Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-02-23
WORK OF CONGRESS

houS CouSent agreement reaCneu by
the senate last Saturday to vote yes.
terday afternoon on the resolution Of
Mr.. McEnery Of Louisiana declaring
the policy Of this government In the
philippines was not vacated. In ac-
cordance with that agreement the
vote was taken on the resolution and
1t was adopted-26 to % 1t was no
ticeable that several Democrats who
were present and not paired refrained
from voting. An amendment offered
by Mr.. Bacon Of Georgia several days
ago was defeated. The vote on the
amendment was a tie-29 to %, and
Vice President Hobart cast the de
Gliding vote against the proposition.
The voting was preceded by three
and half hours debate The resolu-
ton Is as follows:
That by the ratification Of the
treaty OF peace with Spain 1t Is not In.
tended to incorporate the Inhabitants
OF the Philippine Islands into citizen
ship of the United States nor Is II In.
tended to annex said islands as an In
tcgral part of the territory of the Unit
ed States; but it Is the intention OF
the United States to establish on said
islands a government suitable TO the
wants and conditions of the inhabi.
tantS of the said islands. to prepare
them for local self government. and
IN due time to make such disposition
of said islands as will best promote
the interests OF the citizens Of the
United States and the inhabitants Of
said islands,"
The House.
| The Nicaragua canal bill was Of
| fered in the house as an amendment
to the sundry civil appropriation bill
by Mr.. Hepburn of Iowa, chairman OF
the committee that reported il. and
the leaders on the respective sides are
engaged in a desperate struggle which
involves the fate of the measure at
this section of congress. After Mr..
| CauI On, chairman of the committee on
appropriations, served notice last
week that there was no time for the
conside ration at this session the sup
! porters of the measure decided to
| force II onto the suudry civil bill as
a rider If possible. AS soon as 1t was
! offered Mr.. Cannon raised four points
OF order against II and one Of the
most interesting parliamentary de-
| bates of the session was on. As a
| rule the house leaders are able to
hold the members ia line. but strong
arguments are adduced in support Of
the pCrtinency of the bill ana, besides.
the bill has strong friends on both
! sides of the chamber who are ready
to adopt any eXpedient to provide for
| the construction of the canal. The de-
| bate on the oints of order las ted two
| hours and was not concluded. 1t
promises to consume several hours to-
day. 1t seems to be a foregone con.
clusion that the chairman Of the COM
mittee of the whole, Mr.. Hopkins OF
,, Illinois, will sustain the points Of or
der, sS that the real test will come
upon the question Of oyerrullng the
chair. Should the chair be ovefruled
there is no doubt that the amendment
will command majority of votes.
About twenty pages of the bill were
disposed CT. No important amend.
ments were adopted.
Washington Feb. 16 The house
yesterday settled the fate of the Mic
aragua canal bill In this congress by
refusing to override the decision of the
chair in committee or the whole when
| the chair held that the canal bill Of
fered as an amendment by Mr.. Hep
burn was out of order The friends or
the Nicaragua bill were very confident
that they would triumph, but after
four hours of debate the chair was
sustained-12T to 100. AR Bailey. the
Democratic leader, made m argument
in favor Of the view that the amend
ment was in order. Mr. Grosvenor
, bore the brunt of the arg Iment in be-
half Of this contention. , sSrs. Moody
(Rep. AIaSsl, Dockery Dcm.. Mo- and
Fleming Dem., GaD We're pitted
against him. The debate throughout
the day was exceedingly spirited and
in the end Il majority Of the members
refused 10 override the house rules. No
record is made Of the vote in commit
tee of tie whole Party lines were
not adhered to. the division in favor
and in opposition 10 sustaining the
chairs decision being about equal on
| both sides of the political aiSles. Ten
pages Of the Iii! were disposed Of.
The senate.
In the senate yesterday Mr. Mem
cry. as question Of personal priv
ilege. made emphatic denial of the
statement that his resolution. adopted
by the senate the prcyl, is day. was
introduced in the interest Of the sugar
growers of Louisiana. He said that
he bad pot consulted the planters
about the resolution, AMI that as a
matter of fact, they were known to be
opposed, as a body, to the ratification
OF the peace treaty.
A bill, extending the cordial appre-
citation" of congress to Miss Helen
Miller Gould for her patriotic services
during the recent war and providing
that the president should present TO
her a gold medal was passed. After
the executive session an effort was
made to obtain an agreement to hold
an evening session to read the Alaska
code bill, but II failed.
Washington, Feb. 1.-Two very SEN
sational and unexpected things hap
pened in the house yesterday during
the consideration Of the sundrv civil
bill. The paragraph carrying the ap-
preparation OF S2OOOO.OOO for payment
to Stain under the terms OF the peace
ri M m NJ