226 CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.) 



tige of the crown, on one hand, and from the rights 

 of the mandataries of the people, on the other. 



Resolved, That this House does hereby reiterate the 

 expression of its sincere regret at the death of the late 

 Eduard Lasker, and of its sympathy with the Parlia- 

 ment of the German Empire, of which for so many 

 years he was a distinguished member. 



March 19 the committee submitted the fol- 

 lowing report : 



The Committee on Foreign Affairs, to which was 

 referred the message of the President of the United 

 States, together with the correspondence of the State 

 Department and certain resolutions submitted in the 

 House, all referring to the death of Dr. Eduard Las- 

 ker, late an eminent citizen or subject of the German 

 Empire, has considered the various matters referred 

 to it, and reports : 



The resolutions adopted by the House on the 9th 

 of January were intended to express to the German 

 Government and people sympathy for the death of an 

 eminent man who died in this country, who had 

 served his native land as a member of its highest 

 legislative body, and as a tribute of respect to his 

 memory. 



While your committee is of opinion that said reso- 

 lutions should have been received and transmitted in 

 the same spirit of cordiality and good-will by which 

 they were prompted, it retrains from expressing an 

 opinion as to whether the course pursued by the au- 

 thorities of the German Empire in regard to them was 

 or was not in accordance with the proprieties govern- 

 ing the internal regulations of said empire, as a mat- 

 ter not within its province of consideration. 



The dignified position assumed by the Department 

 of State merits and will command the confidence of 

 the country, fully sustaining the high character which 

 that department has maintained since the organiza- 

 tion of the Federal Government. 



As to the resolutions offered on the 10th day of 

 March, your committee is of the opinion that they 

 contain language, under present circumstances, super- 

 fluous and irrelevant, and not necessary or proper to 

 vindicate the character or dignity of this House. 



Your committee, therefore, reports back said reso- 

 lutions, with the recommendation that they lie upon 

 the table, and reports the following resolutions, with 

 the recommendation that they be adopted as a substi- 

 tute therefor: 



Resolved, That the resolutions referring to the death 

 of Dr. Eduard Lasker, adopted by this House Janu- 

 ary 9 last, were intended as a tribute of respect to 

 the memory of an eminent foreign statesman who had 

 died within the United States, and an expression of 

 sympathy with the German people, of whom he had 

 been an honored representative. 



Resolved, That the House, having no official con- 

 cern with the relations between the executive and 

 legislative branches of the German Government, does 

 not deem it requisite to its dignity to criticise the 

 manner of the reception of the resolutions, or the cir- 

 cumstances which prevented their reaching their des- 

 tination after they had been communicated through 

 the proper channel to the German Government. 



The resolutions reported as a substitute for 

 those offered March 10 were then adopted by 

 the House. 



Tax on Spirits distilled from Grain. April 7, 



1884, Mr. Thompson, of Kentucky, moved to 

 suspend the rules and pass the following: 



Resolved, That it is unwise and inexpedient for the 

 present Congress to abolish or reduce the tax upon 

 spirits distilled from grain. 



The motion was carried, 179 to 33. 

 Civil -Seryiee Reform. April 21, 1884, Mr. 

 Mutchler, of Pennsylvania, from the select com- 



mittee on reform in the civil service, moved to 

 suspend the rules and pass the following bill : 



Be it enacted, etc.. That all those portions of the fol- 

 lowing sections of the Kevised Statutes of the United 

 States, to wit, sections 769, 1864, 2217, 2244, 2613, and 

 3830, which fixed the term of offices of the officers there- 

 in mentioned at four years, and all other acts and parts 

 of acts in so far as they create or declare a term of four 

 years on the part of any officers in any of the said sec- 

 tions mentioned, are hereby repealed : Provided, hoiv- 

 ever, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to 

 any of the officers mentioned in the said sections now 

 in office, nor shall their term of office be in any wise 

 affected by the provisions of this act. 



SECTION 2. That the Chief-Justice and the Associate 

 Justices of the Supreme Court of every Territory here- 

 after to be appointed shall be appointed to hold office 

 during good behavior, or until the Territory shall be 

 admitted as a State and the State government shall go 

 into operation, and all the other officers whose term of 

 office is abolished by the provisions of this act shall be 

 commissioned to hold office, and shall hold office, dur- 

 ing the pleasure of the President. 



SEC. 3. That every person hereafter appointed to 

 any office of which the term is abolished by the pro- 

 visions of this act, and of which the incumbent is now 

 required to give an official bond, shall, before entering 

 upon the duties of his office, give a bond to the United 

 States, with one or more sufficient sureties, for the 

 true and faithful discharge of the duties thereof 'accord- 

 ing to law. The said bonds shall be in such form, 

 and under such penalty, and approved in such man- 

 ner, and filed in such offices, as is now provided by 

 law in the case of each of such officers ; and such 

 bonds shall be renewed once in three years, under 

 such regulations as may be prescribed by the officers 

 required to approve the same as are not inconsistent 

 with the provisions of this act. 



The motion failed by a vote of 99 to 146. 



miscellaneous. A bill repealing all laws pro- 

 viding for the pre-emption of public lands, and 

 all laws allowing entries for timber-culture, was 

 passed by the House June 24, but was not con- 

 sidered by the Senate. The Lowell bankruptcy 

 bill passed the Senate April 21, by a vote of 32 

 to 15. It came up in the House May 19, and 

 Mr. Collins, of Massachusetts, who had charge 

 of it, moved to make it a special order for June 

 10, but the motion was defeated by a vote of 

 137 to 92, less than the requisite two thirds. 

 May 19, in the House, Mr. Hurd moved to sus- 

 pend the rules, and pass a bill removing the 

 duties on works of art discriminating against 

 foreign artists. The motion was lost by a vote 

 of 52 to 178. June 19, the House passed a bill 

 to prohibit the importation of convict-labor, 

 but the Senate failed to consider it. 



Proposed Constitutional Amendments. Schemes 

 to amend the Constitution have little practical 

 value, but there was no lack of them at the 

 first session of the Forty-eighth Congress. In 

 the Senate, amendments on different topics 

 were proposed as follows: December 4, an 

 amendment giving Congress the power to pro- 

 tect, by appropriate legislation, all citizens in 

 exercise and enjoyment of their rights, privi- 

 leges, and immunities ; December 5, an amend- 

 ment forbidding the granting of extra compen- 

 sation to Government contractors, and author- 

 izing the President to disapprove separate items 

 in appropriation bills; the same day, another 

 amendment prohibiting the manufacture and 



