The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-01-12
pACIFIC RAILROAD
WEASURE KILLED
The Bill Overwhelmingly Defeated in
the House.
GOVERNMENTS PROBABLE ACTION
Assistant Attorney General Russell Says
Congress Can Legally Declare a For
feiture of the Land Grant and
Property Of the Pacific
Roads.

road funding bill went down to its doom /
i'm the house yesterday under an adverse |
majority of &c. The friends of the meas |
ure who had predicted its passage up to .
the last moment were surprised by the
decisive character of their defeat They
had been led to hope from the votes on the |
substitutes that the bill had moro than an
even chance Of passing. The Bell substi- |
tute provided that If the Union Pacific
and Central Pacific would clear off the
first mortgage and advance the govern
ment's lien the government would extend
the Indebtedness at per cent 1t was de-
feated by a vote Of liO to 5S. The Harrison
substitute provided for commission to
negotiate a settlement of the dcbt This
was rejected by the house by vote of 50
TO PA
Many of the members were as much Op-
posed to these substitutes as to tho Pow
ers bill The California and middle west
members voted almost solidly against
them When the vote came on the main
proposition the whole opposition swung
into line and crushed it by an adverse vote
of lO2 TO 1888. The vote was not taken di-
rectly on the passage of the bill, but on
the preliminary motion to engross and
read the bill third time.
Bills, the subject Of hard contests, are
uSQUllY DFON4uL 10 u uIhA IeSU DtIOED IilH
last parliamentary stage is reached The
Reilly Pacific funding bill, two years ago,
was defeated in the same manner on the
Same motion This is the fourth funding
bill killed in the house in ten years An
analysis of the vote shows that SO RepubH-
cans and 1G Democrats voted Tor the bill
and 80 Republicans So Democrats, 6 Popu-
lists and independents againstit.
Mr. Powers, the chairman Of the Pa
cillc railroad committee, entered a motion
to recommit the bill after he had re-
covered from the shock of his defeat, say
ing that the members of the house were
all i'm favor of n settlement, but evidently
opposed to the principle of the measure
his committee had brought in. He thought
his committee should have an opportunity
toformulate another bill, in the hope that
it would prove acceptable. A point of or
der was made against Mr.. Powers mo-
ton, but, at the suggestion of the speaker,
the point was not ruled upon, the ruling
being postponed until today.
Mr. Powers said last night that he did
not know what would be done, but ex-
pressed the opinion that another effort
should be made to pass an acceptable bill.
Tho opponents of the bill, on the other
hand, are rejoicing and say yesterdays
vote settles the fate of all schemes to fund
the debt at this session. After the bill was
disposed of the army appropriation bill
and several other bills were passed. The
army bill carried S23 l26, 344, $l5j5 Dos less
than that for the current year
What action the government will take
since the Pacific railroad funding bill has
been defeated in congress cannot be stated.
1t is believed that it is the intention to
take some step looking to the settlement
in the courts, if necessary, of this long
pending and voxed question. According
to the treasury figures on Jan, 1 the net
amount due to the United States by the
bond aided roads, after deducting the
amounts credited on account Of transpor-
tation service is S121, ,810, ,S76, the original
principal of which was $64 623 5l2. In ad-
dition to the amount owing to the United
States the companies, under the authority
granted by the act of 1854, issued bonds
amounting to 64,6l3, 600, which have
since, by act of congress, become first
lien on the roads. 1t is the opinion of
many that before the government could
institute foreclosure proceedings 1t would
be compelled to secure the interests of the
first lien holders This, however, is not
the opinion of Assistant Attorney General
/ Russell, who holds to the opinion that
/ congress can legally declare forfeiture Of
the land grants and property of the roads
on the ground Of conditions broken
The chief event Of yesterdays senate
session was an impassioned speech by Mr..
Mills, Of Texas, in favor of a resolution
/ introduced by him to declare the recogni-
ton of a foreign government a congress
siOnal prerogative and to recognize the in
dependence Of Cuba and appropriate S1O,-
I 900 for the salary Of a minister The SEN
ator quoted long line of precedents and
strongly denounced the administration,
charging 1t with fayoritism toward Spain.
He spoke contemptuously of CASTELAR, and
Weyler and of Slgnor Cripsi because of
his declaration that Europe could not look
without concern upon the pretensions Of
the United States, The Cuban question
was the mercantile spirit of the nation
against its honor, he declared. Mr.. Proc
tor made a speech in favor of a constitu-
tional amendment to limit the president
to one six year term, and Mr. Allen, of
Nebraska, made an unsuccessful attempt
to secure the adoption of a resolution call
ing on the secretary of the navy for in
formation as TO whether contractors men
in the Brooklyn navy yards are made TO
work more than eight hours per day.
The arbitration treaty between this
country and Great Britain was delivered
to the senate at 3 o. clock, Afterwards in
executive session it was referred to the conl-
mitJee on foreign relations and without be-
ing read was ordered to be printed.
Florida on Wheels, open all day aud eve