The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-16
THE CANAL WILL
NOT Be BUILT.
Under an Act Passed BY the
Present Congress,
FRIENDS OF THE MEASURE
Made an Effort to Tack 1t on
Sundry Civil Bill.
1T WAS DECLARED OUT OF ORDER
And a Majority of House Upheld the
Chair.
And Majority of House Upheld the
Chair.
PARTY LINES NOT ADHERED TO
Debate Throughout Was Spirited, and
Chairman Hopkins Decision Was
Careful and Elaborate Rul-
ing on the Point at Issue.

Washington, February 15.-The house to-
day settled the fate of the Nicaraguan canal
bill in this congress by refusing to over
ride the decision of the chair in committee
of the whole, when the chair held that the
canal bill, offered as an amendment by Mr..
Hepburn, was out of order.
The friends of the Nicaraguan bill were
very confident yesterday and today that
they would triumph, but, after four hours
debate, the chair was sustained-127 to 1Gs.
1ne debate throughout was very spirited,
and in the end a majority of the members
refused to override the house rules. Party
lines were not adhered to, the division in
favor and in opposition to sustaining the
chairs decision being about equal on both
sides of the political aisles.
About ten pages of the sundry civil bill
were disposed of today.
Contest Was Fierce
One of the fiercest contests of the session
was in progress when the house met today.
The friends and opponents of the plan to
attach the Nicaraguan canal bill to the sun
dry civil bill were working assiduously, and
every agreement which could influence
members one way or the other was being
brought to bear. The fate of the canal in
this congress was in the balance.
Mr.. Sherman, of New York, who has been
enowbound between New York and WASH
ington two days, arrived this morning. he
was designated as chairman of the commit
tee of the whole by the speaker when the
sundry civil bill was taken up, but in his
absence Mr.. Hopkins, of Illinois, occupied
the chair.
Ordinarily the member originally desig-
mated would resume the chair upon his re-
turn from such an absence, but owing to
the fact that Mr.. Hopkins heard two hours
of the debate yesterday upon the point
of order raised by the chairman of the ap-
propriations committee against the canal
amendment, it was decided that he should
properly hear the remainder of the argu-
ment and make the ruling.
The Routine Session
Some time was spent at the opening of
the session with routine matters. Just
before the motion was made to go into
committee of the whole, Mr.. Hepburn, of
Iowa, who Is conducting the fight on be-
half of the Nicaragua canal amendment,
asked unanimous consent that the canal
bill be made special order for Tuesday
next but objection was made.
The house then went into committee of
tn whole (Mr. Hopkins in the chair on
the sundry civil bill, the pending question
being the point of order raised against the
canal amendment
Mr. Bailey (dem., Texas) took the floor.
He desired to address himself, he said, to
the remarks of Mr.. Cannon yesterday
about the scandals which grew out of the
building of the Pacific railroads. Although
Mr.. Cannon had not said SO in so many
words, Mr. Bailey said he assumed that he
feared in Connection with the Nicaragua ca
nal a repetition of the scandals which had
disgraced the promoters of the Pacific rail-
roads. ssti.
Was Loosely Enacted
Mr.. Cannon interrupted to say that his
criticism of the Pacific legislation was
that 1t was loosely enacted and therefore
opened the way to the scandals which fol-
lowed.
Mr.. Bailey, in reply, declared that the
Pacific railroad scandals had not arisen out
of loose legislation. There had been a
deeper cause. They had grown out of the
unfortunate partnership between the gov-
ernment and. certain individuals. The vir-
tue In the canal proposition before the
house was that 1t avoided this deadfall. By
it's terms the canal would be constructed by
the government. He desired to vote upon
the proposition because he realized that,
sooner or later, the house would be compell-
ed to choose between this proposition and
one to allow private corporation to build
the canal. If the canal was to be built by
the government, 1t must be based upon the
theory that the canal was necessary for the
support of our military and naval defenses.
OtnefWlSe, IL government COulO Dullu
foreign waterways in foreign territory, why
could it not come back home and build
railroads for the benefit of interstate COM
merce?
Mr.. Dockery dem. ,MissourD, made an ar
gument in favor of sustaining the rules of
the house, which, he contended, the pro-
posed amendment violated. No one with any
respect for his reputation as parliamenta-
rian, he declared, could hold that the
amendment was in order. He realized that
the members were eager to get at the pub
lie treasury upon this proposition, but he
warned his colleagues upon the democratic
side that if they helped to overthrow the
rule they swept away for all time the
rights of the minority
Had No Respect for Rules
He had no respect for the rules as SUCH
They degraded the individual member and
massed too much power in the speaker, but
the members of the minority especially