CONGRESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



265 



April 15, 1886, on motion of Mr. Breckin- 

 ridge, of Kentucky, the following bill was 

 passed by the House without a division : 



Be it enacted, etc., That section 3336 of the Revised 

 Statutes of the United States be and is hereby amend- 

 ed so as to read as follows : 



SECTION 3336. Every brewer, on filing notice as afore- 

 said of his intention to commence or continue busi- 

 ness, shall execute a bond to the United States, to be 

 approved by the collector of the district, in a sum 

 equal to three times the amount of the tax which, in 

 the opinion of the collector, said brewer will be liable 

 to pay during any one month, and conditioned that 

 he shall pay ; or cause to be paid, as herein provided, 

 the tax required by law on all beer, lager-beer, ale, 

 porter, and other tormented liquors made by or for 

 him, before the same is sold or removed for consump- 

 tion or sale, except as hereinafter provided ; and that 

 he shall keep, or cause to be kept, a book, in the man- 

 ner and for the purposes hereinafter specified, which 

 shall be open to inspection by the proper officers, as 

 by law required ; and that he shall in all respects 

 faithfully comply, without fraud or evasion, with all 

 requirements of law relating to the manufacture and 

 sale of any malt liquors aforesaid ; and he shall exe- 

 cute a new bond, whenever required so to do by said 

 collector, in the amount above named and conditioned 

 as above provided, which bond shall be in lieu of any 

 former bond or bonds of such brewer in respect to all 

 liabilities accruing after its approval by said collector. 



In the Senate the measure was amended by 

 providing that the bond referred to in the last 

 clause be executed " once in four years," and 

 whenever required, etc., and was then passed, 

 April 26, by a vote of 27 to 19. The House 

 concurred in the Senate amendment April 27, 

 and the President approved the bill May 5. 



June 1, the Senate passed, without a division, 

 a bill providing that no alien and no foreign 

 corporation shall hereafter hold land in any 

 Territory of the United States or the District 

 of Columbia, except such as may be acquired 

 by devise or inheritance, or in good faith in 

 the ordinary course of justice in the collection 

 of debts, and also except in cases where exist- 

 ing bodies grant to the subjects of a foreign 

 power the right to hold lands in the United 

 States. The bill also provides that no corpo- 

 ration, 20 per cent, of whose stock is owned 

 by foreigners, shall hold lands, and that no 

 corporation except those for the construction 

 and operation of railways, canals, or turnpikes, 

 shall hold more than 5,000 acres of land ac- 

 quired hereafter in any of the Territories ; and 

 no railway, canal, or turnpike shall hold more 

 land than is required for its business, except 

 in cases where land is granted by act of Con- 

 gress. In the House, July 31, the Committee 

 on Public Lands reported a substitute, limiting 

 the foreign ownership of stock in corporations 

 owning land in the Territories to 10 per cent., 

 and forbidding foreign acquisition of title by 

 any means, but excepting from the scope of 

 the act corporations for the construction and 

 operation of railroads. This measure passed 

 the House by a vote of 209 to 6. The measure 

 was made the subject of conference between 

 the houses, and no final decision was reached. 



In regard to a fortification bill, the two 

 houses disagreed, and nothing was done in 



regard to the construction or armament of sea- 

 coast defenses. 



To strengthen the navy, Congress passed a 

 bill authorizing the President to have con- 

 structed two sea-going double- armored vessels, 

 of about 6,000 tons displacement, with speed 

 of 16 knots an hour, to cost, exclusive of arma- 

 ment, not more than $2,500,000, both to have 

 a complete torpedo outfit. Also, one protected 

 double-bottomed cruiser, of not less than 3,500 

 nor more than 5,000 tons displacement, to cost, 

 including engines and machinery, and excluding 

 armament, not exceeding $1,500,000; also, a 

 first-class torpedo-boat, at a cost of $100,000 ; 

 also, to complete the double-turreted monitors 

 " Puritan," " Amphitrite," u Monadnock," and 

 u Terror," at a total cost not exceeding $3,178,- 

 046. And the sum of $1,000,000 was appro- 

 priated for the armament of the new vessels, 

 the " Miantonomoh " and the unfinished moni- 

 tors. 



In the Sundry Civil Appropriation bill Con- 

 gress provided for the issue of silver certificates 

 of one, two, and five dollar denominations, in 

 lieu of certificates of larger denominations. 



Both houses passed bills for the repeal of 

 the pre-emption, timber- culture, and desert- 

 land laws, but, as no agreement could be reached 

 in conference, the result remained undecided. 



A bill was introduced in the Senate by Mr. 

 Beck, of Kentucky, forbidding any member of 

 Congress to accept employment as an attorney 

 or payment for services of any kind from any 

 railroad that obtained its charter, grants of 

 land, or pecuniary aid from the United States, 

 and making the violation of the law a misde- 

 meanor. The bill passed the Senate June 10, 

 1886, by a vote of 37 to 11, but was reconsid- 

 ered June 23 by a vote of 31 to 21, and re- 

 ferred to the Judiciary Committee, and Mr. 

 Hoar reported from that body a substitute ex- 

 tending the application of the bill so as to make 

 it absurd. Its consideration was postponed. 



April 8, 1886, the House, by a vote of 163 

 to 126, rejected a bill for the free coinage of 

 silver. 



No vote was reached on the bill for counting 

 the electoral vote. 



Jan. 8, 1886, a bill supplementary to the act 

 for the suppression of bigamy passed the Sen- 

 ate by a vote of 38 to 7 ; but in the House no ac- 

 tion was taken beyond reporting a substitute. 



The following measures not noticed in detail 

 were passed : 



To provide that manufactured tobacco, snuff, 

 and cigars may be removed for export without 

 payment of tax, and repealing the-law providing 

 for inspectors of tobacco. 



To provide that homestead settlers within 

 the railway limits restricted to less than 160 

 acres of land shall be entitled to have their ad- 

 ditional entries patented without any further 

 cost or further proof of settlement and cultiva- 

 tion. 



To remove the charge of desertion against 

 soldiers who re-enlisted without having first 



