Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-03-11
Presidents Call for a Defense
4. Fund Meets a Most Patri-
otto Response.
MUCH ELOQUENT, ORATORY
North, South, East and West
Join in Proclaiming Their
United Support.
Bill Was at Once Sent to the
Senate and Referred to
a Committee.

WASHINGTON, March BIN spirit
of patriotism, with eloquent words
ringing in their ears, every member OF
the house of representatives responded
to the presidents first call to meet the
Spanish situation by casting his vote
for bill placing in President McKin-
ley's hands $50, ooo, 900 to be expended
at his discretion for the national de.
tense. Party lines were swept away
and with q unanimous voice congress
voted it's confidence in the administra.
ton.
Many members who were paired
with absent colleagues took the respon.
sibility of breaking their pairs, an I'M
preoedented thing in legislative annals,
in order that they might go on record
in support Of this vast appropriation to
maintain the
Dignity and Honor of Thor Country.
Speaker Reed, who as the presiding Of
ficer seldom votes only in case OF tic.
had his name called and voted in his
capacity as q representative. The
scene of enthusiasm which greeted the
announcement Of the vote-ayes I'll,
noes none has seldom been paralleled
in the house.
All day long the galleries were
damned with enthusiastic spectators,
applauding TO the echo the sterling pat
riotism of the words of eloquence which
were uttered by the members on the
floor. All the speeches were brief.
Although four hours were allowed for
debate go great was the pressure for
time that no one member was given
more than five minutes and most Of
them had to content themselves with q
beggarly fraction OF q minute. In all
50 speeches were made. With one &C.
claim, from
North. South, East and West,
battle SCARED veterans OF the Union
and the Confederate armies, all joined
in proclaiming their support Of the
country's chief magistrate in the face
OF a possible foreign war. General
Grosvenor of Ohio said that if war did
not come the $50, 100000 appropriated
by this bill would be wisely expended If
it only served to show the world that
when threatened from without the
hearts of the American people beat as
one. In the whole debate there was
only slight discordant note caused by
the speech Of General Bingham of
Pennsylvania, a gallant soldier who
served with distinction under Hancock.
He spoke too conservatively for the
aroused temper Of the house, and when
he insisted that our relations with
Spain were as friendly rs they had
been for years
Many Of thu Members Hiased Him.
While almost every member who spoke
deprecated the possibility of war, a
wide divergence Of opinion as to how
close were hostilities manifested itself
in the debate. The general contention
by the majority, among them the lead
ers on both sides, was that this appro.
p-iation, by preparing for war, would
prove the surest guarantee of peace.
Others insisted that war alarms would
soon be heard and Mr.. Mann of Illinois
declared that war actually existed in
all but save the name. The speeches
which attracted the most attention
were those OF Messrs. Cannon, Hender.
son and Deliver on the Republican
side aud Messrs. Bailey and Sayers on
the Democratic side.