very careful lest any
little thing in the nature OF pebble In
the cog wheels be thrown into the Senate
in a moment of thoughtlessness. -Four
of the general appro prlation bills OF the
last session failed to become laws. There
Is danger that these may become the very
pebbles In the cog wheels which the lead
ers are anxious to avoid.
Why Mr., Cleveland did not sign three
Of these bills, which were presented to
him In time, is difficult to explain on
any other hypothesis than that he felt
very independent indeed and did not
propose to exert himself. There may
have been things In some of tie bills that
he did not like but he could have satls-
fed his scruplss by vetoing them. This
would have allowed the Congress to have
an opportunity to pass them over his veto
had they 90 desired. Instead Of vetoing
them, however, he "pooketed" them. as
the saying is. that is, he did not return
them to the House at all. 1t Is one Of the
provisions of the constitution that where
rhe President keeps q bill during the last
ten days of a session, this act has the
effect of veto with the additional effect
that tile Congress has NO chance to save
the bill by passing it by two thirds
vote as in the case of an ordinary veto.
1t has been assum med that this failure
Of the four bills would force Speaker
Reed tosappoint at least three committees
besides the Ways and Means, and that
thus he would naturally appoint the
whcle list and so inaugurate session of
general legislation.
But although he has not said what he
will do. there seems good ground for be-
lieving that he will not appoint commit
tees generally, and that there will not be
any action on appropriation bills in the
House until the tariff bill Is safely sent
to the Senate. The q ov ernment will not
need the supplies carried in those bills
until July, andEthe tarifflbill ought to be
through the Seuate before that.
TIE Senate cannot originate either
tariff or appropriation bills, SO they can-
not act on either of these subjects until
the House has acted. Moreover, If the
House does not organize its committees,
a bill OF any kind from the Senate will
simply be laid on the shelf when 1t comes
to the House. So really the lea ders of the
House will he IN position to make the
Senate work on tariff or nothing ell Sc
useful. OF course 1t can betake itself
mischief, but that would rot look well,
even in Populists and Silver democrats
when the country is waiting for relief.
But suppose the committees OF the
House should be appointed and general
legislation should begin. The appropFia-
hills nd 1iEpIu nthQr tQGiEta-
bion would go over from the House very
,oou after the tariff bill. This would
ziye'the Senators of hostile disposition a
,hancesto jockey the tariff bill by putting
forward other bills, which would be got
en under foot andsmake such an entang-
emsnt that the chances of the revenue
dill might be seriously impaired without
The nation being able to say just where
5he trouble belonged.
so far as the Republican mem ber ship
If the Senate is concerned, the tariff bill
will have loyal support. During the
raining Of the measure the finance COM
nittee OF the Senate, with Mr.. Allison at
its head, have been in close touch with
Mr.. Dinaley aud his associates. So at
5heypresent time Ethe Senate committee
are about as we'll acquainted with the
framing It, The advantage of this is very
evident. The Senate com mittes will not
pesdisposeh to make many changes and
thew will lie enabled to report the bill
without perilous delay in committee.
1t is expected that about as soon
as the Presidents message is read to tho
House on next Monday the ways and
NJ cans committee will be appointed.
They will be the same men who have
constituted the committee in the late
Congress, except for three Democrats
who nave dropped off and kwhose places
will have to be filled. 1t would not be
surprising If, very few minutes after
the Speaker has announced the commit
tees, Mr.. Dingley should arise in his
place, address the Speaker and announce
that he had privileged report to make
from the committee on why's and means.
Then he would present the new tariff
hill. 1t may be imagined that there
would be some applause inathe House, IF