The herald., 1898-01-03
When Congress Assemblies
on Wednesday
REAL WORK IN THE SENATE
WILL NOT BEGIN UNTIL NEXT
WEEK
The House Will Discuss the Civil Ser
vice With No Particular End
In View
a,sociated Press Special wire

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.-The prevail
Ing opinion among senators is that very
little legislation will be attempted dur
ing the present week. The fact that
congress will not reconvene until Wed
nesday will probably be taken by the
absentees to ;.,ean that nothing will be
attempted until the following week, and
as q consequence it is doubtful whether
there will be quorum present In the
senate on wednesday, in which event
there will probably be an early adj
tournament until Monday. In any event
Il Is not probable that any important
question will be raised during the pres
ent week.
The general understanding is. how
ever, that the work Of the session will
begin in real earnest after this week,
and that henceforth there will be no
justification Of the complaint Of dullness
Of the proceeding. Among the questions
which will e lgage early attention are:
The Hawaiian annexation question. the
claim of Mr.. Corbett to a seat in the
senate from Oregon, the immigration
and financial questions.
privileges and elections will meet during
the present week and the chances are
that an early report on the Corbett case
will be ordered, even though 1t may not
be favorable.
The Republican side of the chamber
will not be unit in Mr.. Corbett's in
terest. Senator Burrows of the commit
tee which has charge Of the case is pre-
pairing an extensive speech antagonistic
to Mr.. Corbett, and the opposition is
counting upon the assistance of still
others from that side of the chamber.
It Is not believed that there will be
any serious antagonism to the immigra-
ton bill. but there may be considerable
time consumed in speeches ON the sub
ject.
1t Is probable that Senator Davis,
chairman of the committee on foreign
relations, will make an effort during the
present week to get day fixed for TAX
ing up the annexation treaties and there
Is no apprehension of any objection to
name a day In the early fture. The plan
Of the supporters of the treaty is to
take the question up in executive ses
sion on a resolution on ratification, and
to debate the treaty for few days in
executive session, pursuing this course
:, long enough to determine their strength
and commit those who profess to be with
them. If they find that they have the
necessary two-thirds to secure ratifica-
, ton they will press on to the end, but II
they discover themselves to be deficient
in voting strength they will change
their policy and take UP the question Of
annexation on Senator Morgan's resolu-
ton to that end. There Is no doubt that
q majority Of Affirmative votes can be
secured and that resolution Of this
character can be passed II q vote can be
reched. The present indications are that
the treaty as such will fail of ratification
by from Q to votes, but friends of the
agreement have by no means lost hope
that they will succeed in securing the
entire go votes necessary to ratify. They
claim that they have been making head
way in securing votes during the recess
and are hopeful of still adding to the
number. They now assert that a solid
vote may be expected from the Republic
an side OF the chamber. and that several
Democrats who have been claimed by the
opposition are on the fence and likely
to come to them. The circumstances
which have done most to improve the
chances of the treaty are the conduct of
the European powers in apparently pre-
pairing for the partition of China. Many
senator's feel that this is an event which
calls for prompt action on the part of
this country in the Hawaiian matter, and
there Is no denying that this view has
made some impression upon senators
who have heretofore been classed as
doubtful.
The promised explanation by Senator
Wolcott of the result of his bimetallic
mission to Europe Is expected, when
made, to open up the discussion of the
attitude Of the administration on the
silver question, and the debate may even
be sprung in advance of his speech.
The pronounced free-silver advocates
nre determined to secure a test vote dur
ing the session upon the silver question,
and Senator Teller has decided to in
troduce the Stanley Matthews resolution
of the forty-fifth congress, declaring for
the payment of bonds In silver, with this
end In view
Senator Wolcott, in all probability,
will make simple, straightforward
statement avoiding all controyerted
points as far as possible, but there are
other senators who will not be content to
allow the matter to drop there, and they
Will seek to open the entire question OF
the position of the administration to-
ward international bimetallism. Mr..
Wolcott does not expect to be able to
make his statement before the 18th Of
the month.
IN THE HOUSE