Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-01-31
WORK OF
CONGRESS-


The Senate was not in session Friday.
After passing n large number of pension
bills the House at l ID p. m. adjourned
until Monday. The penal code bill was
not taken up.
The bill revising the criminal laws of
the United States was taken up as I'M
finished business in the Senate Monday.
and it's discussion occupied the greater
part of the session. 4 letter was ~receiv.
ed from Secretary Cortelyou explaining
his delay in giving the financial figures
which had been asked for. Unrestrained
opportunity to express views on the i'm
migration question was afforded members
of the House by the decision, soon after
converting, to take up and consider "A bill
appropriating $250.COO for an immigra-
ton station in Philadelphia, and so many
took advantage of it that the code of laws
bill, which the managers Of the House
had planned TO take no. was also side
tracked for the day. The entire session
was devoted to n consideration of the bill,
which was passed.
The Senate Tuesday discussed the pro
priety of authorizing one of its commit.
tees to investigate the circumstances con-
nected with the issuance of an injunction
in the case of the Hitchman Coal and
Coke Company versus John Mitchell. by
Judge Alton G. Dayton of the United
States Circuit Court of the northern dis
trict of West Virginia. Senator Culber-
son asked to lave a resolution for that
purpose adopted, and Senate Hale
thought it should not harass judges in
their decisions, and he did not favor
such a resolution unless there was con-
siderable ground for believing that a
judge had exceeded his authority. Con-
siderable time was spent in considering
the bill to revise the crimina code. At
the close of a cay of excitement in the
House of Representatives an amendment
was added to the penal code bill making
it a criminal offense for any officer OF
employee of the government to give out ad-
vance information regarding any crop sta
tistics authorized by law to be prepared.
The original amendment was by Mr..
Burleson of Texas. who made G strong
plea for it's passage, but a substitute
by Mr.. Sherley of Kentucky, with a brief
addition by Mr.. Olmsted of Pennsylvania,
was accepted. Earlier in the day interest
attached to a tilt between Mr.. Dalziel OF
Pennsylvania a1d NJ. Randell of Texas
over the ~latter's amendments prohibiting
Senators or members from being employ
ed by public service corporations. The
climax of the debate came when Mr.
Clark Of Missouri announced. amid thun-
derous Democratic applause, that William
J. Bryan would be nominated at the Den.
yer convention, while Mr.. Bouteu OF
Illinois aroused the member on his side
to a high pitch of enthusiasm by stating
| that Speaker Cannon would be the Re-
publican nominee.
The Senate spent over an hour WeA
| nesday in discussing a resolution offered
BY Senator Hansbrough of North Dakota
! directing the Department of Commerce
and Labor to suspend its investigation
| into the affairs of the international Eer.
| vcster Company, which was ordered by a
| resolution over a year ago. During this
! discussion Senator Hansbrough declared
| h a the harvester trust" is attempting
to control the selection of delegates to
the next Republican national convention
and is especially plotting to defeat him
for reelection to the Senate. This resolu.
! ton finally was referred to a committee.
{ The criminal code bill was again consid'
| cred for over two hours. Rapid progress
was made in the House of Representa-.
\ tives in the consideration of the bill to
! codify and revise the penal laws of tbs
| United States. The only amendment OF
| any importance which got through was
| one by. Ollie james of Kentucky, making
it a criminal ~offense, under heavy penalty;
| to falsify government crop statistics, thu
| object of the amendment being to protect
| the cotton md tobacco growers from
| Spectators. Over fifty pages Of the bill
| we're disposed of.
In the Senate Thursday Senator Stone
presented statistics of government de
posits in national banks to show that
| the distribution of money during the re
| cent currency stringency was not "equita.
| ble,'' as contemplated by the law gov.
erning the Treasury Department. He de
clared that the West and South were
! Disseminated against, while New York
| and Boston were favored. Senator Teller
! followed with brief comment upon the
action of the Secretary of the Treasury.
| declaring that the placing of money in
| New York City during the panic was
fully justified. The Senate devoted the
! latter part of the session to a considera.
! ton of the bill to revise the crimina,
J code, and adjourned until Monday. The
| urgent deficiency appropriation bill occu.
| pied the attention of the House to the
l exclusion of all other business. A sur
| prise, was sprung when Chairman Tawney
! of the appropriations committee warned
! the members hat the country was con-
fronted with the certainty of a $160,0OO.-
| 600 deficit unless the estimates for the
next fiscal year shouid be cut down mate
rally. A discussion on tariff revision
was injected into the proceedings, in
which leaders on both sides of the House
tried to commit one another to a definite
announcement as to whether, if success
full at the November elections. there
would be tariff legislation. Without COM
| pleting consideration of the bill thu
House adjourned.
TELEGRAPHIc BREvITIEs