The San Francisco call., 1898-03-22
Passage of the Bill in the House for Reim burS-
 ing Maine's Men.
Attempts to Amend the Meas ure and Controversies Are
 Averted by Eloquence.
Beautiful Tribute Paid to the Gallant Dead by Repres entative Cousins
 of Iowa.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
Call Ofice,' Riggs House,
 !, hfnnal,

Washington, March 21.
 The House to-day unanimously passed the bill for the relief of the sur vivors and victims of the Maine dis aster. The bill reimburses the survi- vors, officers and men, for the losses they sustained to an amount not to ex- ceed a years pay, and directs the pay ment of a sum equal to years pay to the legal heirs of those who perished.
 There was quite a spirited debate over an amendment suggested by Can non to give the survivors each a years pay out of hand instead of attempting to reimburse them for actual losses. Some old alleged scandals in connection with the reimbursement of the sur vivors of the Samoan disaster were raked up, but the debate in the end was saved from rather sordid tone by a beautiful tribute paid to the gallant dead by Cousins of Iowa in a short but eloquent speech. He aroused the gal leries to spontaneous applause.
 During the debate Boutelle said he did not imagine that Captain Sigsbee or any of the gallant officers of the Maine would dream of being reim- bursed beyond the actual amount of the losses they sustained.
 BoutelIe and Cannon had rather spirited exchange of personalities. The former criticized the latter's attitude toward the bill and the latter said he was responsible to his constituents and the general public sentiment of the country, not to the gentleman from Maine, for his position.
 Hilborn of California denied em- phatically that there had been any at z I iv1 h the Samoan act. Several of the officers claimed nothing at all, and all of them claimed only a small fraction of their salaries.
 Cousins (R) of Iowa changed the whole tenor of the debate at this june ture by the delivery of brief but elo- quent tribute to the American sailors who went down with the Maine. Cous- inS said:
 The measure now proposed is most ap- propriate and just, but hardly IS 1t men, tionable in contemplation of the great calamity to which it appertafns- It Will be merely an incidental legislative foot
 note to a page of history that will be open to the eyes of the republic and of ! the world for all time to come No hu- man speech can add anything to the si- lent gratitude, the speechless reverence already given by a great and grateful nation to its dead defenders and to their living kin No act of Congress proyid- ing for their needs can make restitu- ton for their sacrifice. Human nature does, in human ways. its best and still is deep in debt. Expressions of coincidence have come from every country and every cline, and every nerve of steel and ocean cable has carried on electric breath the | sweetest, tenderest words of sympathy for that gallant crew who manned the Maine.
 Towering above the dark waters of that | mysterious harbor of Havana the black winged yulture watches for the belateu dead, while over it and over all there is the eagles piercing eye, sternly watch | ing for the truth. Whether the appro- priation carried by this resolution shall be ultimately charged to fate or to some | foe, shall soon appear. Meapwhile a | patriotic people, enlightened by the les sons of our history, remembering the woes | of war, both to the yanquished and vic | torious, are ready for the truth and for l their duty.
 There was tremendous sound of ap- | plause when Cousins concluded his 1 tribute.
 Wheeler (D.) of Alabama followed in | a similar strain, concluding with the declaration that it was Gods will that Cuba should be free.
 The Cannon amendment was lost | without division.
 Without amendment the bill was then
 passed unanimously.