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CONGRESS. (BOND INVESTIGATION PACIFIC RAILWAY FUNDING BILL.) 



Bond Investigration. Late in the session the 

 Senate adopted a resolution for an investigation by 

 a subcommittee of the Committee on Finance of 

 the bond transactions of the present Administra- 

 tion, and the inquiry was begun. 



Other Measures. Among the more important 

 acts passed were the following : 



Amending the land grant forfeiture acts "so 

 as to extend the time within which persons entitled 

 to purchase lands forfeited by said act shall be per- 

 mitted to purchase the same in the quantities and 

 upon the terms provided in said section, at any 

 time prior to Jan. 1, 1897 : Provided, That actual 

 residence upon the lands by persons claiming the 

 right to purchase the same shall not be required 

 where such lands have been fenced, cultivated, or 

 otherwise improved by such claimants, and such 

 persons shall be permitted to purchase 2 or more 

 tracts of such lands by legal subdivisions, whether 

 contiguous or not, but not exceeding 320 acres in 

 the aggregate." 



Requiring purchasers of forfeited railroad lands 

 who " have paid only a portion of the purchase 

 price to the company, which is less than the Gov- 

 ernment price of similar lands, before the delivery 

 of patent for their lands, to pay to the Government 

 a sum equal to the difference between the portion 

 of the purchase price so paid and the Government 

 price, and in such case the amount demanded from 

 the company shall be the amount paid to it by such 

 purchaser." 



To open forest reservations in Colorado for the 

 location of mining claims. 



Providing that in considering claims filed under 

 the pension laws the death of an enlisted man or 

 officer shall be considered as sufficiently proved if 

 satisfactory evidence is produced establishing the 

 fact of the continued and unexplained absence of 

 such enlisted man or officer from his home and 

 family for a period of seven years, during which 

 period no intelligence of his existence shall have 

 been received. 



Repealing the act which provides that no person 

 who held a commission in the army or navy of the 

 United States at the beginning of the war of the 

 rebellion and afterward served in any capacity in 

 the military, naval, or civil service of the so-called 

 Confederate States, or either of the insurrectionary 

 States, shall be appointed to any position in the 

 army or navy. " 



Appropriating $75,000 to carry out stipulations 

 of treaty for investigation and adjudication of 

 Bering Sea claims, and providing that the com- 

 mission when sitting at San Francisco shall have 

 power to compel the attendance of witnesses. 



Appropriating $75,000 for the joint expense of 

 locating and marking the boundary line between 

 Alaska and British North America by an interna- 

 tional commission. 



Amending section 3255 of the Revised Statutes 

 so as to provide that distillers of brandy exclusively 

 from fruits may be exempted from all provisions 

 of the internal-revenue law, except as to the tax 

 thereon, whenever the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, shall deem it expedient. 



Authorizing and directing the Commissioner of 

 Labor to correspond and confer with the census 

 officers of other governments for the purpose of se- 

 curing conformity in the inquiries relating to the 

 people, to be used in future censuses, and to report 

 to Congress as soon as practicable a plan for a per- 

 manent census service. 



To provide for the immediate destruction of all 

 income-tax returns and all statements and records 

 relating to them. 



Authorizing foreign exhibitors at the Tennessee 



Centennial Exposition to bring in foreign laborers 

 to prepare and display their exhibits, and allowing 

 articles for such exhibits to be imported free. 



Making it a felony for any person in Indian Ter- 

 ritory to shoot at or into, or throw any rock or 

 other missile at or into, any railway vehicle. 



To provide for the safety of passengers on excur- 

 sion steamers. 



To amend the act granting right of way upon 

 public lands of the United States for reservoir and 

 canal purposes. 



To make one year's residence in a Territory a 

 prerequisite for obtaining divorce there. 



To regulate marriages in the District of Co- 

 lumbia. 



Providing for the extension of the time within 

 which suits may be brought to vacate and annul 

 land patents. 



Prohibiting prize fighting and pugilism in the 

 Territories and the District of Columbia. 



To enable the Secretary of State to reconvene the 

 delegates from the United States to the Interna- 

 tional Marine Conference of 1889 in case Parliament 

 should propose amendments to the rules which the 

 conference reported. 



Extending the time within which vessels in the 

 foreign trade may unload. 



Abolishing days of grace on promissory notes, 

 drafts, etc., in the District of Columbia. 



Incorporating the national society of Daughters 

 of the Revolution. 



Providing that the chaplain of the United States 

 Military Academy shall be appointed for a term of 

 four years, shall be eligible to reappointment, and 

 shall receive the same pay and allowance as a cap- 

 tain of cavalry. 



To improve the merchant marine engineer serv- 

 ice and increase the efficiency of the naval reserve 

 by providing that American vessels shall employ 

 only United States citizens as engineers and assist- 

 ant engineers, regulating the tei'ins of license, and 

 providing for drafting them into the naval service 

 in case of war. 



Making advance freight charges and contribu- 

 tions in general average a lien in favor of the ocean 

 carrier upon goods imported. 



Not signed by the President. Among the 

 bills allowed by the President to become laws with- 

 out his signature was one authorizing the leasing 

 of school lands in Arizona and others relating to 

 rights of way for railroad companies through the 

 Indian Territory and Indian reservations. He did 

 not sign the joint resolution directing the Secretary 

 of Agriculture to buy and distribute seeds, bulbs, 

 etc., as had been done in previous years, nor the 

 public acts making appropriations for the support 

 of the Department of Agriculture, which contained 

 a like provision. 



Pacific Railway Funding Bill. Bills to 

 amend the acts of 1862, 1864, and 1878 in regard 

 to aid to Pacific railroads, and to provide for a set- 

 tlement of claims growing out of the issue of bonds 

 for that purpose, were introduced into the Senate 

 by Senators Frye, of Maine, and Thurston, of Ne- 

 braska. Mr. Allen, of Nebraska, introduced one 

 "directing the foreclosure of the Government lien 

 on the Pacific railroads and for other purposes." 

 The Committee on Pacific Railroads, to which these 

 were referred, reported a substitute, which Senator 

 Gear, of Iowa, who presented the report, described 

 briefly as follows: 



' The original debt of the Pacific railroad com- 

 panies to the United States is paid and the monov 

 is in the Treasury of the United States. This bill 

 simply deals with the interest. Whether the mat- 

 ter is dealt with in the best manner is for the Sen- 

 ate to decide. The bill provides for certain pay- 



