The Mena star., 1898-12-07
CONGRESS REASSEMBLES.
opening of the Last Session of the Fifty Fffth-Briiliant and Animated Scenes
 in Both Houses.

and beautiful appearance. On the floor
 of the senate the display of flowers
 was unusually beautiful, even for the
 opening day of session of congress.
 The reading of the presidents mes
 sage, which occupied two hours and
 IS minutes, was received with every
 careful attention for an hour. but aft
 CT that the senators drifted to the
 cloak rooms or to the committee rooms,
 where they could peruse the message
 at their leisure in the printed copies with which they had been furnished.
 In the house the greetings of the members were most cordial and there was no outcropping of partisan rancor to mar the occasion. One of the most striking incidents was the cordial meeting between the floor leaders of the respective sides, Messrs. Dingley and Bailey. In view of the gossip about the possibility of Mr. Bailey be- ing deposed as the minority leader. it is significant that the speaker named Mir. Bailey as the minority member of the committee to wait upon the presi- dent, an honor always bestowed upon the recognized leader of the minority.
 Speaker Reed received Q warm well come from both sides of the house when he ascended the rostrum to call the house to order. but perhaps the greatest personal ovation to any mem Der was that given Maj. Gen. Wheeler, of Ala bama, who has not been seen by many of his old colleagues since he went to the front at the head of the cavalry division of Gen. Shafter's army. Mir. w. A. Stone, of Pennsylva- mia; Mir. McMillin, of Tennessee, and Mir. Savers, of Texas, who have been elected governors of their respective states since congress adjourned, were also overwhelmed with congratula- tions.
 The floral tributes were unusually and made the hall verita- ble bower of beautiful flowers. The proceedings themselves were dull, all interest centering in the reading of the presidents message. For over two hours the clerk droned through the long document, but the interest of and spectators never Jagged. With rapt attention they followed the recital of the war and listened eagerly to every suggestion or recommendation he had to offer No expressions of ap- proval or disapproval interrupted the 
 WORK FOR THE HOUSE.
 Washington, Dec. 6.-An early de bate on war questions is expected in the house, in connection with the de- fciency appropriation bill, which is devoted exclusively to items for the army and navy. The bill was practi- cally completed yesterday and will be finally passed on in committee to-day, and then presented to the house.
 Representative Cousins, of Iowa, has the honor of introducing the first bill in the house at this session of congress. It is entitled a bill ''declaring the standard of value in the United States, " and provides that the standard of value in the United States is hereby declared to be- and is, the standard gold dollar of 25 s-1o grains of stand ard gold, 900 fine.
 Represen tative Meyer, of Louisiana, introduced bill appropriating Sl2,- 900, 900 for the construction of wide, deep channel from deepwater of the Mississippi river to deepwater of the gulf of Mexico via Southwest pass. The channel, by the terms of the bill, is to be 800 feet wide and B feet deep, and conforms, so Mir. Meyer says, to the recommendations of the board ap- pointed last winter by the war depart ment under a resolution of congress.
 Representative Dingley has called meeting of the ways and means com mittee for to-day for the purpose of distributing to the various committees the subjects treated in the presidents message, at which time programme for the sessions work probably will be outlined.
 Among the bills and resolutions in- troduced in the house yesterday were the following:
 By Mir. w. P. Brownlow, of Tennes- see, to provide for the redemption of any coupon of an interest-bearing bond of the United States, which coupon is accidentally destroyed after having been detached.
 By MT. Sulzer, of New York, to re- establish the American merchant ma rine and to regulate internal trade and transportation.
 By Mr. Brewer, of Alabama, to re- peal the act providing ways and means to meet war expenditures, approved June 13, 1898.
 By MT. Cromwell, of Ohio, resolu- tion requesting the secretary of state to supply information concerning the