The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1912-09-06

Desplte promises or retrenchment
In public expenditures the house, in
conjunction with the senate, man
aged to run up appropriations far in
excess OF the billion dollar mark.
AT the last session of congress,
expenditures footed up to $1,026 ,000,-
600. The house leaders have not
yet given out their figures, but they
claim the appropriations chargeable
to them will be just a little over a
biNion. However, il may reach a
much greater total.
The session was long on converse
ton. The printed record will en-
brace about 26,000,000 words, cover
ing $4,000 pages. The senators and
representatives who comprise the
present house and senate will go
down in history as the most verbose
statesmen of all time. The nearest
competitor was the first session of
the fiftieth congress. the members of
which contributed millions of words
and filled 5000 pages.
The session also was a record
breaker in the number of bills pre-.
sented. Nearly $4,000 bills of various
sorts were introduced Of this num-
Der the house contributed $4,000 and
the senate the remainder. A great
proportion Of these bills slumber in
committee rooms and will never be
heard from again.
Few Constructive Laws Made.
With the exception of the bill pro-
viding a form of government for the
Panama canal zone and prescribing
regulations for the conduct of the
waterway, the session has been de-
void of constructive legislation on
large scale.
without result. This was due in large
part to the fact that the house and
senate are antagonistic politically.
Much Of the time OF the house was
devoted to the consideration Of tariff
bills prepared by the Democrats. Six
such bills we're put through the house.
They were all passed by the senate.
Two o. them were sent to the presi-
dent and vetoed. None OF them
reached the statute books. With the
veto of the wool and steel bills the
Democrats abandoned hope of tariff
revision. President Taft has set his
face against revision, where revision
does not conform with conclusions
based on scientific inquiry in advance.
Labor Legislation Failed.
The house passed severa! bills az
fec ting labor which failed of consid-
Grafton In the senate. Chief among
these is the Clayton bill providing
for jury trials in cases of indirect
contempt, the Clayton anti-injunction
bill and the Sulzer bill proposing the
creation of department of labor.
The session was prolific of vetoes
by the president. He wrote his dis
approval on at least IL bills including
the wool and steel tariff bills and the
legislative bill which was vetoed twice.
With an agreement reached ending
the filibuster on the general deficiency
bill, Senator La Follette's determine
ton to have record vote on the
Penrose campaign fund probe resolu-
ton is the only thing that Is prevent
ing the adjournment OF congress. So
far as any actual chance OF getting
away is concerned, however the sit
uation is almost as uncertain as II
was late Sunday morning, when the
session, which had been expected to
end the present sitting of congress,
broke up in disgust and without ac-
ton.
The f1libuster that was ended Mon
day morning was the one started by
Senator Chamberlain, of Oregon, TO
insist on the payment of over $780,
900 in claims to various states. The
house had refused to allow the claims,
and prepared to fight all summer.
After repeated conferences senate
leaders announced an understanding
by which the senate was to recede
from it's demand for the immediate
payment of the contested state
claims but providing that the
claims be included in the next gen
eral deficiency bill.