The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-10
COL. WILEY IS AT HOME
SECOND DISTRICT CONGRESSMAN
 TALKS OF STEWARDSHIP.
Fifty-eighth Congress Goes Into His. tory as e Busy One--Many Acts
 Passed of Interest to the District.

Congressman A. A. Wiley of the Sec. ond District, reached Montgomery from Washington yesterday morning. He is in good health and fine spirits.
 The Fifty-eighth Congress. which adjourned sine die on the 4th of March, said the Montgomery Congressman to a representative of The Advertiser. will go down in history as one of the most important and potential in the annals of the Republic. when we take into consideration the volume and char acter of the legislation enacted.
 T have been very busy during the short session, not only in looking after my voluminous correspondence. approx mating about one hundred letters ev- cry day., in attending to many business details for my constituents, in all the protean shapes and forms that such transactions can assume, in the distrt- button of books, documents, bulletins and seeds, in the establishment of ru- ral free delixery routes in different parts of my district and in attending upon Congressional committees, but also in endeavoring to secure needed and desirable legislation for individual constituents.
 T have succeeded in getting through both houses of .Congress,-the measures now all being laws.-nine different bills. granting pensions to deserving constit- uents, mainly Spanish-American war soldiers and Mexican War veterans. This is an unusual record. as under the rules of the House a member is gen. orally limited to about two pension bills Curing a given Congressional term I have been able also. in several in- stances. to secure acts, authorizing the bridging of rivers and navigable streams. and also securing payment of several Spanish war claims. My bill for the relief of about seventy five homesteaders in the Second District, who lost their lands under a contest of their entries. in my opinion most un- righteously. passed both Houses of Congress and is now law. This act gives them the right to select other lands for homesteads, of equal value, anywhere in the United States. To get such & bill through Congress, where there are about 25.000 bills introduced at a single session, requires nothing short of stupendous labor.
 'The Alabama River got $100,000 for It's immediate improvement; and an ap- propriation was also made for another survey by Government civil engineer in order to estimtae the cost of deep ening the channel between wetumpka and the mouth of the river sufficiently to secure a uniform depth of water of at least four feet all the year round, a distance of 412 miles. I was also in- strumental in having a resolution pass ed authorizing a preliminary survey of Conecuh River. directing an estimate to be made of the probable cost of im- proving the same, to be accompanied by a report of an engineer as to wheth- CT or not the stream is worthy of Gov ernmental aid. either in whole or in part. The people of Covington and Es- cambia counties are particularly inter- ested in the improvement of this river, and petitioned me to use my best en- deavors to this end; but the public must bear in mind the fact that an ap- propriation for internal Improvements. in the way of rivers and harbors, is never made by Congress until an esti- mate Is first obtained as to the probable cost of the work and a favorable re- port secured from an engineer in charge, pronouncing the same worthy of assistance from the Government. For twenty years past efforts have been made in this direction to get this sur vey authorized. but In vain. I. there