The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-04
The Staid Member from the Pine Tree
state Makes an Explanation That
Causes Laughter in the House.
ANOTHER POLITICAL DEBATE
.M'KINLEY PROSPERITY" AGAIN
DISCUSSED BY REPRESENTATIVES,.
Speech in the Senate by Mr.. Gallery in
for IL Seat Among the SOIODs.
Special to the Indianapolis journal.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.-Jerry Simpson.
the silk-stockinged Populist, i'll some way
made the discovery that Chairman Dingley
wears a London-made pot hat, or, at
least, tile with London makers stamp
in It, This was enough for him to kang a
speech upon. He got the floor and male 1t
to day to the amusement of the House. Mr.
D;ngley is d very serious statesman, with
little more sense Of humcr than wooden
Indian. He started out with an attempt to
be humorously severe with the irreverent
Kansan. 1.-THE gentleman from Kansas"
he said, is engaged in talking through his
hat
"Oh, no, responded Jerry, quickly; I'm
talking through the hat of the gentleman
from Name
This sally tickled the House and made Mr..
Dingley mad clear through. He went into
an elaborate explanation as to where and
how he got that hat The more serious he
was the more tickled the House was. He
said that when he bought the tile he no
ticed the London stamp and asked what 1t
meant, and was assured by the vender that
the article was American make, and the
obnoxious label only put in because it
made the hats sell better on account of the
dudes and anglomaniacs wanting things
that are English. Jerry wanted to know
which Dingley was. The idea of Mr.. Ding
ley being taken for dude convulsed the
House. Finally Mr.. Dingley finished an ex-
PLANTATION he should never have begun, Jer-
ry looking on with his face wreathed in
smile of mischievous delight.
At the opening of the session the House
passed a bill appropriating $4,000 for a sur
ffoaI nf TO-
curing a 35-foot channel in the southwest
pass of the Mississippi river.
When consideration Of the Notifications
appropriation bill was resumed Mr.. Burke
(Dem, Tex.) and Mr.. Grosvenor (Rep. o.
joined issues on the subject of Mckinley
prosperity" Mr.. Simpson followed and
again took up the controversy he had few
days ago with Mr.. Pitney (Rep., N. ID
over the trusts which, he said, were or
ganzed in New Jersey to prey on Kansas
and other States. In a humorous vein he
said the people of New Jersey were not to
blame that legislation in that State was
knocked down to the highest bidders, as
they were the descendants of the Hessians
When asked by Mr.. Smith (Rep., Mich)
why he had done nothing to exterminte the
trusts, Mr.. Simpson replied that he was
helpless in the House. In this House,
IL,
had as well file a. bill in the Potomac river
as in this House..
Mr., Pitney, in reply to Mr.; Simpson. re-
ferred indirectly 10 the fact that Mr.. Simp-
son was born in New Brunswick. lie re-
membered, he said that after the war or
the. revolution many OF the Tories ana
the neghboring province of New Bruins
wick He did not mean to imply, ne SAID,
that Mr.. Simpsons ancestry was necesSafl-
ly tainted by that fact. but he asserted his
pride in his own ancestry. He also paid a
glowing tribute to his State.
Messrs. Shafroth Pop, COLI, Gaines (Dem.,
TENN, Mccall rep, Mass.) Green Pop,
Neb), and King Dem. Utah9
some time to the criticism of the fortifica-
lions bill At the rate Of appropriation pro-
vided in this bill, he said, It would require
fifteen years to carry out the plans of the
Endcott board. He asserted that on the
South Atlantic and Gulf coasts there was
not a gun that could be fired in defense of
the harbOrS.
Mr. Hemenway CRep, Ind.), i'll charge OF
the BILL denied that these coasts were de-
fenseless At Charleston, said he, there
We're three eight-inch guns, one ten-lnch
gun and eight mortars. If the coast was in
the condition represented by the gentleman
from New York he said. he would be will
ing to appropriate $40. 900 900. Mr.. Hemen-
way declared that the coast was fairly well
protected, not as well as he would like to
see it or as it would be. The pending bill
carried every dollar which the government
could afford to appropriate at this time.
Mr. Livingston Dem. Ga-) read some
statements from Southern papers charging
that in the distribution of munitions of war
New Orleans and other Southern ports had
been neglected. Mr. Livingston said he had
no knowledge on this point, but he pro-
posed to make inquiry of the proper au-
thorities and if the allegations should prove
true he warned the House that provision
would have to be made for Southern ports.
AT 3 o clock the general debate closed and
the bill was taken up for amendment under
the five-minute rule Mr. Mcclellan (Dem.,
N Y) offered an amendment to increase
the appropriation for guns and mortar bat
teries from one to five million. 1t was voted
down.
During the debate Mr.. Simpson Pop.,
Kan.) made some humorous remarks about
Mr.. Dingley's hat, and said 1t came from
London. Replying, Mr.. Dingley said that
the hat was made in New York and that
the manufacturer put in a London trade
mark to make the dudes purchase them.
whereupon Mr. Simpson said that Mr..
Dingley was not a dude.
Mr.. Dingley said that Mr. Simpson was
given to talking through his hat, and
ended by denying that he (Dingley) had i'm
ported wool before the passage of the Ding
ley bill. The whole episode caused a great
deal of amusement in the House.
Without completing the bill, at sos D. m,
the House adjourned.