The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-16
ALL RESTS WITH REED.
cu,%CEs OF CUBA AND HAWAII IN
CONGRESS-.

"a
and All other Schemes for Light
cuing the Treasury VIII Have to
I'm, a Difficult GauntIet-NO Sue
ccss of Currency Reform.
washington, Jan. 1.-THE legislative
,.,l,s are clear. and each house of Con-
,.,,ss is settling down to its work. The
10 committees have divided themselves
.,ro subcommittee, and the process of
Grinding out bills for the consideration of
me House Is already in operation. On Jan.
T. 1855 bills and 1O7 joint resolutions had
tsen referred to the House committees, and
ofS bills and n joint resolutions to Sen
ore committees. The calendars are hoppers
,r-o which the grist of these committees is
thrown. The House has already sent two
If tho great appropriation bills over 10 the
senate. They carry 1852, 100000. Eleven 9TH
ers are to follow. These appropriation bills
are The essential of legislation. Without
tbcr the government is blocked. When the
djfsrsnces concerning them have BEEN set
lied bv conference committees, and they
ba,-. passed both houses and received the
SIGNATURE of the President, Congress will
he ready to adjourn.
If is evidently the intention of the lead
ers in the House to scale the general ap-
nropration bills as closely as possible, and
to force an adjournment at an early date.
Under the rules other bills carrying appro-
nriations can be buried without allowing
them TO come before the House. An APP
nropriation bill is a privileged measure,
and if is frequently used to shunt often
siye LEGISLATION from the track. It has the
rirht of way at all times, except when
confronted by a contested election case or
nv 4 special order from the committee on
rules An appropriation bill can switch a
contested election case from the track at
anv time by a vote of the House, but it
requires unanimous consent to set aside
a special order after it has once been sane
toned by the House.
Bearing this in mind, the question of
the annexation of Hawaii becomes inter-
esting If the Senate fails to ratfy the
treaty by a two-thirds' vote, a bill pro-
viding for its annexation will undoubtedly
mass that body. If the leaders of the
House are opposed to such a bill they
can easily prevent its consideration by
the House. 1t may be buried in the COM
mittee on foreign affairs; and if report
ed from that committee, there is no way
in which the House can consider il, eX-
cept by a special order from the commit
tee on rules. In order words, if Speaker
Reed favors the bill, it will pass the
House; if he is opposed to it, the House
will have no opportunity TO vote on it.
This APPLY illustrates the eccentricities of
purely representative government.
The Cuban question is in a similar stu
auon. The House is held up by an appli-
cation of its own rules. If three-quarters
of the members favor the recognition of
Cuba, they would have no opportunity to
vote for it. The Senate resolution is still
buried in the House committee on foreign
affairs. If this committee should report
it fayorably to the House 1t is in the
condition of Lord Lovells wife, who jump
cd into a box that closed with a spring.
Il could not come up for consideration
without the usual special order Once on
the calendar it might be called up on
suspension day, provided the speaker
would consent to recognize a member OF
the committee for this purpose. Then
twO-thirds vote would pass it.
There is much talk about the bankruptcy
bill. The committee on the judiciary
have reported bill practically the same
as the TOrrey bill Gen. Henderson of
Iowa is the chairman of the judiciary
committee. He is also a member of the
committee on rules. The bill will prob
ably be brought before the House by d
special order If this is done the friends
Of the Nelson bill will offer that as a sub
sdtute, unless precluded by the terms Of
The special order-another spring in the
box. At all events, it seems safe to say
that if the House passes any bankruptcy
bill whatever this session it will be the
bill reported from Gen. Hendersons com
mttee There is no probability, how
ever, that such a bill will pass the SEN
ave 1t can be amended in that body so
as TO make it entirely unacceptable to the
leaders in the House. The differences be-
tween the two bodies are apparently so
great that they cannot be settled in con-
ference.
The same is true of a financial or a
currency bill. Men of experience in both
Houses agree that there is no probability
OF the passage of any such measure this
session If necessary, the appropriation
DIS may be used to send them awrY.
A all events. there will be no Sabine as
sanitation. The situation was apty de-
scrued by Senator Thomas H. Garter of
montana, who said that 10 ask the Senate
10 pass "a financial bill based on the plan
VI lhe monetary commission would be
Hnc squirting water against the wind
Inc committee on rivers and harbors is
already in session and giving hearings to
tHoSe interested in such appropria tions. 1t
is clear that an effort TO pass a river and
Hd'nor appropriation bill viii be made be-
IoIe the end of the session. Such a bill has
lNe same privilege, under the rules, as the
"'her appropriation bills and is usually so
t""vu lhat ii can pass the House by
'"o- .hrds vote, on suspension day, with
J,' debate. This was the case in the last
mouse and this House is equally as eager
VI" me question of internal improvements.
another bill of Importance is what is
iL'o"n as the anti-scaping bill. Ii was
ai'u-hJ before the House in the last Con-
49, under a special order from the COM
r.'',e on rules. 1t win undoubtedly come
~ NJ ms session in a similar way. In the
t'.,N fourth Congress it was put to sleep
80 ''e senate Its opponents had the benefit
IN. ue snort session. when Appropriation
T5 Ms were crowdIng each other to the wall.
NY USED these bills to defeat It. They
e.; ,l nave no such opportunity i'm this ses-
s o'h Tor II is the long session, and Con-
90 Is not compelled to adjourn by the
e.. , ", March. In strong contrast with this,
'.'t what are known as the letter-car-
r1 ana postal clerks bills Both have
.1' the calendars in previous Con-
stLS' out their friends have never been
4 si,'-,o get a special order for their con-
tc1-.",Her bill attracting considerable at
81 7, ",''4 Is what is known as the Loud bill.
lev '|eS the rates for second-class mat
81 tio, =" cne mails, making stringent limita-
Fl npt4 i all