The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1898-04-12
WORK OF CONGRESS

war against Spain and to maintain the
war until the people of Cuba are
made free from Spanish starvation
and cruelty and the government of
the island firmly established as an in
dependent republic"
This utterance by Senator Chandler
of New Hampshire in carefully pre-
pared statement of his position on the
Cuban crisis was the climax of an ex-
tended discussion of the subject par
ticipated in by several members in
the senate yesterday afternoon.
Speeches had been delivered by Mr..
Turner of Washington, Mr.. Harris Of
Kansas and Mr.. Kenney of Delaware,
all of whom took strong grounds for
vigorous and instant action by the
United States. Indeed, Mr.. Turner
took substantially the same position
as that of Mr.. Chandler, basing his
demand for action upon the Maine
catastrophe. Profound attention was
attracted by speech delivered by Mr..
Turpie of Indiana, one of the members
of the foreign relations committee.
Scathingly he reviewed the Spanish
conduct of Cuban affairs and declared
in the strongest terms for interven-
ton that would mean SOmething-that
would drive Spain from control OF
every foot of territory in the Western
hemisphere. The speech was clear,
concise statement of the position in
which the country had been placed by
Spanish "outrageS, insults and
crimes"
At the conclusion of the speeches on
the Cuban question the senate re-
sumed consideration Of the sundry
civil bill, the only important progress
made being the adoption in slightly
modified form of the committee.
amendment suspending the forestry
reservation proclamation of 1897.
The crowds which thronged the gal
leries of the house were disappointed.
There were no outbreaks of any kind
on the floor on the Cuban question.
The whole day was spent on the pri-
vate calendar with the result that
several bills were passed, among them
one to pay the heirs of John Roach,
the shipbuilder, S330,000 on q claim
which has been pending dozen years,
and another to pay o. G. Bosbyshell.
superintendent of the Philadelphia
mint, $1,000 extracted from the gold
vaults by a weigh clerk. An evening
session was devoted to private pension
bills.
Washington, April AFTER waiting
patiently in the galleries and corridors
of the house for hours, many of them
from 8 o'clock in the morning, until
shortly before o'clock in the after
noon, the thousands who had come to
hear the presidents Cuban message,
turned away weary and disgusted at
the delay. Never was there such dis
appointment at the capitol. The men,
bers felt it more keenly than the spec
tators, and for two hours afterward
thew stood about the lobbies discussing
this latest phase of the situation.
The news Of the proposed armistice
which came on the heels of the an.
nouncement that Gen. Lee had cabled
for delay received quite as much at
tention as the request of Lee. The
debate in progress in the house over
the army reorganization bill attracted
little OF no attention. 1t was COM
pletely overshadowed by the more abb
sorbing question. Considerable oppo-
stion to the bill developed on the
ground that it's provision for an extern
sion Of the regular army in time of
war to 100000 men would be ininical
10 the national guard and the yOlun-
teer forces upon which the country
had heretofore relied in time of stress.
There will be a strong effort to re-
commit the bill.
In the senate.
When the senate convened intense
expectancy, amounting to excitement,
prevailed both on the floor and in the
galleries The presidents message
had been positively promised and it's
coming was awaited with genuine
anxiety. Ten minutes after the SEN
ate convened consideration Of the
sundry civil bill was resumed, and
with the exception of eight minutes
consumed by executive session, in
which Senator Davis announced that
no message would be sent in, almost
the entire session was consumed by
the appropriation bill. 1t was practi-
cally completed when laid for the day.
Washington, April 8.-There was
scene of great excitement in the house
during the consideration Of the bill for
the reorganization of the army. 1t
was caused by Mr.. LentZ, an Ohio
Democrat. who made a vicious as
sault on the administration, charging
that the policy of delay was in the
interest of stock jobbers in Wall street.
He alleged that Wall street was in
possession of information that the
message would not go in long before
it was made known at the capitol,
and profited heavily by the advance in
the price of stocks which resulted. He
even charged that there was no war
rant for the alarming statements
about the situation in Havana which
were reported as justifying the delay
of the message. Mr.. Lentz's speech