CONGRESS. (APPROPRIATIONS CONTESTED SEATS.) 



219 



whole amount of cash appropriated l>y this bill is to 

 be immediately expended it is an error. It is well 

 understood that only one river and harbor bill is 

 parsed by each Congress. The eash appropriated 

 therefore by this bill is intended to cover the ex- 

 pense of the prosecution of works named in the bill, 

 except as to these placed under the contract system, 

 for the whole of the two fiscal yours ending June 30, 

 isjis. The actual cash appropriation carried by this 

 bill is $12,621,800. which includes the cash appro- 

 priation amounting to * 2..") 2 5.5 00 for projects placed 

 under the continuous contracts in the bill. 



-After alluding to the $3,000,000 carried by the 

 sundry civil bill for works heretofore placed under 

 contract the President adds: 



-The result is that the contemplated immediate 

 expenditure for the objects mentioned amounts to 

 about $17.000,000.' 



" For the reason already given, it is obvious that 

 this statement is an error". As already stated, $12,- 

 K21.SOO is intended to be expended during the two 

 fiscal years ending June 30. 1898. 



" The President is also mistaken in his statement 

 that this bill authorizes contracts for river and har- 

 bor work amounting to more than $62.000.000. The 

 true amount for which such contracts are authorized 

 is $59.616,404-91. 



" The President also states in connection with his 

 discussion of these contract works : 



" ' Of the remainder, nearly $20,000,000 will fall 

 due during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898. and 

 amounts somewhat less in the years immediately 

 succeeding.' 



' This is also an error for the reason that if all 

 the contracts authorized by this bill are promptly 

 entered into by the Secretary of \Var for the full 

 amounts estimated for the completion of each by 

 the chief of engineers the maximum amount that 

 can be expended under the limitations of this bill 

 in any one fiscal year is $16,612,873.91. 

 " The President also says : 



" There is no ground to hope that in the face of 

 persistent and growing demands the aggregate of 

 appropriations for the smaller schemes not covered 

 by contracts will be reduced or even remain sta- 

 tionary. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, 

 such appropriations, together with the installments 

 on contracts which will fall due in that year, can 

 hardly be less than $30,000.000.' 



"The President here falls into the error of as- 

 suming that there will be another appropriation for 

 the 'smaller schemes' not covered by contracts to 

 be expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1898. As a matter of fact, the' next river and har- 

 bor bill, should one be passed, will only cover the 

 f prosecuting these smaller works for the two 

 fiscal years ending June 30, 1900, and no additional 

 appropriations for the smaller works will be made 

 for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1898. 



The accusation of extravagance in this bill is 

 most effectually disproved by a comparison with 

 the appropriations for river and harbor improve- 

 ments already made for the six years ending June 

 30, 1896 : 



There has been appropriated, commencing 

 with the river and harbor bill of 1890. in- 

 cluding $3.000.000 carried in the pending 

 sundry civil hill $100,800.000.00 



Or an average per annum of 16,700.000.00 



The amount carried under contract in the 

 present bill, which will be distributed over 

 a period of six years, is ' 59,616.40-1 91 



Our experience with the contract system in 

 the past, together with positive statements 

 laid before your committee, justify the ex- 

 pectation tliat these contract works will be 

 completed for at least 20 percent, less than 

 the amount stated, or in round figures, say 42,000,000.00 



To this should be added necessary to com- 

 plete harbor works hitherto undertaken. . . 4,000,000.00 



And it is safe to assume that the river and 

 harbnr lulls which will probably lie passed 

 in H'.lS and I'.iOO will each carry not ex- 

 ceeding 10,000,000.00 



Add to this eash appropriated in the present 



bill 12,621,800.00 



And it may ! estimated that during the en- 

 suing six years there will lie expended for 



river and harbor improvements in all 78,021,800.00 



This would involve the expenditure during 



each of the next six years of 13.100.000.00 



As against 16,700,000.00 



during each of the past six years. This does not 

 include the item for probable expenditure under 

 condemnation proceedings authorized for dams and 

 locks upon the Monongahela river. This amount 

 can not be definitely stated. 



" It should be borne in mind that the sum of $59,- 

 000.000 and more embraced in these continuous 

 contracts provided for in this bill are the estimates 

 of the engineers upon the old plan of doing the 

 work by piecemeal, and that these estimates were 

 many of them made three, four, five, or more years 

 ago. when the cost of construction was much greater 

 than it is now ; that in formulating this bill we 

 have limited in all cases the cost of any projects 

 put upon the continuous-contract plan to the esti- 

 mates of the engineers, and there is every reason to 

 believe that the experience of the past will be the 

 experience of the future in the saving upon these 

 contracts: and when we say that we believe these 

 contracts will all be completed for $42.000,000 we 

 think we are easily within the range of accurate 

 statement." 



To the report was added a comparison of amounts 

 appropriated, as below : 



Amounts appropriated in river and harbor ap- 

 propriation acts, Forty-eighth to Fifty-third Con- 

 gresses : 



Forty-eighth Congress, first session S13.949.200 



Forty-ninth Congress, first session 14.473.900 



Fiftieth Congress, first session 22,397.616 



Fifty-first Congress, first session 25.136.295 



Fifty-second Congress, first session 21.154.218 



Fifty-third Congress, first session 11.643,180 



Fifty-fourth Congress, pending bill 812,621,800 



The bill was passed over the veto without debate 

 by the following vote: Yeas, 219: nays, 61: not 

 voting. 74. In the Senate it was debated and passed 

 by a vote of 06 yeas to 5 nays. 28 not voting. 



Among the il riders " carried by the appropriation 

 bills, the most important was the Updegraff bill to 

 abolish the fee system as to United States district 

 attorneys and marshals, and to substitute salaries, 

 which was reported from the Committee on the Judi- 

 ciary of the House of Representatives and engrafted 

 upon the legislative, executive, and judicial appro- 

 priation bill. It is estimated that the direct result 

 of the legislation will be a saving of at least $1.000.- 

 000 a year, of which the Treasury will receive the 

 benefit" of about $600,000. 



Contested Seats. The case of Mr. Du Font's 

 title to a seat in the Senate from Delaware 

 "Annual Cyclopaedia." 1895. pages 227. 228) was 

 debated at length and decided against him. In the 

 House there were no fewer than 32 cases of contest. 

 In 17 of these the committees unanimously decided 

 in favor of the sitting members, who were Demo- 

 crats: in 2 cases committees unanimously decided 

 in favor of contestants, who were Republicans : in 

 9 cases majorities of committees decided against 

 sitting members, who were Democrats (in one of 

 these cases declaring the seat vacant), and one case 

 was not disposed of by the committee which had 

 charge of it. The net "result has been the seating 

 of 2 Populists and 8 Republicans in the place of 10 

 Democrats, the unseating of 2 Democrats, which 

 created vacancies, and the leaving of the titles of 

 other sitting members whose seats were contested 

 undetermined. 



