Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-03-04
CONGRESS PASSES
IMPORTANT BILLS
CONTINUED from First Page. ]

the many bills and resolutions repo5-
ing there and from time to time mes
sengers burdened with those that had
passed one house tramped through the
corridors of the Capitol to report the
fact TO the other. Virtually all of
these were private claim bills or meas
ures of purely local nature.
Sent Over to Graveyard"
AS the roll of the more important
bills was called requests of Let ii go
over" from the floor sent them one by
one into the legislative graveyard.
They must be reintroduced If they are
TO be renewed in the SiXty-fourth
Congress.
In the galleries a few of the faithful
fingered through the night, some, per-
haps, held by personal interests in this
or that bill and hoping for an eleventh
hour miracle; others kept out of their
beds by curiosity alone. Crowded gall
leries are the rule in the last hours
of any Congress and every seat among
the spectators benches was filled until
a late hour last night The crowds
began to return early to-day, hoping
for some unusual development to re-
ward their patience.
At 3.45 a. NJ. the Senate entered
into unanimous consent agreement
to consider nothing except the confer
ence reports on the Indian and post
office appropriations. The Indian bill
was then taken up and all but few
senator's left the chamber to catch a
short nap.
Standard Apple Barrel
At that time there had been passed
by unanimous consent the last of two
| bills already agreed to by the House.
providing for a standard apple barrel
and locomotive inspection by the In
terstate Commerce Commission. SEN
| ator MARITIME made futile attempts to
consider a bill creating a bureau of
| labor o. safety.
The House at 4.2O took a fifteen
minute recess and the members then
organized the usual chorus and sans
| rag time and other songs. includinS
"Good-by My Lover Good-by" Way
Down Yonder in the Cornfeld," annie
Laurie etc. Representative Hetlin, OF
| Alabama, amused the members by tell
ing darky stories.
The House shortly before a. M
agreed to the conference report or
the post office appropriation bill and
then recessed again until a. nj. AS
agreed to in the House il retained the
railway mail provision changing tho
system of pay to railroads from. i
weight basis to payment for car spac,
used.
The Senate conferences finally
agreed to this proposal after a LONG
| deadlock and a proviso was attached
to the new plan under which the post
master general or railroads represent
/ ing il per cent. of the railroad mileage
! of the country may appeal to the In.
terstate Commerce Commission to es-
tablish whether the rates fixed are
reasonable, 1t would be authorized tt
| report its finding to Congress fol
action. No appeal to the commission
would be allowed until the rates had
been in effect at least one year. and
| thereafter such appeals could be made
only once in any two years.
Report Sent to Senate
The conference report was sent tC
! the Senate. The only business await
! ing the action of the House when i
recessed was the conference report on
the Indian appropriation bill which
was being filibustered against the Sen
ate.
When the House reassembled at 9
o'clock the failure of the Indian and
post office bills in the Senate was re-
garded as so certain that n resolution
was passed extending the present APP
propriations over the next fiscal year.
With that, the House settled down
to waiting for the hour of adjourn
ment.
In the Senate another attempt tc
break the opposition to the Indian
bill failed and some Republican sena-
! tors gave notice they would talk the
post office bill to death.
Last years appropriations which
under the House resolution would
continue another year, We're 1913, ,000,-
900 for the postal bill and $9,700,00C
/ for the Indian bill.
Beginning at $50 o'clock President
Wilson kept open house" and a stead!
! procession of senators and represen,
! tatives of all parties went from the
| Capitol to the White House to shake
| hands with the President and saJ
good-by.
| After the Indian and post office ap
preparation resolutions had been pass
/ ed in the House, Majority Leader I'm.
derwood made the following state
ment:
THE House has attended to all the
/ public business that it had to attenc
! TO. 1t has disposed of all the appro
priation bills which came before it OF
could come before it. If the finance:
of the government are not taken care
! of now, it will not be the fault of the
I House
i. Tribute to Clark
\ tribute to Speaker Clark was leo
| by Republican Leader Mann, whI
eulogized the able and loved speaker
and presented a resolution thanking
him for his services. II was passed al
/ the House rose to its feet with a tn
multi of applause and cheering. WhcI
| it subsided the Speaker said:
"The multiplicity of honors an,
I kindnesses that this House has heap
ed on me goes straight to my heart.
! Mr.. Clark paid a tribute to Repub
! lican Leader Mann, Progressive Lead
( or Murdoch and Representative I'm
/ darwood, and said in conclusion. -
hope every member of the House viii
/ enjoy this long vacation-if in tn,
Providence of God it turns out to be
| long one. And / hope that the bless
ings of God may rest upon each ans
every one those who are to come bacl
as well as those who retire to privat,
life. And may God bless us, ever!
one"
Wilson Praises Congress
After his return to the White House
/ to-day President Wilson dictated the
following statement about Congress
and its work:
"A great Congress has closed it's ses-
/ sions Its work will prove the purpose
! and quality of it's craftsmanship more
and more, the longer ii is tested. Busi.
+, ness has now time of calm ano
/, thoughtful adjustment before ii. dis
, turbed only by the European war. The
circumstances created by the war pu
the nation to a special test. a test o.
its true character and of it's self
/ control