Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-30

port and insisted that first lien should not
be made subordinate by legislation to any
other obligation OF whatever kind
Mr.. Barrett OF Massachusetts, secured the
floor lie declared he desired to discuss this
report as a stock iobbing operation. lie
assorted no railroad in the country had such
a disgraceful history as this one. Before
! closing he severely condemned the great
/ power given by the rules to confcrces which,
/ he said enabled them to bring in PROPOSE
! tons endorsed by neither house nor senate.
! He said It was parody on parliamentary
! practice.
Mr.. Cook Of Illinois, in opposing the re-
! port was solctous that the house should
! insist on the amendment forfeiting the un-
/ earned lands OF The road. The amount of
! land which would be forfeited, he sad would
! aggregate il,1%360O acres.
! Mr.. Powers denied that the property had
\ been sold. He said there was a notice of
meeting Of the bondholdcrs in New York
today 10 consider such proposition
Mir Barrett insisted that the fact that an
agreement had been reached for the sale
OF the road was true. Tho Amsterdam
bondholders holding seyen-eshths of the
bonds, had already authorized the sale.
POWERS BECOMES PERSONAL.
After some further remarks In favor of
the report Mr. Powers took the floor to close
the debate. lie appealed to members not
to be taken Oft thcir feet by charges of ras-
cality made by the gentleman from Massa-
chusetts tBarretD. The latter he said, was
probably representing some of those who
were Interested in the affairs of this COM
pany. If any Massachusetts men interested
were involved they were not involved In the
direction of public good. Boston was tho
place where the railroads were wrecked
and it was a dirty bird which befouled its
own nest. Massachusetts, he went on iron-
cally, was a great state. II had furnished
many great men. They had passed away and
1,Ft tn1n 1,ugl In tbs. is,.N
of the gentleman from Massachusetts, (i5ar-
retO and learn righteousness at his feet.
He (BarretU had come to congress TO blos-
som and bloom, but his destiny had been
to wither and waste his beauty on the desert
air.
Mr.. Barrett was very much aroused by
Mr.. Powers ridicule and innundocG, and the
moment the Vermont member took his seat
he was on his feet. II was evident from
his opening words that ne did not intend to
use a foil. After indignantly denying that
he was in any way interested in the opposi-
ton to the pending measure or had communi-
Gated with any one on the subject except
his colleague (Mr. Moody and the gentle
man from Vermont himself, he said menac-
ingly: "The gentleman charges me with
being Interested; before l have concluded
shall draw a parallel which think he will
understand"
He defed any one to show that he had any
further interest in the matter. He said
he was not surprised that the gentleman
from Vermont had talked about his being
interested when he remembered the recent
debate on the Pacific funding bill, of which
the gentleman had had charge. On that
occasion grave statements were made that
the bill did not protect the interests of the
government He resented the imputation
that Massachusetts, men were engaged in the
business Of wreclSing rail- Dads and highly
eulogzed them for their enterprise and pub
lie spirit.
81 am a young man." he continued. 81
came here with no reputation beyond service
in the legislature of my state, but the gentle
man from Vermont came here after long
term of service on the supreme court OF his
state What was the record of that court?
Ask any of the shareholders of the Central
railroad OF Vermont, who were robbed by the
DEGREES Of that court, and then let the gen.
teman from Vermont talk to me of Massa |
chusetts wrecking railroads"
CIRCUIT DEFENDS VERMONT.
Mr.. Grout, the colleague of Mr.. Powers. at |
tempted to stay the torrent of Mr.. Barrett's |
wrath and submitted that this war between |
the states" should not go on. He then |
raised the point of order that it was out of
order to attack the judiciary of state, but |
the speaker overruled the point.
Mr.. Barrett, proceeding, said the wreck of |
the Central railroad of Vermont, when that |
railroad was in the hands Of the supreme |
court of that state as receiver. was the most |
complete in railroad history. 1t was |
stencil in the nostris. of civilization, and |
he defied any man to dispute it.
81 dispute it, cried Mr.. Grout who stated |
rather sarcastically that the judges of the |
supreme court of Vermont were elected and |
If their decision had stunk in the nostrils
the judges would not have been reelected
He said Mr.. Barrett's statements were re-
and expressed the opinion that it
was not proper for a member to impute
dishonest motives to a judicial tribunal
No heed was paid to Mr.. Grout and Mr.
Barrett received a round of applause when
he concluded his remarks.
Mr. Powers the subject of the attack, sat
silent throughout the remarks of the Mas
sachusetts member and made no response
The house then. by vote Of n to 49,
rejected the report of the conference and
lirected the house conferees to insist on the
house amendments. Instructions were also
given to the confereeS to insist on an
amendment making the new corporation
liable for all the debts of the old col. )any
Existing twelve months prior to the ap-
continent of the receiver. The remainder
# the day was spent in the discussion of the
agricultural appropriation bill. At o'clock
he house took q recess until o'clock, the
venng session to be devoted to private
'ension legislation.
At the night session of the house nineteen
,rivate pension bills We're fayorably con-
ldcred in committee of the whole On mo-
ion of Mr. Andrews of Nebraska the names
f members were alphabetically called, each
member being allowed to designate one bill
o be acted upon, departing from the custom
f taking bills as they came in order on the
alendar. Mr.. Erdman gave notice that
ereafter it would be necessary to have a
uOrum present Friday evenings before the |