Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-09
Not One Dissent to the $5o,ooO,,
600 Appropriation.
MANY STIRRING SPEECHES
Passage of the Bill Attended by
Unusual Scenes.
MIR. Barrett of Massachusetts Caused a
Stir by Trying to Offer An Amend
nent-BiI Transmitted to the
Senate.

Washington, March SIN spirit of
patriotism, with eloquent words ring
ing in their ears, every member of the
house of representatives today respond
ed to the presidents first call to meet
the Spanish situation, by casting his
vote for bill placing in President Nc
Kinley's hands fifty millions of dollars,
to be expended at his discretion for the
national defense
Party lines were swept away, and
with unanimous voice congress voted
its confidence in the administration
Many members who were paired with
absent colleagues, took the responsible
ity of breaking their pairs. an unprece-
dented 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 their
country Speaker Reed, Who az the
presiding officer, seldom votes, and
usually only in case of tie, had his
name called, and voted in his capacity
as a representative.
The scene which greeted the announce
ment Of the votes-ayes 311, nays none
has seldom been paralleled in the
house.
All day long the galleries were
jammed with spectators applauding to
the echo the sterling patriotism of the
words which were uttered by the mem
bers on the floor. All the speeches were
brief. Although four hours were all
lowed for debate so great was the
pressure for a time that no one mem
ber was given more than five minutes,
and most of them had to content them
selves with a beggarly fraction of a
minute. In all SO speeches were made.
With one acclaim members from the
north and the south, the east and the
west, tine states and the territories, bat
tle-scarred veterans of the Union and
the Confederate armies, all joined in
proclaiming their support of the coun-
trys chief magistrate, in the face of a
possible foreign war
Gen. Grosvenor of Ohio said that if
war did not come, the $50,000,000 appro-
priated by this bill would be wisely ex-
pended, if it only served to show the
world that when threatened from with
out, the hearts of the American people
beat as one. On the whole, there was
only a slight discordant note, caused
by the speech ofGen. Bingham of Penn
sylvania, gallant soldier who served
with distinction under Hancock He
spoke too .conservatiVelyf for the aroused
temper of the house, and when he in
sisted that our relations with Spain
were as friendly as they had been for
years, many of the members Missed
him. While almost every member VINO
spoke deprecated the possibilities of
war, a wide divergence of opinion as to
how close hostilities were, manifested
itself in the debate
The general contention by the major
ity, among them the leaders on both
sides. was that this appropriation bill
preparing for war would prove the sure
guarantee of peace. Others insisted
that wars alarms would soon be heard,
and Mr.. Mann of Illinois declared that
war actually existed in all save name.
The speeches which attracted most at
tention were those of Messrs. Cannon,
Henderson and Dolliver on the repub-
lican side, and Messrs. Bailey and
Savers on the democratic side.
There was tremendous applause in the
house when Representative Cannon re-
norted back the appropriation bill, and
there was a second outburst when the
clerk finished reading the measure.
Representative Cannon explained that
the appropriations committee had una
nimously agreed to the bill, and he had
consulted with Representative Sayers,
the leader of the minority, as to the
time for the vote Mr.. Sayers said that
II had been agreed to divide the time
for debate into one and half hours on
each side, or three hours, for general
debate, and thirty minutes on each side
additional under the five-minute rule.
Mr.. Cannon asked for unanimous con-
sent to this arrangement.
Representative Barrett of Massachu-
setts arose and said he would object un-
less the chairman of the appropriations
committee allowed him an opportunity
to offer an amendment to the bill.
This announcement created surprise.
Members turned in their chairs to see
If they heard Alright. There was a sus-
picion of hiss and Barrett grew red
in the face.
Representative Cannon said that this
bin needed no amendment, and that he
could not agree to Mr.. Barrett's request.
He asked if the member from Massa-
chusetts objected, to which Barrett re-
piled that he did unless ne was guar
anteed a chance to amend the bill. This
was greeted with round of Kisses from
all over the house, and Barrett was
howled down with cries of TShame''
and Vote nown'
The speaker then announced that as
there was objection to the limiting Of
time, it remained with the house to de-
eide what it would do. Barrett at
tempted to explain what his amendment
was, but the members shouted him down
and refused to listen to him. The Mas
sachusetts member asked if he could
have time to speak, and this being re-
fused, ne withdrew his objection and
sank into his seat.
The spirit shown for speedy action
came very near passing the bill without
debate The debate, however, gave the
democrats a chance to show that they
were standing firmly behind the presi-
dent.
Representative Cannon made a calm
and clear statement as to why the bill
was introduced now He emphasized
the fact that this was not war meas
ure. but a peace measure. This line of
argument was followed by both Repre-
sentatives Sayers and Dockery for the
democrats, and they added that their
party was with the president as firmly
as the other side.
Representative Northway of Ohio
was the first republican to speak He
said that now it was not democrats or
populists or republicans who were urg-
ing this bill, but the whole country.
There was much interest in Repre-
sentative Boutelle's speech. He said
this was a time for action and not talk.