The Mena star., 1898-12-21
PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS.
ington During the Closing Days of the Fifty Firth Session.

SPEECHES were made in the senate on the l4th on the Nicaragua canal bill Senator Money Miss urged postponement of the question in order to have the Clayton Bulwer treaty modified by Great Britain, but Senator Morgan (Ala) antagonized the proposition Senator Gallinger tN. H) made protest against senators introducing pension bills in cases pending in the pension office and Sem ator Vest tMo) protested against pension bills being passed without due consideration. .-..In the house MT. Danforth co ), chairman of the immigration committee. tried to get the Lodge immigration bill up for consideration. but the house declined to take it up by a vote of 100 to I03 Mir. DeArmond (Mo) then made n speech on the decadence of the privilege of debate in the house and held Speaker Reed re- sponsibe for it. to which MT. Reed replied by saying that the same complaint was made in the time of John Randolph. The pension bill was then reported It carries s1i5, ,2S3 830. the total number of pensioners on the rolls being 99S,7l4
 IN the senate on the 18th the urgent deficiency appropriation bills making provision for the army and navy for the next six months. dis placed the Nicaragua canal bill The bill was passed after spirited discussion turning prtn- cpally on the point of keeping the volunteer soldiers in the service At the instance of Sem ator Harris tKan) a resolution was adopted calling upon the president for confirmation as to the status of the report of the Nicaragua commission. The senate then went into exec utive session and afterwards adjourned until the 1eth. :. In the house Mir Barney (Wis. ] called up the pension appropriation bill and made Q general explanatory statement of it's provisions The bill was read through without Q word of criticism and passed, the whole time occupied in it's consideration being less than 20 minutes. The house then entered upon the consideration of the bill to incorporate the In- tcrnationai American DenH
 THE senate was not iu session m the 18th The house, after the passage of some minor private bills, debated the bill to incorporate the International American bank It was finally defeated by vote of f03 to f48 The bill to extend the customs and revenue laws of the United States over the Hawaiian islands was passed without opposition The bill re- lating to second mail matter, known as the Loud bill, was reintroduced with an amend ment allowing the mailing of sample copies of newspapers at one-half cent for every two ounces. stamps being attached in advance. MT. Rixey tVa) introduced bill to admit confed- crate as well as union soldiers to all soldiers homes by the government
 THE senate was not in session on the f7th .... The house passed the Indian appropriation bill within three hours after 1t was called up by Mir. sherman (N. Y.l. chairman of the Indian committee. The bill carries 2. .34i 00l
 IN the senate the 10th Senator Platt tConn) spoke against the Vest anti-expansion resolution The speech was Q constitutional argument maintaining the legal right of the United States to acquire territory The Mic aragua canal bill was then taken up and sever al speeches were made for and against the measure The senate then went into executive session .... In the house Mir Bailey (Tex.) in- troduced resolution for reference to the judiciary committee as to whether any mem Der had accepted any office under the United States and whether such acceptance had va- cated the seat of the member in congress MT Dingley, from the committee on ways and means, offered the resolution for holiday re- cess from December 2i to January and 1t was adopted without division. The bill for the proposed Philadelphia exposition of American products and manufactures in 1899 was passed after short debate by vote of 142 to 70. Bills were also passed to authorize the distribution of the assets of the Freedmen's bank and to enlarge the scope of the fish commission to in- clude game birds.