Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-12-28
WORK OF CONGRESS.
MUCH ACCOMPLISHED IN FIRST
TWO WEEKS.
Nationa, Legislature Got Down to Its
Duties in Busincsslike Manner
Confederation Ia Given at Oncs to
Pending Legislation.
Washington correspondence:

NVSuliIEtOl COEleSpONucuCS.
Never did Congress get down to busi-
ness ut the beginning of Il session in a
more busincSs-like manner than this
year. From the opening day no oppor-
tunity has been omitted to give need
ed consideration to pending legislation.
IN the House, where debate is abridg-
ed. and necessarily, the greatest
amount of effective work has been ac-
colnplished, the passage of such meas
ures as the army hill, the Grout oleo-
margarine bill and the revenue rcduc-
tion bill-all within two weeks of the
opening of the session-shows what
may be accomplished by a business adj
ministration, because ii must not be
forgotten that the measures thus rap
idly disposed OF are those that have
been urgently recommended by the
President.
In the Senate, however, things are
different. There, at the opening. pro-
cedence was given to the merchant ma
rine bill, but this gives way to the dis
cusson of executive business and ap-
preparation bills. The time of the Sen
ate has therefore been divided during
the first Two weeks of the session be-
tween the two great propositions
known as the shipping bill and the
lIay-Panncefote treaty. In the discus
sion of the HayPaunccfote treaty it
is easy for one familiar with legislative
procedure to notice the outcropping of
tlibustcring tactics on the part of GER
tain Senators. At the beginning of the
session vote upon the shipping bill in
the Senate was confidently looked for
before the holidays. But now it is ap-
parent that vote will not he reached
before late in January When the vote
will be taken cannot be safely predict
cd. OF course, if Il vote on the Hay
Pauncefote treaty can be delayed until
the army bill reaches the Senate. then
debate may be protracted upon that
measure--which will have precedence
over the shipping bill--until the neces-
sity for Il vote upon the appropriation
bills forces Il vote upon the army bill.
Once the appropriation bills come be-
fore the Senate, il it be the desire of
members TO defer vote upon the ship
ping bill. that will be easy of accom-
plishment without showing of hands,
or disclosure of motives. The ship
ping bill is one of the most important
measures now before Congress, and
the opposition to it, whatever the OBJ
ject, cannot have any other result than
to defer, indefinitely. the rehabilitation
of our shipping upon the seas-an ac-
complishment to which the Republican
party has been committed over and
over again in State and national con-
ventions. That the pending bill is a
Republican measure, and has the in
dorselnent of the party as such, is not
doubted. The facts speak clearly for
themselves. Republicans were in con-
troll of the Fifty-tifth as they are of
the Fifty-siXth Congress. The bill now
pending is the only one that has been
introduced by Republicans. and may
therefore he accepted as the one that
the party leaders intend shall carry
out the party's pledges in behalf OF our
merchant marine.
In addition to this. the bill has been
twice before the House Committee on
Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and
twice before the Senate Committee on
Commerce, and it has been as often
favorably reported from each of these
committees With the Endorsement OF
every Republican member. Consider
ing that the bill has been discussed at
great length ut hearings held by each
committee, and in succeeding years, it
will be clear that ample opportunity
has occurred for all of those advocating
its passage, and all of those opposed to
its passage, to secure at the hands of
the committees the most careful con-
sideration of their statesemtns. Each
committee has by a majority vote rec
commended the passage of the measure
to its respective branch of Congress.
10 say, under these circumstances, that
it is not bill to which the Republican
party is committed, is to at the same
time charge the Republican party with
willful neglect in the fultillment of its
solemn promises.
If the bill now pending is not the
measure to which the party is commit
ted or through which the party expects
to see its promises TO revive our mer-
chant marine fulfilled. then to what
measure can the party point as having
in view the fultillment of these prom
lses? Manifestly none; because no 9TH
er is before Congress. Clearly the Re-
publican party is either intending to
fulfill its pledges through the pending
bill or it has no intention whatever of
fulfilling its pledges with respect to
our ships upon the sea. 1t does not
matter that opposition to the bill has
| arisen here and there. The duty of
Congress and the promise of the Repub-
lican party is the earliest possible pass
age of such Il measure as will most
quickly and effectively revive our mer-
chant marine in the foreign trade.
Congress must be impressed, there
fore, with the obligations which n ma
jority Of its members. at least, are un-
der to the electorate of the nation. The
most pronounced of these obligations
| in fact, the obligation that has been