Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25

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as 1t has been doing for several weeks We
| do not need anybody to watch over US; 1
think the members can take care of Con
| gress and its dignity"
Again Taken Up.
The House being in continuous session the
question of eleeting presiding officer was
| again taken up, but without avail de-
bate ensued in which the politics of the
American party were called into uues-
ton. Mr.. Sage arose to defend the ''Ameri-
| can" He said in part: There appears to
be some difficulty In understanding the
| american party l. toe, love the Union
| and the Constitution and / believe | can
| say that the gentlemen on this side of the
| House supporters of Representative Banks
are as devoted to the Constitution in all its
| length and breadth and depth either
| tho gentleman from Georgia the gentle
| man from Pennsylvania. and that they will
| be found standing shoulder to shoulder to
| protect the rights of the states under all
| circumstances. And let me say in this con-
| nectfon there is no gentleman on this floor
| who is more attached to the reserved rights
| of. the states than I am and none that is
| more opposed to the surrender of those
rights TO the general government than I
am.
| When the gentlemen will consider the
| increasing honor and patronage of the gov
eminent, Its disbursements now amounting
to seventy million dollars and within TWEEN
| ty years, l prophesy, will reach the sum
| of one hundred million Ga billion dollar
Congress was not dreamed Of and with
| this enormous expenditure I do not desire
! or intend to allow so long as 1 have the
| power to prevent the surrender or Absorb
| ton OF any of the reserved rights of the
! states without such states free and full ac-
| quiescence in the same, which I do not
| believe will be given by any state In the
| Union
| In the course of the debate it was
| charged that one of the members from
| Pennsylvania had been offered a committee
| Craftsmanship If he would change his vote
| to Mr.. Banks and it suggested by
| some one that perhaps Mr.. Sage would let
| the placing of his name on certain COM
| mittees influence his position because Of
! the good he could do his constituents by
| being in such positions. Mr.. Sage resented
| TINS suggestion with fiery eloquence.
In Deep Rage.
Does the gentleman suppose I can be
| bought to voter asked Mr.. Sage in deep
| rage. "A different standard Of morality
must exist in the state of South Carolina
| from what we have in the state of New
| York II the gentleman supposes that any
! member from New York can be seduced
into voting for any gentleman by such a
promise"
| Only once during his connection with the
| House can it be found that Mr. Sage ap-
| peared in the least humorous in connec-
ton with his remarks on the floor This
election
| of the Speaker After many deadlocks Mr.
Letcher of Virginia introduced a resolu-
| ton that inasmuch as the members that
| had been elected to Congress could not
agree on Speaker, each of them send
| in his resignation and give the people at
| home a chance to elect new members that
| could get to work. Mr.. Sage, with a smile
! on his face and in great good humor, in
troduced substitute resolution to the eff
feet that Mr.. Letcher first tender his reslg-
nation to be acted on. and then those who
agreed with his views could do likewise
| until all were down and out This caused
great amusement, but not acted on.
! Seriously" continued Mr.. Sage, II feel
conscious of having done my duty here in
accordance with the wishes Of my con-
stituents am acting with the majority
who are against the administration"
Mr.. Sage stuck by Representative Banks,
| who was elected Speaker February 2 on a
compromise agreement that under certain
conditions a plurality should be the de-
Gliding vote in the event none of the cam
didates received majority of those pres
ent after three successive ballots had been
| cast So the man from New York won out
| on this fight by his persistence and good
| tactics.
During the balance of the Thirty-fourth
Congress Mr. Sage had little to say on the
| floor Of the House.
On one matter Of more than passing in
terest to the citizens of the national Capt.
tai Mr.. Sage took a decided stand In op-
position. This was the construction Of the
Washington aqueduct for furnishing the
water supply to the citizens of Washing
ton and Georgetown. Mr.. Sage made sew
eral, though brief speeches against an ap-
| preparation in the deficiency bill for con-
tinuing the work Of construction Incl
dentally Mr.. Sage showed that his animus
was due in some measure to the failure Of
Congress to provide in the last Congress
for certain sums for the Improvement Of
the Hudson river as were contained in the
rivers and harbors appropriation bill, to
which Mr. Sage offered an amendment
which was defeated. When called upon to
state his reasons for disappearing the ap-
preparation for the Washington aQueduct,
Mr.. Sage said:
Not Within Estimate.
II voted against the work because I do
not believe it can be done for the amount
named in the estimates. We voted $1OO coo
to erect the dome of the Capitol in Wash
tngton, and now have an estimate that 1t
will take s945,000 to complete the work,
with absolutely no assurance that that
amount will be all that is necessary to COM
piete the work. This work (the
washington aqueducD will cost $4,000, 600,
and ! feel unwilling as a representative
that my constituents shall be taxed to the
amount that they will be taxed to pay for
the building of these waterworks believe
the construction OF the waterworks to be
one OF the greatest wrongs attempted by
the Congress of this country for years. of
any magnitude. Gentlemen here sickle
ABOUT the small appropriation of $50 600 for
the Improvement Of the Hudson river, over
which one-third Of the entire commerce of
this country passes. and yet now advocate
the appropriation of S6,0OO,OOO for the bene-
fit Of this city Washington out of which
the general government will get no return.
What would be thought of the legis-
iature of Massachusetts If they should make
an appropriation to improve the harbor at
Boston, or of the legislature Of New York
should they appropriate. at Albany, a sum
II money to improve the harbor Of New
York city. Would not their constituents
drive them from the capitol. Yet gentle
men come here from all sections Of the
United States and seem to forget what
they are doing. There will be a day of
reckoning for this extravagant waste Of
public money. We should pursue a wiser
course. We should grant a charter to an
incorporated company that desires to do
this work, and thus save to the public treas
ury hundreds of thousands OF dollars that
are being poured OUT
Again, April IT, Mr.. Sage took the
floor and made several brief speeches in
favor of an item In the deficiency bill on ac-