Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1902-02-07
Congress.


On Friday q vote was reached ~ the
urgency deficiency bill. The item tl,'t haa
aroused Democratic opposition was IN
g%eninnsly amended SO as to appropriate
S50U.0O0 for "tle protection and shelter
of American trnnps serving in the f'h''
ippines. instead of specifically for bar
racks. In it's original form the item hh''
received the support Of only one Dem"
crat. Mr.. Cummings of New York. Wher
the vote was taken up0n it. In amente'
form it received the support Of sixteen
Democrats in addition to the full Repnh
lican strength. the vote haing LIS to 10
An animated and prolonged discussion
was precipitated In the Senate on Mon
day over the right of army officers to
c~riticise utterances made in the Senate
or elsewhere on the conduct Of Affairs in
the Philippines. AT times it became
somewhat acrimonious. officers in thu
Philippines being taken sharply to task
for statements attributed to them in dis
patches from Manila. The House adopt
ed a resolution calling for documents. re-
lating to the old training ship Vermont,
which was placed out Of commission last
summer. and also passed a bill to pro-
vide for the compulsory attendance Of
witnesses before registers and receivers
of the general land office. A bill to ap-
propriate $4,000 for establishing homes
for the teaching of a~rticulate speech 20
deaf children was defeated. The House
adjourned until Wednesday.
Philippine debate grew so bitter in the
Senate on Tuesday that prsonal encoun-
ters We're narrowly averted. The storm
ragged for three hours. and the chairman
was kept busy maintaining order. After
years Of patient effort commercial organ
izations and business men were rewarded
by the Senate passing the bill for the
creation Of a department of commerce
and labor. The measure goes to the
House in substantially the form in which
it was introduced. The most important
change is in the name of the depart
ment. AS originally suggested it was to
be the department Of IN and IN
dustry. No material opposition in the
House is anticipated. Its quick passage
is confidently expected. A bill to permit
the extension for twenty years of the
charters of national banks was favorably
reported by the Senate committee IN
finance. Just before the adjournment of
the Senate Senator Spooner introduced
a substitute for the Nicaragua canal bill.
The new bill is IL practical authorization
to the President of the United States to
choose between the Panama and the
Nicaragua routes.
Senator Cullom, as chairman of the
committee OF foreign relations. virtually
appealed to the Senate on Wednesday
from the decision Of his committee on the
question Of reciprocity treaties. Broadly,
he took the position that a treaty is the
supreme Law of the land. superseding
acts of Congress. and that under the con-
stitution the President by treaty ratified
by the Senate can do anything Congress
can do. For an hour the Senate had un-
der discussion the question whether q
censorship of press dispatches exists n
Manila. The debate for a time was very
spirited. The Secretary of War was
quoted as saying that no press censor
ship now existed in the Philippines. and
Il letter from Gen. Greedy. chief signal
officer of the army, was presented by MIR.
Beveridge of Indiana, making the state
ment officially that there was no censor
ship and that "the press is entirely free"
1t was contended by the opposition that
censorship did exist in the Philippines,
and that copies of every news dispatch
filed with the cable company were filed
with the military authorities. The House
adjourned after being in session only
twenty-five minutes. MIR. Hopkins Of
Illinois reported the permanent census
bill and gave notice he would call it up
Thursday. \ request to make the oleo-
margarine bill a special order for the fol-
lowing Monday was objected to on the
Democratic side.
The House on Thursday passed the bill
for the creation of a permanent census
bureau. The friends Of the civil service
law, who We're opposed to making the
employees Of the bureau eligible for trans.
fer or retention. We're overwhelmingly
defeated. BY the terms of the bill the
permanent organization will succeed the
present temporary organization July 1,
1902. and all employees on the rolls upon
the date of the passage Of the act will
become eligible for transfer to other de-
partments or retention in the permanent
organization. The bill also provides FOR
a manufacturing census in 1905 and for
the collection of certain special statistics
annually. A bill for the protection Vt
the lives of miners in the territories was
also passed. The session of the Senate
was entirely void Of the tumultuous
scenes which characterized the sessions
of the. foregoing three days. After the
Philippine tariff measure was taken up
at 2 o'clock Mr.. Tillman delivered a
speech devoted. almost entirely to a dis
cussion of the part his State took in the
war for the independence of the colonies.
incidentally he referred occasionally to
the pending bill, drawing morals. as he
said. for the benefit of the majority that
they might be applied to the Philippines.
Prior to taking up the Philippine bill the
Senate passed a number of bills on the
calendar which were not objected to.
Washington Notes.
Future of the Philippines continues to
cause concern among party leaders.
James Altman. who was offered $780,
600 to poison Abraham Lincoln. is dead.