Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-10
Senate Sanctions the Great
Emergency Defence Fund.
AN IMPRESSIVE SESSION.
Each Senator Spoke One Word
and That Was aye"
It Was All over So Quick That Spectators
in the Galleries Scarcely Realized
What Had Happened,
AN IMPRESSIVE SESSION.


Kinleys hands have been upheld by
both branches of the American congress.
With fervor and promptness almost un-
paralleled in the senate in time of peace,
that body today passed the emergency
appropriation bill, carrying $1S3, 900 of
deficiencies and placing at the disposal
of the president $50, 900 for national
defence.
The vote by which the measure was
passed was unanimous. Seventy-six
short, sharp and emphatic speeches
were delivered in favor of the bill, each
one being simply a ringing AYE" during
the roll-calI of the measure.
Not only did every senator present
register his vote in favor of the bill,
but forever absent member the author
ltattYe announcement was made that
If he were present he would vote aye.
From the time the bill was presented to
the senate by Mr.. Hale of Maine until
1t was passed, not an inharmonious note
was sounded. Party lines We're swept
aside. In the general outburst of pa
triotic feeling pairs were broken, every
senator being anxious to register his
vote on the measure.
1t was just 1918 when Mr.. Hale re-
ported the bill to the senate. The men,
bers of the committee on appropriations
had previously effected an arrangement
whereby there would be no debate on
the bill, and after it was read Vice
President Hobart placed it Immediately
on its passage. Twelve minutes after
the bill was reported to the senate the
vice president announced its unanimous
Endorsement.
The great work was accomplished so
quickly that most of the people who
crowded the galleries scarcely realized
that the measure, so far as congress
was concerned, had become law. Some
OF the spectators fully grasped the
meaning Of the senate's action, and
when the announcement of the vote was
made, a murmur of applause ran
through the galleries
The members of the senate, however,
maintained dignifled silence, the real
ization among all of them being keen
that situation which warranted the
passage of so unusual measure, was
too grave to prompt an outburst Of APP
plause. Earnestness and determination
were evinced on both sides Of the
chamber, but there was not a note of
levity that would detract from the Sc
riousness of the work performed.
In anticipation IF discussion of the
bill. two hours before the sel4ate con-
Nened spectators began to appear in
the galleries to secure desirable seats
and long before II o'clock the public and
reserve galleries We're filed. In the cor
ridors outside were long lines of people
anxious to secure admission to witness
a session Of the senate that gave prom
ise Of being momentous Among the
SPECTATORS in the galleries were scores
os ladies, whose interest in Cuban mat
ters is quite as keen as that Of their IA
theirs, husbands and brothers
! q -.
ance was unusually large when the vice
presidents gayel fell, calling the body to
order. Nearly all of the members of the
appropriations committee, Including the
chairman, Mr., Allison, and of the for
eign relations committee, including the
chairman, MIR. Davis, were in their
seats, In addition, several members and
officers of the house were in the cham
ber.
AT the conclusion of the morning bus
mess Mr.. Hale (Me) of the appropria-
tlons committee quietly rose and said: 81
report from the committee ON appropri-
auons without amendment an act to
supply urgent deficiencies for the cur
rent year and for other purposes, and I
ask that 1t be placed on its passage. !"
The bill, which was the measure appro-
priating $5O,1S3,000. of which $50 900 900
was placed at the disposal of the pres
ident for the national defense was
then, amid an intense silence, read in
full.
During the roll call, when it was
being announced for every absent sena-
tor that if he were present he would
vote. aye, Mr.. Allen of Nebraska, in
making the announcement for Mr..
ThurSton of Nebraska said: MY col
league is unavoidably detained from the
senate. but if he were present he would
vote aye" Mr.. Vest of Missouri suggest
ed in q cotf fn Trnif 41,o4 rNt..-
might vote in Havana { where Mr..
Thurston now is), and the sally created
laugh among those nearby. When Mr..
Perkins of California made a similar an
nouncement for Mr. White of Califor-
mia, he said: my senior partner, If he
were here -" and then catching him
self, Joined good naturedly in the gen
eral laugh which followed
Mr.. Chandler, of New Hampshire pre-
sented the following resolution, which
indicated that the disaster to the battle
ship Maine is to have thorough inves-
tigaton by the senate: THAT in con-
Quoting the inquiry into the case of the
destruction of the battleship Maine in
Havana harbor on Feb. Is, 1898, under
resolution of the senate of Feb. 81, the
committee on naval affairs is hereby
authorized to send for persons and pa
pers, to employ a stenographer, and to
make the Investigation by the full COM
ffIllN6e, VI w LlltI6Ols the
expenses of such Investigation to be paid
from the contingent fund of the senate. .
The resolution was referred to the
committee on contingent expenses.
At 1910 p. M, on motion of Mr. Davis
of Minnesota, chairman of the commit
tee on foreign relations, the senate went
into executive session, and at 135 p. M,
adjourned
At is o'clock a messenger came clat-
tering up the capitol with the printed
bill. Mr. Hager of Iowa. chairman of the
committee on enrolling bills, hurriedly
compared the printed copy with the bill
as Ii passed the two houses
At 40 D. nj. the speaker of the house
took the chair and announced his sig
nature to the national defence bill. The
adjournment of the senate prevents Sc
curing the signature of the vice presi-
dent today, and it Will so to the presi-
dent tomorrow.
in THE HOUSE.
Washington. March 9.-The house de-
voted itself to routine business today
The legislative, executive and judicial
appropriation bill went through its last