CONGRESS. (APPROPRIATIONS MINOR MEIBURM.) 



233 



i supplement tli> election laws of Hie 

 lies, and to provide for the more effl- 



i-nf. .p-eim-nt of such laws, and for other 

 M-." Indeed. I lie defeat of the measure is 

 t lie greatest triumph pained by tho 

 in tin- Fifty-first Congress. It" \v- 

 rased at th<- first session by tli<> House, July 2, 

 m<l the Senate postponed its consideration 

 until the seemid session. It was taken up at tho 

 niii}; of i ho session, and occupied the atten- 

 Senato largely until Jan. 17, 1891. 

 -peeches were made in op|K>sition to 

 ..I it was dearly the intention of Demo- 

 Sniators to talk against time rather than 

 iwruiit the hill to come to a vote. The Repub- 

 lican leaders, to meet this device, proposed an 

 amendment to the Senate rules providing for 

 flitting olT debate, " when any bill, or resolution, 

 UT question, shall have been under consid- 

 n for a reasonable time, it shall be in order 

 fur any Senator to demand that debate thereon 

 (hall l>e closed. On such demand no debate 

 shall he in order, and pending .such demand no 

 other motion, except one motion to adjourn, shall 

 ile. If such demand be seconded by a ma- 

 jority of the Senators present, the question shall 

 forthwith bo taken thereon, without debate. If 

 the Senate shall decide to close debate on any 

 bill, resolution, or other question, the measure 

 shall take precedence of any other business what- 

 ver, and the question shall be on all pending 



been lost, or shall have failed of a second, it 

 shall not bo in order to renew the (tame until one 

 Senator shall have spoken on the pending meas- 

 ure, or one vote upon the same shall have inter- 

 vened. Pending proceedings under the forego- 

 ing rule, no proceedings in respect to a quorum 

 shall be in order until it Khali have appnm l 

 upon a division or on taking a yea-and-nay vote 

 that a quorum is not present and voting. All 

 questions of order, whether upon the bill or oth- 

 erwise, shall be decided without debate, and, 

 pending proceedings under the foregoing rule, 

 no obstructive or dilatory motion or proceedings 

 of any kind shall be in o'rder." This change of 

 rules was limited to the remainder of the ses- 

 sion, and there was added to it a resolution ap- 

 plying it to the election bill. The attempt to 

 enforce this clotttre system failed, and by a com- 

 bination between the Democrats and several 

 Republican Senators anxious for the adoption of 

 free-coinage legislation the election bill was 

 forced out of the way to take up apportionment 

 and subsequently the free-silver measure. So it 

 came to pass that this measure, which was called 

 by its opponents " the Force bill," failed to be- 

 come a law. 



Appropriations. The appropriations of the 

 Fifty-first Congress were very heavy, as a whole, 

 and the following table will show the points of 

 increase and decrease as compared with the Fif- 

 tieth Congress : 



COMPARING BY ACTS THE APPROPRIATIONS MADE BY THE FIFTIETH AND FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESSES. 



Includes $8,500.000 pension deficiencies for 1S89, passed at the first session of the Fiftieth Congress, and $8,000,000 

 pension deficiencies for 1889, passed at the second session of the Fiftieth Congress. 



t Includes $25.8J1.007.85 pension deficiencies for 1890, passed at the first session of tho Fifty -first Congress, and 

 $29,835,698.84 pension deficiencies for 1S91, passed at the second session of the Fifty-first Congress. 



amendments, if any are then pending, and upon 

 the measure in- its successive stages, according to 

 the rules of the Senate, but without further de- 

 bate, except that every Senator who may desire 

 shall be permitted to speak upon the measure, 

 iin luding all amendments, not more than once 

 and not exceeding thirty minutes. If the Sen- 

 ate >hall have decided to close debate as herein 

 provided no motion shall be in order but a mo- 

 tion to adjourn or to take a recess. When such 

 i shall be seconded by a majority of the 

 Senate, when either of such motions shall have 



Minor Measures. Among the minor meas- 

 ures passed was the bill transferring officers on 

 the retired list of the army from the limited list 

 to the unlimited ; the bill for preserving di.-ei- 

 pline among customs officers : the bill for the 

 relief of mission Indians in California ; the bill 

 extending the benefits of the act of Feb. 8, 1887, 

 providing for the allotment of land in severally 

 to Indians in various reservations ; the bill en- 

 abling the Secretary of the Interior to carry out 

 the provisions of the act dividing the reservation 

 of the Sioux Indians in Dakota ; the bill to pro- 



