The morning times., 1897-03-01
THE RECORD OF CONGRESS

expire at noon on Thursday, will be held
remarkable principally for what 1T failed
to accomplish. In one respect-in the
number of bills and resolutions introduced
1t was a record breaker. In the House
alone over 10,4OO bills and 3,100 res
olutions We're introduced and referred
TO various committees. only fraction
of these passed the House, and fewer
still became laws.
The principal business OF the Congress,
aside from the passage of the appropria-
tion bills, was limited to the first session,
the net results of which were the enact
ment into law of the bills creating the COM
mission to determine the true divisional
line between Venezuela and British Guiana
prohibiting prize fighting in the TeTIito-
ries; permitting appointment in the Army
and Navy of former United States officers
who served in the rebellion; making one
years residence in a Territory necessary
for divorce; Incorporating the National
Society OF the Daughters of the Revolution;
defining the penalty for interference with
railway trains and persons riding there
on, and titutiIe salaries for fees to
United States !sInarshals and district at
torneys. g
Aside from the foregoing measures, the
remaining bills Iexespting the immigration
bill and the joint RESOLUTION for an inter
national monetary conference, passed at
the second session.; were Of no general
interest Included in these were 700
private pension bills an unprecented num-
ber.
In another respect he Fifty fourth
Congress was remarkable. This was its
failure to pass single bill providing for
public buildings The House calendar
contained one hundred bills of this class,
including the Senate bill for a custom
house in New York city. Speaker Reed,
however, in his determination to reduce
the expenditures to the lowest limit CON
sistent with the necessities of the gov
ernment, set his face sternly against all
legislation of this character. Notwith-
standing this circumstance, the present
Congress is the third in American his
tory in which the appropriations have
e Exceeded billion dollars. IT. 1t Is
claimed. these appropriations be deducted
from the sum total the aggregate for the
past two years would be little in excess
of one billion dollars.
number of Important measures. which
were reported to the House last session.
and were expected to receive favorable
consideration during the present session.
were either defeated or left on the calen-
dar. The bill To settle the Indebtedness
OF the bOnd-aidcd railways to the govern
ment. which was a legacy from the last
session. suffered a crushing defeat In
January last. The substitute measure
prepared by Mr.. Harrison. Of Alabama, to
adjust these claims through the medium
of a Cabinet commission. was not per
mitted by the Committee on Rules to come
before the House, thus leaving II an open
question between the supporters and the
opponents of the measure what its fate
would have been. In the preceding ses-
sion upward of fSfty resolutions bearing
upon the Cuban inSurrectiOn were intro
duced, although bua one passed the House.
During the present session the Cuban
resolutions introduced have been few in
number.
No effort was mad de at the present session
to can up the bills dmitting Arizona, New
Mexico, and oklahoma to statehood. The
sound money" men in the House Were
Of any Territories which are likely to send
advocates OF free silver to the Senate.
Among the hins which passed the House,
but have not been acted upOnin the Senate,
are the Morse bin to prevent the selling OF
liquor in the Capitol: the BroSius bill, per
mitting the establishment OF national banks
With a capital OF see ,00e In towns or
1000 Inhabitants, and the Loud bin, TO
Te-clasSify second-class mail matter.
The Ways and Means Committee gave
series of hearings during the early weeks
of the session, and the remainder OF the
time was occupied by the Republican mem
bers in formulating a new tariff bill.
This will follow the general lines of the
Mckinley law of 1890, and will be re-
ported to the House at the beginning OF the
extra session Of the next Congress All
of the contested election cases, thirt y-one
in number, have been disposed Of
The work OF the Senate during the past
session has not been heavier than usual.
The number Of bills introduced generally
runs up above 5000 in number, and this
session the total has reached 3,T32.
Much of the time of the Senate has been
consumed in the discussion OF questions re-
lating to our foreign relations, and while
no positive action of any kind has been
taken. many columns of the Congressional
Record have been filled with speeches on
these topics.
Cuban resolutions have been introduced
and pressed for action by the score, but,
beyond precipitating debate, nothing has
been accomplished.
a treaty with Japan has been ratified,
putting into Immediate operation the
clause OF the treaty OF commerce and navi
cation negotiated two years ago. The
general treaty NJ arbitration with Great
Britain after being fruitlessly considered
for two weeks, went over until the next
session The Alaskan boundary treaty
with Great Britain has not even been con-
sidered in committee.
The Nicaraguau Canal bill, which was
debated for several weeks, was on the
point OF final passage with a comfortable
majority in front OF it when the protest
of the minister representing the Greater
Central American republics was received.
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