Evening star., 1898-12-13
Mr.. TURPIE OBJECTS
Speaks in Opposition to the Morgan
Canal Bill.
In FAVOR OF THE PROJECT ITSELF
House Passes Bill for Protection of
Seamen.
LII UT. GEN ERALS RANK

| In his opening prayer in the Senate today
| Chaplain Milburn made touching allusior
| to the death of Mrs. Bright, wife of the
! sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, invoking
| the divine blessing upon her husband and
children.
Upon the request of Mr. Gallinger chair
man of the committee on pensions, the Sen.
ate passed bill increasing the pension of
Eleazir Smith of New Hampshire to $50 a
| month Mr.. Gallinger said that Mr.. Smith
was over 100 years old and one of the three
survivors of the war of 1912.
Mr.. Berry gave notice of an amendment
he will offer to the Nicaragua canal bill
providing for the direct appropriation of
money for the construction of the canal
and limiting the cost to s15O00,OO0. The
amendment provides for the construction of
the canal by the Maritime Canal Company,
and gives the government a lien upon the
property. to be foreclosed under circum-
stances fully enumerated
Mr.. Berry stated the object of the amend
ment to be to eliminate the bond feature
of the bill Another was to deprive the
Maritime Canal Company of any shares of
the stock as in the present bill, leaving the
United States. Nicaragua and Costa Rica
the only stockho .ders. He said he under
stood Mr.. Morgan to be willing to have the
vision of the bill.
Mr.. Rawlins also gave notice of an
amendment to the Nicaragua bill, providing
that the act should not go into effect until
the United States should secure by treaty
the right to- fortify and garrison the canal,
to send armed vessels and munitions of war
through it in time of war and to c.ose it
against any other nation with whom the
United States may be at war.
Mr.. Morrill,, in accordance with previous
notice, addressed the Senate on his bill
authorizing the purchase of site east of
the Capitol grounds for a building for the
United States Supreme Court. He spoke
from manuscript, and Notwithstanding his
advanced age he handled the subject with
exceptional vigor and effectiven ess.
At the conclusion Of his speech the Sen
ate passed the bill.
A bill passed authorizing the Choc-
taw and Memphis Railroad Company to
construct bridges over the Arkansas and
other navigable rivers in Arkansas.
Mr.. Simon, the new senator from Oregon,
was placed upon the following committees:
Mines and mining. irriga ton; revolutionary
claims; Potomac river 'front.' and tresspas-
ses upon Indian lands.
Bills were passed follows: Granting
right of way to the Kettle River Valley
Railway Company of Washington through
the Colvlle Indian reservation.
For the relief of homestead settlers in
Florida who were driven from their homes
by the storm of 1896; amending section
4166 of the Revised Statutes, relating to
pensions, providing that in cases in which
pensioners desert their wives children
one-haf the pensions shall be paid to them.
The bill reviving the grade of lieutenant
general was reached on the calendar, but
was passed over at the request of Mr..
Cockrel.
MIR. Turpie on the Canal.
At . o'clock the Nicaragua canal bill was
taken up, and at the request of Mr.. Morgan
a communication was read from Minister
Merry transmitting the remonstrance of
the United States to the President of Mica
ragua against any change in the status of
the canal matter and also a statement from
Mr.. w r. Grace, chairman of the execu-
tive committee of the syndicate which has
recently obtained an option on the right
Of way across Nicaragua in opposition to
the Maritime Canal Companys enterprise.
Mr.. Turpie addressed the Senate upon
the Nicaragua bill, saying that no one could
excel him in zeal in advocating the 18TH
milan canal, but while he saw the vast ad-
vantage OF the proposed waterway, he also
was fully aware of the difficulties in the
way of putting the plan for a canal into
execution. While not opposed to the canal
as such, he was opposed to the scheme of
a maritime canal company, and he de-
nounced that company as the most ven
omous and effective opponent of a real
canal enterprise. He did not believe it Dos
slble for that company to construct the
canal, and he held that the Maritime COM
pany should get out of the way of the gen