Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1903-03-13
CONGRESSIONAL.

lamatiOn the senate OF the flIty-eiShtn
congress convened in extraordinary
session at noon Thursday. An I'M
mense crowd witnessed the interesting
ceremony. Echoes of the Fifty-seventh
congress had not died away when
President Pro TEN Frye called the
body to order, and soon Thereafter
the senators who were reelected and
those who were to take their seats for
the first time, with the exception OF
Mr.. German who had seen long SER
vice in the senate were sworn IN.
Friends and admirers of the senators
loaded down their desks with beauti-
full floral tributes. One of the features
of the opening ceremony was the ova-
ton accorded Mr. German. The mes
sage from the president giving MS
reasons for calling the senate In extra
ordinary session was read. 1t was as
follows: To the Senate have called
the senate in extraordinary session to
consider the treaties concerning which
1t proved impossible to take action
during the session of congress just
ended. ask your special attention
to the treaty with the Republic OF
Colombia, securing to the United
States a right to build the lsthman
canal, and to the treaty with the Re-
public of Cuba, for securing a meas
ure of commercial reciprocity between
the two countries. The great and far
reaching Importance of these two
treaties to the welfare of the United
States and the urgent need for their
adoption requires me to impose upon'h
you the inconvenience of meeting at
this time. Theodore Roosevelt, White
House, March 5, 1903.
The Republican senator's will make
a united effort to secure action on the
/ Panama canal treaty and the CUBAN
reciprocity treaty as speedily as pos
sible A meeting of the Republican
steering committee of the senate was
, held after adjournment Thursday and
| this course was decided on. The STU
alton was discussed at some length,
and the conclusion reached that busl-
ness might be greatly facilitated by
keeping as many senators as possible
Alvidual members of the steering
committee agreed to devote their
| energies to this end. No one in the
! committe had any definite information
! as to the time that may be consumed
in debating the treaties.
The number of bills introduced dur
ing the Fifty-seventh congress aggre-
| gated 17500 of which 3,91S were re-
ported and more than 1000 passed.
The house calendar is clearer at the
close of this congress than it ever has
been before, only rs bills remaining
| undisposed of. In the Fifty-fifth con-
gress, 2,214 bills were reported and
1,473 passed. in the Fifty-sixth, 2,7S1
| were reported and 1904 passed. The
| nearest approach to the number or
bills introduced in the Fifty-sevenl1
was in the Fifty-sixth congress. when
1889 were brought in, and the great
est number reported was in the Forty
| ninth congress- the aggregate being
4.1S1. The number of private bills
passed by this congress has been ex-
ceedingly large. Fifteen members OF
the house died during the congress
just closed AN unusually large num-
i Der.
The session of the senate Wednes-
| day was interesting not alone by the
official proceedings on the floor OF
the chamber. incident to the last day
of congress, but by many occur
| Il, 81, cOrio1 in
| their character due to the fact that
| the day marked the close of many
careers in the senate. OF the thirty
senators whose terms expired when
! the presiding officers gavel fell at
noon thirteen failed to secure re-
election either through defeat or
through their own refusals to. enter
the contests in their various states
Incllded in the number whose official
presence in the chamber will no
longer be noted are six Republicans
and seven Democrats.
The correspondence which has
passed between Attorney General Knox
and President Bo, of the Panama Canal
Company, regarding the acceptance oH
the offer of that company to sell it's
property and rights of the company on
the Isthmus of Panama and in Paris.
was made public Tuesday. The cor
respondence included the cablegram
sent by Mr.. Knox to President DO on
February 16, accepting the offer of
the company, which has heretofore
been published; message stating that
the company would expedite as much
as possible the formalities necessary
to the conclusion of the transaction,
and the following letter from Mr.
Cromwell, the counsel of the company;
March 3.-Hon. P. X. Knox, Attorney
General. Sir:-Pursuant to authority
upon me conferred by the president of
the new Panama Canal Company, I
beg leave to state that the acceptance
made by the President of the United
States through your cablegram of the
18th ultimo, of the offer OF the COM
pany as contained in it's cablegrams.
of January 8 and II, 1902, addressed
IN Tho prae;dopf of tho fctbp,iap canal