The herald., 1898-04-07

the message which carried the fortunes OF
| the American: people.
AS the hands of the clock pointed to Il
| Speaker Reed pushed his way through
the green baized doors leading from the
| lobby to the House and assembled the
rostrum. With two whacks of the gavel
the great multitude was hushed. The
members and many of the spectators in the
gallery rose and stood with bowed head
as the blind chaplain of the House delivered
an invocation for the divine aid in the
| this days deliberations.
| There was a general understanding on
| the floor, soon after the House assembled
| that the message would probably not be
sent to Congress. In the packed galleries
| this fact was not known and they momen-
| tarily expected it's appearance. AS the
families of many of the members could
rot obtain admission to the galleries, Mr.
Bailey asked If the Speaker could enter
tain request that the members be per-
mitted to bring their families upon the
floor.
The Speaker answered in the negative.
The rules strictly prohibited him from en-
ter tanning such request.
1t having been arranged that the Army
fle-Ol ALA Si4Oui0 bS d SPtCldl
order for the today (not to interfere with
a report from the Committee on Foreign
Affairs), the Speaker recognized Mr.. Hull,
| Chairman of Military Affairs Committee,
| 10 call it up.
wrangle followed as to whether the
bill should be considered in committee CT
| the whole or in the House and as to the
| limits of the debate. The galleries watched
these preliminaries impa tiently, but with
| interest, as both the leaders on either side,
| Mr.. Dingley, Mr.. Bailey and others parti-
| cipated in the sparring. 1t was finally
agreed that the bill should be considered
| in the House, but all efforts to arrange a
| limit upon the debate failed, owing to the
! objection of Mr.. Marsh, (Rep) Illinois,
! VINO is one of the most bellicose members
| upon the floor.
| Mr.. Hull, in a dispassionate statement,
| explained the features and purposes of
| the bill, and the advantages of the pro-
posed three battalion formation, which
| have been fully covered in the Associated
Press dispatches.
| The present formation, he said, was alb
solutely obsolete, and it would be murder
to order the army of the United States to
go into battle under the present law.
| The character Of modern firearms made
an open formation absolutely necessary.
Mr.. Marsh (Rep.) OF Illinois followed Mr..
| Hull He indorsed the main features of
the bill, but expressed his opinion that
no captain could handle a company of $50
men under the new formation. The de-
bate drifted along with considerable
range, many members participating.
| Mr.. Lacy (Rep) of Iowa aroused the
| first outburst of applause from members
and galleries when he said that he re-
GREETED that war seemed inevitable, but
that one good thing would come of it.
| The regiment of the State Of Georgia
would vie with that of the State of Iowa
| to see which should be in the front in
battle and which would stay the longest.
Mr. Robbins Rep) of Pennsylvania op-
posed the bill because he believed it was
inimical to the volunteer service of the
United States. In time of war the volun-
teer forces, he thought ought to do the
| fighting. The regular army should not be
increased as proposed by this bill to 104,-
000
The main argument used against the bill
was that in case Of war the National guard
and volunteer forces could supply the
troops necessary above the regular army of
| 5000. This was met with the contention
| that. as one-quarter Of the expanded regi-
ments would be regulars, they would be
ready for real service in n much shorter
time than the volunteer forces could be.
An amendment was offered to reduce the
size of the companies from $50 to POO.
Representative Jones of WASHINGTON in
troduced a joint resolution to protect the
Americans in Cuba which d!:.sc4g tbe rresi
dent Immediately to order all vessels of war
Of the United States IL the vicinity OF Cuba
to proceed TO Havana without delay, to
protect an American citizens aad to bring
away 10 safety all who desire to leave the
.slaCd.
Pearson Of North Carolina, Republican