The San Francisco call., 1898-05-05
Mills Introduces Anne end ment in the Senate
 Without Success.
Adoption of Joint Resolution in Relation to Succession
 to the Presidency.
Pettiorew Accuses the Northwestern of Falsifying the Fetorhs oh
 the Sioux City Railroad
Call Office. Riggs House,
Washington, May 4.

Washington, May I. Quite unexpectedly a brief but sharp debate was precipitated in the senate to-day in the income tax proposition.
 The resolution proposing an amehu-
 nant +o the constitution of the United
 States in relation to the succession to
 the Presidency was under discussion Mills of Texas proposed an amendment
 in the form of new secuoh | intended to authorize congress
 to lay a tax on incomes in sucn | form as to meet the requirements oI
 the decision of the Supreme Court lie
 was sharply criticized for endeavor1ng
 to place such a rider on resolution
 which practically all Senators fovoreo,
 hut stood his ground and insisted upon
 a vote on his amendment. The amend
 ,oent was defeated (32 to 2O. all the l Republicans voting against the amend
 ment and all the Democrats, except l Caffery of Louisiana, together Wltn the Populists and Silver Repuplcahs' voting in favor of it. The Jolnt reso- lution which was adopted reads as Iol- lows:
 In all cases not provided for by article 2, clause of the constitution, where there is no person entitled to discharge the duties of the office of President, the same
  The Congress may by law provide for the case where there Is no person entitled to hold the office of President or Vlce-Presl-
 dent, declaring what officer snail act as President and such officer shall act ac-
 cordingly until the disability shall De re-
 moved or President shall be elected.
 The conference report on the fortifi-
 cations appropriation bill was agreed
 to.
 Gear of Iowa, chairman of the Pacific Railroads Committee, called up ana op- tained consideration for Dill authorlzlhg
 a committee, consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the h. terior and the Attorney-Generalt to effect an adjustment between the United States
 and the Sioux City and Pacific Railway Company in relation to certain bonds issued by the United States in aid of the
 construction of the railroad. An amend
 ment to the bill offered by Harris of 1 Kansas provides that the commission may
 not accept less in settle1hent ot the Coy ! el lments claim than the principal or the bonds issued in aid or the cOnSTucIlou ol | the railroad.
 Morgan of Alabama delivered an ex- | tended speech upon the measure, in the | course of which he indicated the great ] importance of the measure as prece- | dent.
 At the conclusion of Morgan's speech | Cockrel of Missouri secured the passage l of the following resolutions:
 That the Secretary of the Treasury Is 1 hereby directed to make a report showing the coming NdLIue OI tltS SHfCI builIOll III the treasury and the amount of the seigniorage and the amount of the exist ing treasury notes issued in it's purchase, and the amount of standard silver dollars coined under the act of July IA, 1S10 and the amount of the seigniorage and the amount of treasury notes redeemed in such dollars and retired.
 Harris, continuing the debate upon the l pending railroad bill, uroed the adoption 1 of his amendment as the very least that ! Congress could do in protecting the in- | terests of the country.
 Petugrew of South Dakota said that the | Sioux City Railroad was a link so i'm. portant to the Northwestern system that | if the Government should insist upon the
 payment of its principal claim in full, l about $1 600 GOO, the Northwestern would
 pay it. He declared that the Northwest l ern officials had for years falsified the re- 1 turns from the Sioux City Railroad with
 a nominal price. He said he proposed
 to offer an amendment to the amendment providing that not less than $3 900, ,00C 1 should be accepted by the commission in settlement of the Governments claim. | At 3:35 D. m. the Senate went into exec
 reopened Hawley presented the report of | the conferees of JIe bill suspending the ! law relating to the purchase of supplies | by the Quartermaster' Department of 1 the army.
 1 Hawley, after the reading of the report ! moved that it be agreed to.
 1 Morgan thought the proposed law was l unwise, imprudent and unnecessary. He ! said that it was most extraordinary that 1 bureau officers should be authorized to go 1 into the open market and purchase un- ! limited supplies. After a brief discus i tomorrow. Then at o'clock the Senate ! adjourned