Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-14
CAPITAL CHAT.
Flood of Petitions and ResoIu-
tons in the House.
Maine Members Very Carefully Look
ing After Their Constituents.
Particular Attention TO Pension Bits. but 1. Is
Very Slow Work.

W 'ifHiIiltS loli, Zee. Lit 1fI''trltlI
/ FE"r" have been 4 Few Maine visitors
I"t Tn" capitol this week but NOR" viii
probably com" after the holidays aS tn.
/ travel starts in towards III south Mr..
/ L; W. Dunn of Wateryillr. preside III NJ
! In" Somerset Railway. has been herr 70
I lWu ~ thl"r days. during which he .,.t..
! IN" guest Of " friend. connected v.itu
! the marine hospital service. Nj Dunn
I Was returning FEM business lrip tn
/ Richmond ana stopped oT hrr, ~ his
! way back. n called IA Day hie rr-
| Spects t. Coy. Burloieh and occup.r, -
/ seat in the galleries Of thc lfnu-, VI
the session On Tuesday.
/ Nine. Lillian Nordila. thc siun-r.
( WHO was born ana realcd I'll, Fa,ui~a-
| ton Me. promises tn have INV nost in-
tcrestins Of all Tho aged claims before.
| congress from the Pine Tree State. Tho
recent press dispatches. stating NAT
she has placed claim for millions duc
revolutionary grandfather in the
| hands Of Ex-Spcaker Reed II not 4pe-
, cific as 10 details bu; presumably it
| was due him as i citizen OF t1-- t.r-
litory that subsequently ,res incnr-
| porated into the present STATE, ~ ,.e-
| cent years the Maine memprr- af HI.
| House and the Maine senator's have
done a great deal OF hard work IL get
| ting old claims for theiI constituents
| paiu. Most OF these. however. ar. t'iv-
! il War claims. growing out of the con
struction of double nnder gunboats
The government placed unusual condi-
tions or many builders along the Az
lantic coast during the early part OF
1lI a :.
tremelv difficult to execute anv con
tracts At all and the result was that
many shiphuilders lost very heavily
Representatives Allen has recently in
troduce,5 in the House and Mr Hale IL
the Senate bill to pay the Portland
Company over $1,000 on 4 contract of
such character for the construction
of the doubie enderS Pontoosuc ANA
ASaWam. This is money still dlc. III
though the last session or Congress.
voted the Portland Companv over SO
I"h. Some three years ago one of .hf.
aged Civil War claims of Il citizen NJ
G"rdinar, amounting to nearly SSG.o10.
WIS p1id by Congress ON account of
the destruction of un- rf his wagon
trains iii the far Southwest while ~,
the way 70 an army post with supplies
fhe lood "f petitions ana resolutions
fr' N many ORGANIZATIONS over HI.
country has begin 10 roll in on con
gree. \ FEW are already coming |
from Maine. Governor Burl-igh this |
week has presented = considerable num- |
hr p: petitions from citizens III the !
third Con"reS Sional district. pr3testinI !
against poiysamou< marriages. Tbs |
We're referred - the committee On 4
judiciary. i which Mr. LittI4ncld AHA |
Mi. ArNauder of Buffalo. a.c mem
hel@. Governor BUrlciGh has also pre-
scnted thr petitions If Georgp Wash
iHg on Council. Order 81 United Me
chanics. relating /" the suppression OF
anarchy. which also went IL the COM
mittee III judiciary.
Petitions "f th, labor organizations
ot Ear llarbor ana Skowhegan. Me-
for thv enactment If an N-hour E.w
Uer' referred, after presentation by
Governor EurIeieh. 10 the committee
on labor nf which Genera! Shattuc Vt
thip is chairman.
With almost June weather in Wash
ingt"n. thr streets bearing not Y v"v-
tige of snow, it is little wonder that Il
greet many members Of Congress from
the EcW England states will b. ratha
averst I" returning home for the holi-
d.E vacation. Although. after neNj
4 thursday. ther" Mill hr a period vi
nearly ;hrrr weeks during which con-
s:ess viii not he i'm session. probably
Q large portion Of the Maine delegation
VII! remain in Washington or that Vi
entity. in preference to returning to The
severe climate Of Maine, an abrupt
;hal does nrt always bod.
We!l for tie health at this season OF
thr wear. There are rigorous days at
tho federal capital. sometimes more
igorous. perhaps. than even in north
-rn Maine. but these are varied by
Weather almost as warm ana delight
ful as can be had III Florida or the
West Indies.
Senator Hale has introduced the fol
owing private bills for Maine people:
fo increase the pension of Joseph w.
Lee: to increase the pension o: Harry
iiford Dunbar: 70 increase the pen !
i!cn of Emily NJ. Smith. 20 pens ion Jc- j
ieph w. Lee; to increase the pension
II Mary Morgan; to increase the pen :
'ion Of Arthur Kicker. and to restore
@ the pension rolls the name of 4
lmanda f. BadershaH
The number Of private pension bills |
Introduced in til" Senate and House is 4
llready very great but the policy Of 4
he Maine delegation has long been to I
present only the bills Of very meritori-
us persons and to strive to have those Il
naCted into law. Many members in
reduce these bills by the score. know /
ne fu!l we'll that only very few of
hem can ever be enacted into law. The l
pension committee Of the House usu- I
lly q llows each member to select two i
j three bills during the session, which
ie regards as specially deserving. 1
These are taken up as soon as possible
nd disposed Of. but there are 331 MEM
eYs If the House ANA it takes long
ime IL get around
Last session | introduced but few
ensior bills ont of the Very many that
lade requests of me from Maine" said
Allen. Il usually picked j
Ut the cases that were deserving Of
or neressionas action. At the last ses-
CONTINUED on page 4D IL