The record-union., 1898-04-26

the Cuban army under General Gomez
to be treated as belligerents, the free
dom and independence of Cuban peo-
pie having heretofore been recognized
by Act of Congress-
The same amendment had been urged
in the Committee on Foreign Relations
previous to the reporting Of the bill to
the Senate, and the Indiana Senator
only agreed to the bringing in of the
bill on the condition that his amend
ment should be presented to the Sen
ate. Both in committee and in the
Senate Turpie made elaborate argu-
ments in support of his proposition.
The roll of the Senate was called upon
the amendment, and it was defeated
by a majority of A. the vote standing
II to SO.
There was also some criticism of the
fact that the bill fixed a date in the
past when the war had begun Senator
! Pettigrew declared that the 21st was
! evidently used in order to make legal
| the capture of the lumber vessel, the
/ Buenaventura on that date. He char
acteriZed this as a small piece of bust
ness for either the Administration or
/ Congress to indulge in, and said that
under the circumstances, if he had been
! President he would have returned the
/ ship to its owners. He predicted that
| the courts would in the end settle the
claim against US, regardless of this
! declaration.
Senator White took up the Pettigrew
contention, holding that the President
had not indicated any date for the be-
ginning Of hostilities, but that he had
rather shown in his message that he
considered that the negotiations had by
no means reached the point of hostili-
ties. The President speaks" said the
/ Senator ''Of our reasonable demands
upon Spain. Did he" he asked, Eek
pect Spain to take the view that his
demands were reasonable when he had
asked Spain to part with a large por-
J ton of her kingdom and to come up
smiling in view Of this polite request ?'
Continuing, White said that it was
his purpose to support the Administra-
ton in all reasonable measures for the
prosecution of the war, but he did not
/ regard the fixing of this date as in any
sense response to the Presidential re-
quest
/ There was a general plea for speedy
action on this bill, and no amendment
was pressed for a change of dates This
motive also actuated Senator Davis to
withdraw an amendment suggested by
the Committee on Foreign Relations,
directing the President to prosecute
the war to a successful termination.
This amendment was withdrawn in or
der to leave the bill just as it passed
the House, thus dispensing with the
necessity Of a conference and making it
possible to send the bill to the President
! to-day.
! There was no division on the passage
of the bill
SENATE PROCEEDINGS.
| War and war measures were the only
| topics discussed by the Senate to-day
! during more than four hours of its SeS-
/ sion. The body had scarcely convened
when the message of the President urg
/ ing Congress to declare the existence
of war between the United States and
! Spain was laid before it. Without COM
ment the message was referred to The
Foreign Relations Committee.
/ Allen of Nebraska introduced the fol-
/ lowing joint resolution which he asked
! to have referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations:
THAT a state of war now exists, and
! since the 10th day of February, 1898,
/ has existed, between the United States
of America and the Kingdom of Spain"
Consideration of the naval appropria-
ton bill was then resumed, the pend
/ ing question being upon the amendment
offered by Butler of North Carolina to
regulate the price of armor
The amendment provides that for the
armor for the three battleships now in
| course of construction the Government
| shall not pay to exceed $500 a ton in
Guiding the nickel, and that subsequent
contracts for armOr shall not call for
a greater price than $500 per ton. in
case the price cannot be obtained, the
Secretary of the Navy is authorized at
once to purchase or establish a Govern
ment armOr factory. for which 81 800,
900 is appropriated, and in addition
81 100000 is appropriated for the manu-
facture of the armOr.
Stewart of Nevada inquired of Hale
whether the naval bill in any way COM
mitted the Government to pay $400 a
ton for armor for the proposed battle
ships authorized by the bill.
Hale replied that nothing in the bill
could be construed as committing the
Government to pay any particular price
for armor.
Tillman made an extended speech in
! favor Of the proposed amendment, IN
the course of which he had passage at
arms with Chandler, based on a report
made by the latter favoring a reduction
of the price of armor.
Hale then moved to lay the amend
ment on the table, and it was so or
dered by vote of SO to 13.
Hale offered an amendment authoriz-
ing the Secretary of the Navy to enlist
at any time after the passage of the
Act as many seamen, landsmen and
boys as he may deem necessary to man
the ships of the navy, or for the use Of
the navy as temporary force, and ap-
prOpriating $3.50, 900 for that purpose.
Hale agreed to an amendment offered
by Cockrell of Missouri that the time
limit should be during the existence of
war
The amendment was agreed to, the
amendment making the appropriation
Immediately available.
An amendment was also agreed to
providing that hereafter all first-class
battleships and monitors shall be
named after the various States
The bill as amended was passed.
The amendment for better organiza-
ton of the line of the army providing
for the three battalion formation was
called up by Hawley
The amendments offered by the COM
mittee were agreed to without division.
One of the amendments is an addition
to the proviso of Section 3. authorizing
the President to accept the quotas of
troops of the various States and Ter
ritories. The committees amendment
requires that these quotas shall be 'in