( < INGRESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



221 



merits. $1.000 a day for the first ten years, fU./iOO a 

 day fur the next te'n years, and $2,000 a day there- 

 at' t'er until final payment. And also the iiayinent 

 of some annual intei 



This bill provided for refunding the debt of the 

 roads. A minority report adverse to the bill was 

 p:- ,-ented by Senator Morgan, of Alabama. The 

 matter was finally left over, the proposition to re- 

 fund the indebtedness having received the approval 

 of the majority of the committees on Pacific rail- 

 roads in both houses. 



Passed the House only. A bill to amend the 

 immigration laws by adding to the classes of aliens 

 excluded all male persons between sixteen and sixty 

 years of age unable to read and write the English 

 or some other language, passed the House only, as 

 did also the general pension bill, and one concern- 

 ing tonnage tax. proposing to do away with present 

 provisions by which foreign vessels are enabled to 

 escape the payment of $100,000 annually, while 

 United States vessels save by the same provision 

 only *3.000 or $4,000. 



Bills offered. The total number of bills and 

 joint resolutions offered in the House of Represen- 

 tatives was about 9.664, and in the Senate about 

 3.437, many of the Senate bills, however, being du- 

 plicates of House bills, and many of the House bills 

 duplicates of Senate bills. A large proportion of 

 these consisted of private bills, of which about the 

 usual proportion passed and became laws. The 

 vetoes of individual pension bills were less numer- 

 ous than in any session of Congress in President 

 Cleveland's first administration. 



Work of Committees. To the House Commit- 

 tee on Ways and Cleans 178 bills and resolutions 

 were referred, of which 32 were reported to the 

 House, and of these 18 passed that body and 5 

 passed the Senate and became laws. In the consid- 

 eration of these measures about 80 hearings were 

 held and testimony was taken which made a volume 

 of about 1.000 pages. 



The number of bills and resolutions referred to 

 the Committee on the Judiciary was 282, of which 

 42 were favorably reported and 28 passed. 



There were referred to the Committee on Naval 

 Affairs of the House 326 bills and resolutions, of 

 which 124 were favorably reported to the House. 

 The bill making appropriation for the naval estab- 

 lishment was formulated in committee, and in it 

 were included several subjects separately embodied 

 in bills, as the provisions for a model tank for naval 

 construction, for the increase of the enlisted force 

 of the navy, for the improvement of the naval re- 

 serve, and for certain local improvements at navy 

 yards and stations. The long contest between the 

 House and Senate in regard to the number of bat- 

 tle ships to be authorized resulted in a compromise, 

 by which the number was fixed at 3 instead of 4, as 

 proposed by the House, and 2 as proposed by the 

 Senate. The Senate, however, rejected the compro- 

 mise, and this matter is still undetermined. 



An important measure recommended by the Navy 

 Department and agreed upon unanimously by the 

 committee was the bill providing a retired list for 

 enlisted men and petty officers of the navy after 

 thirty years' service. 



Upon a resolution to investigate the alleged abuses 

 of the civil-service law in the administration of 

 the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Xaval Committee had 

 hearings and examined voluminous documentary 

 evidence furnished by the Xavy Department. 



The Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 

 reported some important bills, several of which 

 passed the House, and one of which was rejected 

 owing to the temporary absence of many members 

 when the vote was taken and a misunderstanding 

 among other members as to the scope of the meas- 



ure. It was one to abolish compulsory pilotage as 

 -Is engaged in the ooa>twi>c trade. 



The Committee on Military Affairs reported a 

 bill to reorganize the line of the army. 



Another important bill reported from the Mili- 

 tary Committee authorixes the duplicating of the 

 machinery at the Springfield Armory, where rifles 

 are manufactured. The bill appropriates iflaO.OOO. 

 The proposition, if adopted, will make it pos.-ible for 

 the armory to turn out annually twice as many 

 rifles as at present. Another measure favorably re- 

 ported by the committee is that establishing a mili- 

 tary park on the battlefield of Vicksburg. 



To the Committee on Invalid Pensions were re- 

 ported 2,446 House bills and 233 Senate bills. 

 They reported upon 614 claims and measures, and 

 about 225 were approved by the House. 



Two important bills were reported from the Com- 

 mittee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, one to 

 allow a submarine cable to Hawaii. Japan, and 

 China, and one in the Nicaragua Canal. 



Bills on the Calendars. Among the bills on 

 the Senate calendar at the date of adjournment 

 which had been favorably reported from commit- 

 tees were a number of considerable importance, 

 among which were the following : House bill to 

 prevent the extermination of the Alaska fur-seal 

 herd : House bill to reduce the cases in which the 

 penalty of death may be inflicted ; Senate bill to 

 provide for seacoast defenses : Senate bill for relief 

 of Indian citizens : Senate bill to amend the navi- 

 gation laws ; Senate resolution to open to public 

 entry the Uncompahgre Indian Reservation in 

 Utah: Senate bills for admission of New Mexico 

 and Arizona as States; Senate bill for the appoint- 

 ment of a nonpartisan labor commission ; Senate 

 resolution authorizing the appointment of a board 

 of naval officers to report upon the cost of estab- 

 lishing a coaling station on Navassa island; Senate 

 bill providing for the election of a Delegate in Con- 

 gress from Alaska : Senate bill to establish a uni- 

 form system of bankruptcy : a bill to reclassify 

 railway postal clerks and prescribe their salaries : 

 Senate bill to refund indebtedness of Pacific rail- 

 roads to United States (identical with House bill 

 on same subject) : Senate resolution to facilitate re- 

 organization of Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 

 pany : Senate bill for establishment of a bureau of 

 animal industry : Senate bill to amend laws relating 

 to American seamen ; Senate bill to protect forest 

 reservations ; Senate bill for laying a cable between 

 the United States and Hawaii and Japan: House 

 bill for protection of yacht owners and shipbuilders ; 

 Senate bill directing the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission to prepare a uniform freight classification. 



Among the more important measures on the 

 House calendars were the following : To establish a 

 classification division in the Patent Office ; to aid 

 the public-land States to establish and support 

 schools of mines : to codify the pension laws ; to 

 amend the postal laws relating to second-class mat- 

 ter : to promote the efficiency of the revenue-cutter 

 service : to reclassify railway postal clerks and pre- 

 scribe their salaries : to provide for final adjust- 

 ment of swamp-land grants ; to increase the pay of 

 letter-carriers: to establish a bureau of animal in- 

 dustry: to fix the pay of superintendents and crews 

 of life-saving stations ; to duplicate machinery at 

 Springfield Armory ; to amend the civil-service 

 law ; to classify the clerks in first-class and second- 

 class post offices; to create a special commission on 

 highways the "Good Roads Commission"; tore- 

 fund the indebtedness of the Pacific railroads to 

 the United States : the Hawaii-Japan-China cable 

 bill: the Nicaragua Canal bill: to protect public 

 forest reservations : to amend the navigation laws : 

 to provide for a commission on the subject of the 



