The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-05
SENATE IS VERY MID.
SECRETARY LONGS LETTER HAS
STIRRED UP A HORNETS
NEST
RE0PENING A FEW OLD SORES
SAMPSoN-sCHLEY CONTROVERSY
BIDS FAIR TO BE AGAIN
RESURRECTED
SHIP SUBSIDY BILL sHELvED
Senator's Finally Wake Up to the
Urgent Necessity of Giving I'M
mediate Attention to APP
preparation Bills.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.-The ship SUBJ |
sidy bill was laid aside informally by the !
senate today to permit consideration of |
the appropriation bills. This action was |
taken late in the day on Mr.. AlliSons !
request that the District of Columbia ap |
preparation bill be taken up. Mr.. Frye, |
in charge of the shipping bill, who had |
said he would not give way to appropria- |
ton bills without a vote of the senate, |
was not in the chamber at the time, but |
Mr. Aldrich, Mr.. Hanna and others in |
terested in the measure were present |
and joined in the general assent given to |
Mr. Ailison's request. The shipping bill |
holds its place, as the unfinished business
can be taken up when the appropriation
bills are not occupying attention. The
District Of Columbia bill will occupy the
attention of the senate tomorrow. The
subsidy bill did not receive attention to-
DAY, the greater part of the time of the
senate being given to listening to a
speech of Mr. Bacon (Ga.), on the right
of the senate to demand information on
file In the executive departments. He
took the position that the departments
are the creatures of congress and the de-
partmental refusal of any papers on file
was a challenge, contending that for 100
years there had been practically no re-
fusal to recognize such demand. Secre-
naval rewards caused a brisk discussion
in which senators upheld their course in
this matter.
CHANDLER GETS AFTER LONG.
At the instance of Mr.. Chandler, the
senate passed a resolution calling upon
the secretary of navy for a list of the
officers of Admiral Simpsons fleet, whose
names were sent to the senate for pro
motion during the fiftyfifth congress.
Mr.. Chandler said the occasion for his
| present raising of this question was found
| in the published letter. written by Sec
retary Long to Senator Morgan He called
! attention to the fact that while the list
! of men for promotion had been sent to
| the last congress, the president upon the
! failure of action by that congress had not
renewed the recommendation for the pres
ent congress. He explained the senates
| failure to act had been due TO the Samp-
| SON -Schley controversy.
| Mr.. Hale, chairman of the committee On
: naval affairs, said that the difficulty could
not be found with congress and he re-
| peated what Mr.. Chandler had said of the
| failure of the president to renew the
| nominations that failed during the last
| congress. He thought congress has been
| extremely liberal in recognizing the pic
| turesque exploits of the Spanish war;
He referred to the throwing out of all
| the nominations because of the Sampson
| Scbley controversy and said he had been
| waiting during the whole of the present
congress, expecting that the president S
| recommendations would be renewed.
Mr.. Pettigrew said there had been an
| effort to promote Sampson over Schley,
notwithstanding Schley had done the
| fighting and had previously outranked
| Sampson He said the president after
wards had corrected this injustice and
having done that because Of the attitude
| n deserve
| the secretary's criticism.
| Proceeding, Mr.. Pettigrew declared that
the administration was disposed to p O.
| mote "men who have never sruelled pow
der, like Corbin and Shafter."
After few remarks on the Sampson
Schley controversy, during which Sena-
tors Teller and Morgan criticized the
navy department for giving the letter
of Secretary Long to the newspapers,
Mr. Bacon (Ga) addressed the senate
upon his resolution declaring it to be the
sense of the senate that that body had
the right to demand information anu
documents on file in the executive de-
partments. He had made the resolution
impersonal, he said, but he predicated
much of what he said upon the recent
refusal Of the secretary of war through
the president to supply to the senate
the report made by Auditor Lawahe con-
cerning Cuban postal accounts.
BACON IS HOSTILE.
Mr.. Bacon said the refusal in the
I.awshe case was direct challenge of
the senate's right to call for and secure
information on file in the departments
except as far as that right was granted
by the department itself.
Mr. Spooner asked Mr.. Bacon if he
considered the presidents communication
a challenge.
; at do most emphatically," responded
Mr.. Bacon "It constitutes such a chal
lenge as requires an immediate answer
from the senate. 1t is such an aggra-
waited offense that newspapers deprecatt
not only the action of the president
! but the action of the cabinet, and we
are now confronted by the fact tha
there is well defined purpose on the
part of the cabinet as a whole to deny
the senate the information to be found
CT the files of the department unless thu
chief of the department as a matter O.
grace shall permit the senate to have
such information"
Mr.. Bacon thought the dignity, powe
and authority of the senate should b'
maintained.
Mr.. Spooner gave notice that he would
c reply to Mr.. Bacon at some opportun'
time when it would no. interfere with tn
f shipping bill.
IN THE HOUSE.
The house today passed the senate bill
to create a commission to adjHdicat
the claims of United States citizen
s against SPAIN which the government o
e tie United States assumed by the treat,
:, of Paris after having amended the bill
. SO as to refer the claims to the cour
i of claims, instead of to com mission
J. A strong effort was made to vote dow
d the amendment and pass the senate bill
:. hut the advocates of this course wer
! defeated by majority of thirty-five.
\ bill was, without debate, passed to eX
tend the charters of national banks fo
d another period of twenty years afte
1892, when the present extension expires
If Bills to ratify the agreement with tn
Y Crow Indians of Montana and to provid
e for the redemption of Hawaiian col
% at par were defeated. About hou
# was spent on the postoff1ce appropria
j. ton bill in the discussion of the amend
1rent to reduce the railway mail pay
le but no action was taken
/ MAY HOLD NIGHT SESSIONS.
It Senators in charge of the ship subsid
}, ! hill TODAY gave notice that beginning mex