Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1910-05-11
The Week
in Congress
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! Is y u y . - /
In the Senate Thursday q spirited
debate on the provisions Of the rail
road bill authorizing the making Of
rates was engaged in by Senators Clay,
Bristow, Cummins, Crawford. Bailey,
Aldrich, Borah. Root and Hepburn.
The small number Of Democratic
members in attendance in the House
during most of the session made 1t Inn
possible for the Insurgents to score
victories over the regular Republicans.
An amendment was adopted to include
telegraph and. telephone companies
within the scope Of the interstate COM
merce law.
The first test vote on the railroad
bill was had in the Senate Friday and
resulted in a victory for the admins
tration members. The Cummins
amendment. which would require all
traffic agreements made between rail-
roads, and all rates, fares and charges
to be approved in advance by the In
terstate Commerce Commission, was
defeated by a vote Of twenty-nine to
thirty-five. Eleven Republicans, most
of them from the insurgent ranks,
and eighteen Democrats, voted for the
Cummins provision. All Of the votes
against 1t were cast by Republicans.
In the House the railroad bill was
under consideration also. Numerous
amendments were offered, most Of
which were voted down. An amend
ment making provision that the physi-l
cal valuation OF railroad properties
shall be ascertained was offered by
Mr.. Madden Of Illinois and adopted
after an extended discussion. The
provision adopted yesterday for the
inclusion of telegraph and telephone
companies within the scope of the In
terstate Commerce law was further
amended 80 as to permit of different
charges being made for press dis
patches and for night messages than
are made for commercial dispatches.
The acceptance by Congress- Of a
statue of Francis H. Pierpont from the
State Of West Virginia, for the per-
| manent exhibition in statuary hall at
the capitol, was the occasion of eulo-
gies in the Senate Saturday. The
House accepted the Pierpont statue
and heard eu1ogies. Several hours
We're also devoted to the, passage OF
several private claim bills.
| In addition to considering the rail-
road bill two hours, the Senate Monday
discussed at length and passed the bill
creating a bureau OF mines IN the In
terror Department. The bin had re-
ceived the sanction of the House and
now only requires the signature OF the
President. The long and short haul
1 amendment to the railroad bill pre-.
pared by Senator Dixon was the sub.
ject of lively debate. it was "suspen.
sion day in the House and numerous
bills were passed. Among them were
measures to increase the personnel OF
the engineer corps of the army. to pro
vide for additional lighthouse equip
ment and to build monument al
Midway, Ga, to the memory Of Gen
eral Stewart, of revolutionary fame
the neutrality-suspicious. OF forme,
President Roosevelt
In the Senate Tuesday the train,
agreement provision and section 12
dealing with the combination of rail
roads. were stricken from the railroad
bin. The Senate also passed House
bill creating an art commission fol
Washington. The House also re
moved from the traffc agreement pro
vision from the rail- bills The House
agreed to the long-and-short-haul
clause Of the House bill in the form
that It came from the committee ex
cept that 1t provided for an investiga
tion by the interstate commerce com
mission Of data relating to that class
of rates &
AS no one cared to discuss the rail
road measure the Senate Wednesday
took up bills on the calendar. Mr. ST
mons delivered a speech condemnine
the method of the Department of Jus
tice In its prosecutions of the cotton
pools. The Senate passed the pension
appropriation bill, carrying sl55, 900,
900. The House devoted much consid
Grafton to bills relating to Indian
lands. ss