The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-07
CONGRESS HIT A HARD SNAG.
TWO BRANCHES DEAD-LoCKED on
THE NAVAL BILL.
House Refused to Accede to Senate
Proposition 10 Give Ocean Survey
Cannon Charged Conferees with
Failure to do Their Duty-He Sc
cured New Conferecs After Rather
a Fiery Debate.

Failure to do Their Duty-He Sc
cured New Conferees After Rather
a Fiery Debate.
Washington, June 6.-After everybody
| had felt assured of adjournment this
evening without any trouble, the Repvb-
licans of the House got into a wrangle'
| among themselves and the result was
recess until tomorrow at 10 o'clock.
The trouble came from rather unex-
! pected1 source. Nobody would have been
particularly surprised If there had been
longer disagreement over the arrnor plate
item in the naval bill. but when the Re-
pubiicans executed their surrender to the
trust on that item, everybody expected the
bill to go through without further delay
| They were disappointed, however, and
the cause of their disappointment is the
item intended to take from the coast and
geodetic survey, much of its work. and
hand 1t over to the navy.
The navy people have been pulling hard
for this work, and the Senate has been
| with them; but the House, under the spe-
| cial leadership of Cannon, chairman of
| the Appropriations Committee, has made
a fight for the Coast and Geodedic Sur
| vey, claiming that the Senate provision
| would kill that branch of the government
! service.
Tonight there was developed among the
| Republicans lot of bad feeling. Cannon
| attacked the House conferees, charging
| that they had not acted in good faith.
This brought on a general fight with
| FosS, chairman of the committee. and
| Grosvenor and others. There were charges
and counter-charges of a highly interest
| ing nature, and these brought on the
| sharpest kind of an exchange of person
alities.
Finally Cannon succeeded in doing
( something that is very seldom done, and
that was to bring about the substitution
| of new set of conferees. This was a
| distinct slap at the House conferees, and
was made more pointed by the fact that
| the new conferees are not members of
the Naval Committee, but outsiders.
Some Startling Disclosures.
| During the exceedingly sensational de-
| bate Mr.. Cannon, the chairman Of the Ap-
| preparations Committee. made some start
| ling disclosures as to the manner in which
! Commander Todd, the photographer of
| the navy. had waged his campaign against
the stand taken by the House in favor OF
Il the coast and. geodetic survey doing ocean
| survey work. 1t was following this that
the House rejected the conference report
by an overwhelming majority and the
speaker took the salmost unprecedented
course of appointing new conferees on the
part of the House who are not members
of the Naval Committee.
| The debate was one cf the bitterest and
most heated or the session. Mr. Cannon.
in the excitement of the moment. took off
| his collar and neclStie and with sleeves
rolled up aroused the House to a tremend-
Gus pitch of enthusiasm as he dealt the
conferees sledgehammer blows. The gal
| leries, crowded to the doors, cheered the
r,in fiCb Of fba CrzzIod old
| an until the ceiling rang.
The conferees defended their course as
best they could and Mr.. Foss, acting
| chairman of the committee, resented with
bitter language the charge that he had
| betrayed the House. Hot words vera
banded back and forth, but the HOUSE,
was in an ugly mood and was resolved to
| fight the Senate to finish.
The appointment as conferees of Mr..
| Cannon, Mr. Moody and Mr.. Shafroth, all
| of whom are in sympathy with the House
| position, assures no surrender en- their
| part until the House itself shall direct
| them to yield.
Hot Debate on Ocean Surveys.
1t was $3.50 p. M when Mr.. Foss present
| ed the final report on the naval ap
| propriation bill. A compromise had
been effected on the provision re-
] lative to ocean surveys, which ap-
propriated $50 600 for photographic
| surveys, While tue flOuSC htCc0cu AiOhh
its provision abolishing the two years.
| sea course for naval cadets. but secured
| an amendment to the present law to per-
| NIT an appointment from each congress
! slonal district. every four years. Mr..
| Foss said the Senate conferees had abso-
| Iutely insisted on the provision relative
| to ocean surveys.
| Mr. Cannon, who had led the fight
| against ocean surveys, under the direc-
| ton Of the navy department., was not
| satisfied He declared il was reached in
| the teeth of the specific instructions OF
| the House. He asked the House to re-
| ject the conference report.
| Mr.. Moody of Massachusetts, vigorous
| ly demanded rejection, and said the ques-
| ton al issue was whether a "coterie OF
naval officers" or the House was su-
| preme.
Mr.. Cummings of New York said the
| Senate conferees had insisted on the
| word photographic" at was" he sad,
| simply the alternative OF accepting that
| word or staying here all night, and Ios-
| sibly for several days"
Work of Navy Department.
Mr.. Cannon told how members had
| been bombarded by letters and kilograms
| in the interest of this photographic work.
| He had suspected that they were PROMPT
| ed from the Navy Department and had
| called on the secretary for all letters sent
| out from there on the subject. The Sec
retary had replied that there was nothing.
"I knew that letter was a falsehood in
| substance" continued Mr.. Cannon. THAT
| is strong language, but / afterward was
| able TO prove that the secretary as well
| as the House had been imposed upon by
| the Bureau of Equipment"
| Mr.. Cannon then related how subse-
| quently Secretary Long had ascertained
| that the photographer, Commander Todd,
| had sent out a circular letter without his
| (seeretary Long's) knowledge. and for
| that act had been suspended. He read
| the circular letter which had gone 10 COM
| mercial bodies, boards Of trade, maritime
| exchanges. ETC., appealing for influence
| and aid in forcing the appropriation back
| into the naval appropriation bill. He had
| kept all these facts secret he said, be-
| cause he knew the Secretary OF the Navy
| was an honorable man, and had been i'm
| posed upon. He had been compelled 10
| disclose them, he said. in the interest of
| the public service and 70 vindicate the
| bonor and manhood Of thu IIoteh