The record-union., 1898-07-09
NATIONAL
LEGISLATURE
ADJOURNS.
Work of Fifty-Second
Session Ended.
Closing in the Senate Very
Simple in Manner.
House Closes Amid Cheers and the
Singing Of Patriotic Songs.
The Session One Which viii Go Down IN
History as the Most Noted Since the
Civil War important Measures
Which Have Become Laws.

WASHINGTON, July S.-The second
session Of the Fifty-drst Congress ad-
journed at O'clock to-day without
date. In the Senate the closing was
very simple.
The House adjourned precisely at 2
o'clock amid cheers, followed by the
singing Of patriotic songs. Represen-
tative Bromwell Of Ohio proposed three
cheers for President Mckinley, which
We're given twice over by the Republi-
cans. Then followed cheers joined in
by the entire public for Admiral Dewey
and General Joe Wheeler. The whole
House was one vast demonstration, and
flags We're passed about to every men,
ber and We're enthusiastically waved
while the members sang.
The passing of the second session of
the Fifty-fifth Congress marks the
quarter of a century. Associated with
the first hostile conflict with a nation
of another continent since 1872, and
contemporaneouS with a further move
ment for territorial expansion, though
with few important changes in the do
mestic scheme, the present Congress
outranks almost any other that has
ever assembled. 1t began with wide
spread clamor for sympathetic action
for suffering Cuba, but there was ap-
parently then no expectation of armed
conflict. But when the trend of events
eliminated, the emergency was quickly
met and necessary legislation enacted.
The first few but significant war meas
ures suddenly needed We're framed and
made law, but With the issue made
clear, tracks for the flood of bills and
resolutions fairly submerged the two
branches of Congress.
Hawaiian annexation, war appropria-
tions and war revenue legislation, or
genlzation Of vast volunteer army and
expansion of the navy, a new bank
ruptcy laval these We're features of
the session. Notable speeches and dra-
matte scenes over foreign issues were
comparatively frequent in both legis-
lative chambers. Urgent deficiency
bills, carrying millions of dollars, We're
rushed through with far less delay than
marked the course of an ordinary
measure of like Importance.
The total appropriated footed almost
S9OO.000,O0O and upward of $3.50, ,000,-
Geo of this was purely war purposes. 1t
was the largest aggregate by any ses-
sion since the civil war, and the gem
afio ha Law ta
measure since the S15O,0OO,O 900 single
appropriation in 1863.
The naval appropriation bill provided
for three new battleshps, four moni-
tors, sixteen torpedo boat destroyers,
twelve torpedo boats and one gunboat.
The urgent deficiency bills all carried
provisions for aggressive work in the
prosecution of the war. The general
deficiency, enacted in the last days,
carried provision for refunding the in
debtedness of the Central and West
ern Railroads to the Government.
Cuba and Hawaii Were the impor-
tant matters of debate, and provoked
the most widespread interest. Ha-
waiian annexation, finally passed at
the close, was agitated throughout the
session, first in treaty form in executive
session, and last in open session by a
resolution accepting the Hawaiian
Government cession OF the islands.
There We're a number of messages
from President Mckinley bearing OH
the Cuban situation, ranging from the
submission of report upon the Maine
disaster and the consulate reports tc a
call for a. declaration of war
The first real war legislation was
when Congress placed. without limita-
tions, $50,OOO,O00 in the Presidents
hands as an emergency fund for ma
tional defense. Party lines were swept
away, and both houses unanimously
voted it's confidence in the Administra-
ton. Soon after bill reimbursing the
survivors of the Maine disaster for
their losses, not to exceed years pay
with a similar amount to relatives of
those who perished, became a law.
On April 11th the President left the
Cuban question in the hands of Con-
gress Resolutions We're soon enacted,
and became a law April 18th, declaring
that the people of Cuba ought to be and
are free and independent, and demand
ing that Spain relinquish it's authority
and withdraw it's land and naval forces
from Cuba and Cuban waters, and di-
recting the use of our land and naval
forces to enforce the resolutions.
The declaration of war was passed by
Congress and approved on April 10Th.
Subsequent legislation gave free adj