The times., 1898-02-16
| MANY MINOR BILLS PASS
The House Gets Ready for The
Bankruptcy Measure.
ITS DEBATE TO BEGIN TODAY
The Matter VIII Be Under Consid-
Grafton All the Week, Friday In
cluded-The First-classl Postage
Prepayment Bill Puzzles the Mem
bers and Is Recommitted. ~

| The House did a great deal of worl
| yesterday in the final disposition o
| small bills, of which a dozen or NOR
| were cleared off the calendar. This eX
| pedition was resorted to with view
of having plenty of time to devote I,
the bankruptcy bill, which will come III
today and will occupy the greater par
| of the sessions of the week. For thl'
! purpose Friday will be deferred, para
doxically speaking, to next Monday.
There was only one bill which pro
! duced much of debate and that was
| because il was so nebulous in terms "a
TO puzzle the whole House. 1t was tn:
| bill providing for the prepayment IN
full of postage on f1rSt-ciaSS matter
The members got so ineXtricably tan
gled in the proposition as TO the ma
disposition Of a letter that left coun-
try postoffice with insufficient postage
that in self-defense the House recon-
mitted the bill TO the Committee on
Postoffices and Postroads.
There was so little to do immediately
after the reading of the Journal thai
the Speaker was obliged for the Sc
cond time this session to make call
of the committees.
Mr. Cooney of Missouri moved tnat
the Committee on Banking and Cur
rency be discharged from the consld-
Grafton of the resolution of inquiry 10
the Secretary of the Treasury relating
to the receivership of the FIRST Ma
tional Bank of the State of missouri
The resolution had been before the
committee for more than month
without action.
Mr.. Dingley raised the point of order
against the motion that the resolution
involved matters not within the knoWi-
edge of the Treasury Department.
1t was explained that the Commit
tee on Banking and Currency had
been busy and unable To give the res
olution attention. Ii had, however.
been amply answered by the Comptroll-
er of the Currency, and the commit
tee would be able to report on it with
in a few days, it being now in the
hands of a subcommittee.
Mr. Cooney did not press considera-
ton of his motion. The time for FL
ing the minority report in the contest
ed election case of Thorp against Epes
of Virginia WAS extended from to-day
until Friday.
Gen. Payne Of New York called up
Senate bill 3505, relating to the trans
portation of merchandise on American
vessels. Gen. Payne explained that it
y
tended to protect American commerce
on the Pacific coast with special ref
erence to trade with Alaska The bill
was explained when il was introduced
in the Senate. Briefly it provides
against evasion of the law by Ameri-
can vessels transferring merchandise
and passengers to foreign vessels to
complete the voyage. as from San
Francisco TO the Yukon.
hn Az
lating the fees of officers IN Federal
courts, The bin has already been print
ed, 1T was Withdrawn for future con-
Sideration.
House bill $50, intended TO prevent
officers of national banks from peryert-
ing their funds, overdrawing their ac-
counts. etc, was called up.
There was considerable opposition to
the proposition that directors should
be exempted from the operation of the
penalties of the bill, which are grave
$4,000 fine and Imprisonment.
Mr.. Walker, of the Banking and
Currency Committee. said that the
provision against directors should be
permitted to remain. He was in fa-
VOr of the bill which especially pro-
vided for care in the making of loans.
He thought the committee erred
when ii omitted directors from the op-
GRAFTON of the bill
The bill was passed retaining the
word directors, as it came from the
committee.
The following bills and resolutions
were passed: To extend the time for
the completion of the bridge across the
st. Lawrence River until 1899: to pro-
vide for bridge across the Mononga-
hela River within one year from the
passage of the bill; TO provide for the
dredging of a part of the channel at
long Island: a joint resolution direct
ing the Secretary of War TO submit es-
Inmates for the Improvement of Calves
ton Bay at Double Bayou.
The bill tnew) requiring the prepay
ment in full on all first-class matter
was taken up.
on the measure. He was asked so many
questions that he eventually moved to
recommit the bill to the Committee on
Postoffices and Post Roads.
Mr.. Lacey, of Iowa, called up the bill
allowing the Government to make
leases of certain lands at Hot Springs,
Ark. 1t passed, with some unimportant
Mr.. Dalzell asked unanimous consent
for substitution of next Monday and
Monday night for Friday and Friday
night. This was done to permit con-
tinued debate on the bankruptcy bill,
which otherwise would have been inter-
rupted by suspension day.
The Senate bill relating to the licens-
ing of river and ocean steamers, was
passed.
The private postal card bill produced
a great deal of debate, but was eventu-
ally passed with the amendment that it
be operative July j, 1898
Mr.. Loud asked that the general dis
cussion Of the Loud bill be begun on
March ! and be continued until Wednes-
day, March 2. The third day shall be
devoted to amendments under the five
minute rule and the vote will be taken
at 4 p. NJ. on Thursday. March 3.
The bill relating to land bounties was
passed.
The House resolved itself into Com