The herald., 1897-01-06

tracts of lands In Kansas, embraced in
the grant to the Union Pacific railroad,
to which patents have not yet been is
sued; and
Whereas, Most Of these lands have been
sold by said company to said purchas.
ers, who are In possession and who have
made lasting and valuable improvements
thereon; and
Whereas. The land office at Topeka
has allowed and is allowing homestead
entries to be made upon these lands,
without apparent legal authoyity; there
fore. be 1t
Resolved. That the secretary of the in
terror be directed to report to the house
the cause of the omission to issue pat
ents to said lands. and the authority
under which the land office pretends to
act In permitting these entries to be
made.
Then under a special order adopted
before recess the house went into q
committee of the whole for the consid-
Grafton of the Loud bill to amend the
laws relating to second-class mail mat
ter. This bill amends the present law
In several particulars. the principal ones
those whoch deny newspapers the sample
copy privileges and deny to books sent
through the mails as serials newspaper
pound rates. Under order the debate
will close tomorrow 1t was arranged
that Loud of California and Quigg of
New York should control the time for
and against the measure. Loud having
already made the opening argument
Quigg took the floor today to reply He
characterized the bill as revolutionary
and reactionary. He said 1t proposed
to deny to people privileges they had
enjoyed for half century, and IL passed
would inf1ict a blow on every occupa
tion engaged In the printing and pub
Of nlyc oy,I
their distribution.
Mr.. Quigg directed his argument chief
ly against the provisions of the bill
which cut off serial publications and
newspaper sample copies from the mails.
denying emphatically that the transmits
sion of books g serial publications was
an abuse of the present law. He ar
gued that 1t was impossible to approx
innate the saving to the government in
volved In the bill. The friends Of the
bill claimed 1t would effect a saving of
sS,O0o.00O and upwards. while ex-Post-
master General Wanamaker estimated
the saving at only $4,000, 900.
Mr.. Kyle. Democrat of Mississippi, fol-
lowed Mr.. Quigg in advocacy Of the
measure He said he was unwilling to
differ in such a case as this with the
Judgment of successive postmaster gen.
erals who had studied the abuses of the
present law and each of whom had rec
commended some measure for their cor
rection.
Mr.. Burton. Republican of Ohio, also
supported the bill.
Mr.. Johnson. Republican of California,
made a characteristic speech in oppo-
sitior to the bill. ridicuing Mr.. LIQUIDS
statement that the bill would effect a
saving Of $40. 100000 annually, and scor-
Ing the arguments Of other advocates of
the measure. The cheap distribution Of
the English classics. he said, would out
weigh all the injury that could be done
by the dissemination of bad books If
people wanted bad books they would
get them. He did not care, he said, if
1t did cost $1S5 to send letter to Alaska
If there was an American citizen in
Alaska the government should get his
mail to him at any cost. He said every
country newspaper and every cheap
magazine in the country were opposed
to the pending bill.
Mr.. Bromwell, Republican OF Ohio, a
member of the committee which pre-
pared the bill, advocated its passage on
the ground that the postoffice depart
ment should be run within its income,
and that its passage would be in the in
terest of public morality.
Mr.. Ogden. Democrat of Louisiana, IA
vored the bill.
Mr.. Cummings, Democrat of New
York. in vigorously antagonizing the
measure. denied that the newspapers of
the country favored the bill He pre-
sented a petition signed by over 1000
news dealers of New York against the
bill. This bill" he said, sis drawn
in the interest Of de luxe publications
and express companies, and l warn ev-
cry member representing an agricultur-
al district that if he votes for this bill
his constituents will remember him."
At this point the committee rose and
the house. at 4:40 pm, adjourned.