The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-02-16
CONGRESSIONAL.
Railroad Matter in the Senate and Pos
tai Subjects in the House.


Railroad Matter in the Senate and Pos
tai Subjects in the House.
Washington. Feb. ia resolution of
| inquiry offered by MIR. Harris of Kan
sas precipitated a spirited discussion of
the Pacific railroad question in the sem
ate yesterday. 1t called upon the at
| torney general for the reasons which in
duced him to abandon his plan of re-
| deeming the first mortgage bonds OF the
| Kansas Pacific and having the road
| operated by receiver. Mr.. Harris de-
nounced the present plan TO sell the
road at the bid OF the reorganization
| committee as defrauding the govern
ment of something more than S6,OOO,oOo.
| Mr.. Morgan thought that the senate
| ought TO pass the measure. Whether IL
would pass the, congestion which some
times take place i'm the Ather branch
| Of congress he could not say. 1t would
be possible. however, thus 10 demon
strate whether there was power in the
| house OF representatives which would
! stand in the way of the proposed meas
ure intended to save the people OF the
| country nearly S700O000 Political
| parties VIII sometimes permit robberies
| They Will swallow the consequences of
! those robberies without a strain; but
| the people will not allow themselves to
| be juggled with. whatever political
| parties may do" concluded Mr.. Morgan
! Mr.. Foraker of Ohio explained the
view taken OF the matter by the admin
| istratlon. showing that the president
was convinced that the reorganization
| committee proposed to pay for the road
| all that IL was worth. The resolution
was finally passed in amended form.
The executive session yesterday was
| enlivened by vigorous effort of Senator
| Tillman of South Carolina TO secure rec
| ognition to make a point against the
contention that the Hawaiian islands
| were OF strategic Importance to the
| United States. Senator Gallinger oc-
! cupied the chair and other senator's
were seeking TO make reports upon nom
| nations, several Coming in after Mr..
| Tillman had risen. His voice was
| drowned by theirs. and ii began TO look
as If the senate might adjourn without
his being heard.
Apparently realizing the situation, Mr..
| Tllman took his position i'm the middle
aisle directly I'm front of the chair and
demanded TO be heard. II have stood
| here on my feet while eight or ten men
have been recognized" he said i'm stem
torian tones, and / want to know if
| I am TO be heard"
IF the senator would speak little
| louder" said Senator Hoar facetiously,
'he might be-"
This remark appa ,y did not fall
aereeably upon Mr.. i mans ears, and
he replied by appealing for protection
and fair treatment. II have been a
member of this body for three years."
he said, 'and / have always tried to
deport myself as gentleman. and /
think am entitled TO fair treatment"
At this point, Senator Gallinger. who
occupied the chair. raped for order.
lie then explained that the failure to
recognize Mr.. Tilman was due To an
inadvertence and To the fact that his
attention had been directed in another
way.
! To this Mr.. Tillman replied that the
explanation was entirely satisfactory.
and he then proceeded to make his point
which was that the strategic Importance
Of the Hawaiian islands was over-rated.
lie argued that in case of war between
Japan and the United States. Japan
could bring coal for her warships over
in tenders and thus render herself en-
tirely Independent OF the islands
The house had busy day Wednesday
The time was devoted to the considera-
tion of bills and joint resolutions pre-
sented under the call of committees, and
16 OF more or less public Importance
We're passed. Among the bills passed
were the following: Senate bill to
amend the navigation laws relating to
the coastwise trade; to amend the laws
relating TO official fees; TO better con-
troll and promote the safety OF national
banks by inhibiting loans TO officers, di-
rectors or employees without the APP
proval of majority OF the directors and
to amend the law relating to the licens-
Ing OF mates on ocean and river steam
ers, To allow the use Of private postals
with cent stamps affixed
Mr.. Loud called up a bill recurring
prepayment OF postage on all first class
mail matter. Mr. Clark (Rep.. Ia) ex-
planned that the bill had been prepared
at the instance OF the postofrice depart
ment. All other classes OF mail matter
were prepaid save that I'm the letter
class. which was carried In each in
stance for a single postage. The post
age due on such letters was supposed to
he paid at the point OF delivery but
much OF N was not collected and the
government suffered a considerable loss
OF revenue. The principal criticism
against the measure was that letter
which by the inadvertence OF the sender
was not fully prepaid would go TO the
dead letter office. The government
would lose quite as much as Il does now
by holding up the letter at the point cf
sending. and besides cause much more
annoyance TO the people. A letter nov
always went direct TO its destination
Under the proposed amendment maj.
letters would never reach their desti-
nation. or got back TO the senders. III
bill was rccommitted