The age-herald., 1898-01-18
II ALL RESTS WITH REED
Chances of Cuba and Hawaii in
 Congress.
SPEAKER SITTING ON SAFE
Probability That Only the Appropriation Bills Will Be Passed, and All Other Schemes Will
 Have to Rua a Difficult Gauntlet.

Special Correspondence of The Age-Herald.
 Washington, Jan. 15.-The legislative
 decks are clear, and each house of congress
 is settling down to it's work. The big com
 mittees have divided themselves into sub
 out bills for the consideration of the house
 is already in operation. On Jan 5, 5,4SS bills and 1O7 joint resolutions had been re-
 ferred to the house committees, and 2,91S 1 bills and 77 joint resolutions to senate com
 mittees. The calendars are hoppers into
 which the grist of these committees is | thrown. The house has already sent two | of the great appropriation bills over to the | senate. They carry s1e2,0 000. Eleven ] others are to follow. These appropriation | bills are the essential of legislation. With | out them the government is blocked When | the differences concerning them have been l settled by conference committees, and they | have passed both houses and have received | the signature of the president, congress l will be ready to adjourn.
 1t Is evidently the intention of the lead | CTS in the house to scale the general ap- propriation bills closely as possible and | to force an adjournment at an early date. Under the rules other bills carrying ap- propriations can be buried without allow | ing them to come before the house. An | appropriation bill is a privileged measure and it is frequently used to shunt offensive | legislation from the track. It has the | right of way at all times, except when con- fronted by contested election case or by Il | special order from the committee on rules An appropriation bill can switch con- 1 tested election case from the track at any | time by a vote of the house, but 1t re- | quires unanimous consent to set aside a | special order after it has once been sane | toned by the house.
 Chances of Hawaii and Cuba.
 | Bearing this in mind, the question of the annexation of Hawaii becomes interesting
 If the senate fails to ratify the treaty by a | two-thirds vote, a bill providing for its | annexation will undoubtedly pass that | body. If the leaders of the house are op- | posed to such bill they can easily prevent | its consideration by the house. It may be buried in the committee on foreign affairs; and if reported from that committee, there | is no way in which the house can consider | it, except by a special order from the com mittee on rules. In other words, if Speaker | Reed favors the bill, it will pass the house; | if he is opposed to it, the house will have no opportunity to vote on it. This aptly il lustrates the eccentricities of purely rep resentative government
 The Cuban question is in a similar sit- uation. The house is held up by an ap- plicaton of it's own rules. If three-quar- ters of the members favor the recognition of Cuba, they would have no opportunity | to vote for it. The senate resolution is | still buried in the house committee on for | eign affairs. If this committee should re- port it favorably to the house it is in the condition of Lord Lovelrs wife, who l jumped into a box that closed with spring. It could not come up for consider ation without the usual special order. Once on the calendar, it might be called up on suspension day, provided the speaker would l consent to recognize member of the On- mittee for this purpose. Then two-thirds vote would pass it.
 Bankruptcy nd Currency.
 There is much talk about bankruptcy bill. The committee on the judiciary have reported bill practically the same as the Torrey bill. Gen. Henderson, of Iowa, is the chairman of the judiciary committed He is also a member of the committee on rules. The bill will probably be brought before the house by a special order. If this is done the friends of the Nelson bill will offer that as a substitute, unless pre- cluded by the terms of the special order another spring in the box. At all events 1t seems safe to say that if the house passes any bankruptcy bill whatever this session it will be the bill reported from Gen. Hendersons committee. There is no probability however, that such a bill will pass the senate It can be amended in that body so as to make it entirely unac- ceptable to the leaders in the house. The differences between the two bodies are ap- parently so great that they cannot be set tied in conference.
 The same is true of a financial or cur rency bill Men of experience in both houses agree that there is probability of the passage of any such measure this session. If necessary, the appropriation bills may be used to send them awry. At all events there will be no Sabine assjm- ilation. The situation was aptly described by Senator Thomas H. Carter, of Mon tana, who said that to ask the senate to pass a financial bill based on the plan of
 the monetary commission would be like
 "squirting water against the wind"
 The committee on rivers and barbors is already in session and giving hearings to those interested in such appropriations It is clear that effort to pass river
 and harbor appropriation bill will be made
 before the end of the session. Such a bill
 has the same privilege, under the rules, as
 the other appropriation bills and is usually
 so framed that it can pass the house by
 two-thirds vote, on suspension day, with
 out debate. This was the case in the last
 house, and this house is equally as eager
 on the question of internal Improvements.
 Other Important Bills.
 Another bill of importance is what is
 known as the anti-scalping bill. It was
 brought before the house in the last con-
 gress under a special order from the coSc-
 mittee on rules. It will undoubtedly come
 up this session in similar way. In the
 Fifty-fourth congress it was put to sleep
 in the senate Its opponents had the bene-
 fit of the short session. when appropriation
 bills were crowding each other to the wall
 They used these bills to defeat it. They
 will have no such opportunity in this ses-
 sion, for it is the long session, and congress
 is not compelled to adjourn by the 4th of
 March. In strong contrast with this, stand
 what are known as tie letter-carrers' and
 postal clerks bills. Both have reached
 the calendars in previous congresses but
 their friends have never been able to get
 a special order for their consideration.
 Another bill attracting considerable atten-
 tion is what is known as the Loud bill. It
 revses the rates for second-class matter
 in the mails, making stringent limitations
 affecting newspapers and all periodical pub
 lications This proposition was brought be-