The herald., 1897-01-12
Killed, C0ffined and the Lid
Nailed Down
ITS FRIENDS and FOES SURPRISED
By the Decisive Character of
the Defeat
THE TRUE REPRESENTATIVES
Prove Faithful to Trusts Imposed
Upon Them
Party Llues Ignored and the Peoples
Rights Preserved
Yesterdays Vote Settles the Fate OF All
Schemes to Fund Railroad Debts,
at Least for the Present
Session. -
Prove Faithful to Trusts Imposed
Upon Them
Party Llnes Ignored and the Peoples
Rights Preserved
Associated Press Special Wire

Associated Press Special Wire
WASHINGTON, Jan. 1.-THE Pacihc
railroad funding bill went to its doom n
the house today under an adverse ma
iority of 66. The friends of the meas
ure. who had predicted its passage up
to the last minute. were surprised by the
decisive character of their defeat Ihey
had been led to hope from the votes on
tho substitute that the bill had more
than an even chance of passing. ire
Rell substitute provided that If the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific would
clear off the first mortgage and advance
the government lien, the government
would extend the indebtedness at per
cent. 1t was defeated, ITO to loS'
The Harrison substitute, providing TOT
a committee to negotiate the settlement
~ the debt. was rejected by the house
nv a vote of 55 to PA Many of the mem
hers we're as much opposed to these SUD
stitutes as to the Powers Dill. Ihe Caii-
fornia and middle west members Votea
almost solidly against them. When me
vote came on the main proposluoh' tue
whole opposition swung into line anu
crushed 1t by an adverse vote OF luz 10
1853.
The vote was not taken directly on the
MASSAGE of the bill, but on the prelim-
;rarv motion to engross and read'the bill
a. third time. Bills which become the
subject of hard contests are usually
brought to final test before the last par
liamAnt tary tage is reached. the Reliiy
Pacific FUNDING bill two years ago was
4, IntS WAS
the fourth funding bill killed In the house
In ten wears. An analysis of the vote TO-
dav showed that Sc Republicans and 10
democrats voted for the bill, ardl ~ Re-
publicans. 5S Democrats, Populs's
and Independents voted against II,
Mr.. Powers, the chairman of the Pa
cific railroad committee, presented
motion to recomntt the bill today, after
he had recovered from the shock or his
defeat. saving that the members OF the
house were all in favor of a settlement
but evidently opposed to the principal
feature of the bill his committee had
brought in He thought his committee
should. have an opportunity to formulate
another bill, In the hope that 1t would
nrove acceptable The point of order
was made against Mr.. Powers motion,
hut at the suggestion of the speaker. the
point was not ruled upon today. but WEI
be when the house cOnvenes tomorrow
r,
know what would be done, but express 2 n
the opirion that arother effort should
be made to pass an acceptable bill. The
opponents of the bill. on the other hand'
are rejoicing and say the vote today set
ties the fate of all schemes TO fund the
tIabt a this session.
After the bill was disposed Of the ar
my appropriation bill and several other
bills were passed.
Before the house convened the moor
was crowded with members standing
about arguing the merits OF the bill The
galleries also were filled. 1t required
some tinre to straighten out the parlla-
mentary situation.
Speaker Reed stated that there were
no pending ameudemnts to the bill
There were however, two substitutes,
that Of Harrison of Alabama, to provide
for a commission of three cabinet off,
GERS to negotiate a settlement of the
debts of the two roads, and the Bell
substitute. providing that If the roads
would clear off the first mortgage. so
as to advance the governments lien to
the position of a first mortgage, the
government would agree to an extension
OF the period of payment of the debt
at per cent interest
To the former substitute there was
pending an amendment proposed by
Northway of Ohio providing that the
by the secretary of the treas asury secre-
tary of the interior and attorney gene
raj instead of consisting of these three
officers. The Northway amendment. he
said. was to be voted on first, then the
substitutes in their order.
After some wrangiry the speakers
statement OF the situation was accepted
by the house. The Northway amend-
ment to the Harrison substitute was
defeated by viva Vooe vote after
which the Bell substitute was submit
ted. Bell demanded a record taking
vote. The demand was sustained by
seventy o6l1 members, mostly on the
Democratic SIDE, and the roll was called
AS the voting proceeded 1t was evident
that the substitute would fail and the
friends of the bill were corresponddngly
jubilant.
There was furry when the speaker
anounced' the defeat of the Bell sub.
stitute-110 to 1856 The opposition ap-
peared somewhat staggered. but it was
pointed out that the California mem
bers and others known to be opposed to
the bill voted against the substitute
The Harrison substitute was then sub
mitted. On viva voce vote the volume
Of sound was against the substitute and
the speaker was about to declare IT de-
feated, when Harrison demanded a YEA
and nay vote.
There were cries of mo No" but
Harrison succe o,led in securing forty.
seven members to back his demand
This was not a fifth of the prece dir,q
vote, but the other side was able tC
muster more than 129. so the speake,
ordered the roll called. The substitute
was overwhelmingly defeated-55 to PA
The opposition then decided to test
their strength by securing roll cal