The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-12
GEN. MILES'S
 NEW UNIFORM Congress to Prevent His
 Wearing It. WILLIAMS'S PLEA IN VAIN Hard Hearted Republicans De- cline to Be Merciful. slayden of Texas and Johnson of south Carolina Discuss Cotton Crop and
 the Holding of the
 Staple.

Jan 1A.-1ne stppOiht-
 ment of Lieutenant General Nelson A
 Miles as Inspector General of the State of Massachusetts overshadowed all other matters in the discussion of the army appropriation bill in the House today The debate had proceeded leisure1y until Mir. Hull in charge of the bill offered an amendment declar- ing that retired officers above the grade of major should not receive the full pay of their grade when assigned to duty with the militia of the several States. Several members declared that the amendment was directed especially at General Miles. But Mir. Hull insisted that he had no such thought In mind and urged that the best results were obtained from officers of the lower grades. He asserted that not until the law was passed allowing increased pay for officers assigned to the military did
 officers of the higher grades ap- ply for the appointments. He said that 1t was such increased pay and not
 patriotism which promoted them and he
 characterized their conduct as unseem- ly.
 This statement reused Mir. Cochran
 of New York who declared that it was
 simply penalizing superior officers to
 the advantage and profit of inferior of- fcers. After a lively debate the amendment was adopted.
 Mir. Johnson of South Carolina in
 short speech favored an agreement among the cotton growers to curtail
 the cotton production for the next year
 and half.
 Consideration of the army bill was
 not concluded when the House ad- l turned until tomorrow.
 Inaugural Committee. Upon the converting of the House to- | day Speaker Cannon announced as the | Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies Messrs Dalzell (Pa). Crumpacker l Qnd.) and Williams (Miss)
 | The army appropriation bill was taken up in Committee of the Whole. | Mn Bo,felle lIll.), In the chair. It was agreed that there should be three I hours general debate. Mir. Hull uo) having the bill in charge, explained the several changes which the committee had made in Legislation the principal | items of which already have been pub | lished.
 Declaring sarcastically that economy
 was the watchword and motto of the Republican party. MT. Slayden (Tex) called attention to the fact that some | how money had been appropriated for | the imperialistic tendencies of the government" while there had been Q
 lack of legislation for improving riv- | CTS and harbors. He said that If the army and the naval appropriations | could be brought back to an economi-
 cal basis as in Mir. Clevelands last
 term and held there for few years there would be money enough saved | to dredge every stream in the country
 and to deepen every port on the sea- coast.
 | He charged that it was an open se- l cret that but for the interest of cer- | tain legislators in taking care of cer- l tain officers of the Porto Rican regi-
 ment who were not able to care for
 Themselves in civil life. these men would have been legislated into civil | life two years ago. He gave notice | that he would offer an amendment abolishing the Porto Rican regiment | SIayden RidIcules 1epubIicans. | MT. Slayden ridiculed the idea of
 economy as practiced by the Republi- | cans and cited the customs office at Beaufort, s. C., where he said 1t cost | $1. .509 to collect $1 .55 by two officers.
 and at York. Maine. $263 to collect
 $2.5O by one officer. He suggested that | 1t might be advisable to abolish the l Beaufort office and give 1t to w. D. Crum with the revenues of the office as his compensation "as 1t seems" he
 said, "he won't be happy unless he has
 a customs ofice."
 MT. Prince QlL) said nearly every
 year one-half of the money appropri- | ated for the army went to the officers on the active and retired lists. The
 enlisted men receive $9,200,000 in | round numbers while the officers got
 $7, 300, 900.
 Under license of debate, MT. John- | son (S. C) declared there was sys-
 tematic effort. unfortunately success ful, to bear down the price of cotton.
 T know" he said. there are some kid glove gentry in New York who
 would not know cotton patch from
 pea patch who are undertaking to
 tell the world that the farmer can
 make cotton at 1-2 cents" If he had
 power. he said. he would have every men who gambled in cotton on the New York exchange and who said that cotton could be produced at 4 Ia cents. go down and with his own naked
 hands pull the bell cord over a mule and make cotton at that price. l MT. Douglass, (N. Y.) remarked that most of the men speculating on the New York cotton exchange were South
 ern men. which caused MT. Johnson to
 declare that whether they were South
 ern men or not. they were enemies of
 tn Southern people. The people of the
 South were holding cotton which they
 have, no more thought of parting with
 at the present prices than the holders
 of United States bonds had of selling
 them at twenty-five per cent on the 1 dollar.
 spIndIes Will Be Idle. He predicted that beRore December. l 1905. thousands of spindles in the Uni | ted States and Canada would be idle because of their inability to get cot
 ton. MT. Johnson argued that it would be right for the Southern cotton grow CTS to agree among themselves to a fifty per cent reduction of the cotton crop,
 Mr. slayden. (Tex) contended that cuTtailment of cotton production here would encourage greater production abroad and warned Southern members against the idea that the South pos
 sessed the only climate or soil which
 could produce cotton profitably.
 In regard to large appropriations for
 the army and navy Mir. Holiday, Qnd.)
 declared that the grand children of
 members of the House would not see war with which the present navy of