was $904,875.33. It was paid. Mississippi's quota was $413,084.67; she still owes $302,046.21. New Jersey's quota was $450,134; and every cent of it has been paid. To make things equal, this tax should be collected from all or refunded to all. This uncollected tax has been the subject of much controversy in the past between the Treasury officials and some of the States still in arrears. Some of these States, having claims against the General Government, have, upon their_presentation, been met by the officials of the Treasury with their unpaid balance of this tax as a set-off. "What is the proposed measure? It is, shortly, this: First, that the sum collected from each State by collection, set-off, or otherwise, shall be credited to such State; second, that all moneys still due shall be remitted and relinquished; third, that the sums collected from each State shall be returned to it absolutely where the State paid it as a State, and where it was collected by the Government of individuals in a State, in trust, to repay to such individuals.

"If the collection of this tax is not to be completed and no one advocates that nor claims that it is needed-no fairer way, in my judgment, of correcting this inequality can be devised than the provision made by the bill before us.

66

Bitterly as this measure is being fought, even this falls short of doing exact justice. Many of the States which assumed and paid this tax borrowed the money with which they paid it, and in some instances such States have paid interest on this money so borrowed from them until the present. My own State paid (with the 15 per cent. allowance) $450,134. She paid that money in 1861, now nearly twenty-seven years ago. She issued bonds for her war debt. Many of those bonds bore 7 per cent. interest. But if we reckon interest on $450,134 for twenty-five years at 6 per cent. we have the sum of $675,201 for interest

alone, which my State should be repaid to put her upon an equality with Utah, which paid nothing, or with Alabama, which has paid next to nothing.

measure.

"Mr. Chairman, there is no 'section' in this There is no politics in it. There is one simple, straightforward proposition to do justice to all, so far as the principal paid is concerned, and I am amazed at the fierce opposition it encounters."

Under the leadership of Mr. Oates, a number of Southern Representatives united in filibustering to prevent the passage of the bill, and they succeeded in preventing the transaction of other business and the adjournment of the House from April 4 to April 12; so that the legislative day, Wednesday, April 4, 1888, lasted 192 hours, though the House took several recesses, and was not therefore continuously in session during that time. The deadlock was finally broken under an agree

resentatives that the measure should be taken up Thursday, Dec. 6, 1888, and put to a final vote Tuesday, December 11, the Northern Democrats who had been urgent for its passage yielding so far to Southern Democrats as to agree to its postponement for the session. On the day set, the house passed the measure. Postal Matters.-A bill relating to permissible marks in printing and writing upon second, third, and fourth class matter was passed by the House Jan. 13, 1888, and by the Senate January 17, and duly approved by the President. It is as follows:

Be it enacted, etc., That mailable matter of the second class shall contain no writing, print, or sign thereon or therein in addition to the original print, except as herein provided, to wit, the name and address of the person to whom the matter shall be sent; index-figures of subscription book, either printed or written; the printed title of the publication and the place of its publication; the printed or written name and address, without addition of advertisement, of the publisher or sender, or both, and written or printed words or figures, or both, indicating the date on which the subscription to such matter will end; the correction of any typograpical error; a mark, except by written or printed words, to designate a word or passage to which it is desired to call attention; the words "sample copy," when the matter is sent as such; the words marked copy," when the matter contains a marked item or article; and publishers or news-agents may inclose in their publications bills, receipts, and orders for subscription thereto, but the same shall be in such form as to convey no other information than the name, place of publication, subscription price of the publication to which they refer, and the subscription due thereon. Upon matter of the third class, or upon the wrapper or envelope inclosing the same, or the tag or label attached thereto, the sender may write his own name, occupation, and residence or business address, preceded by the word "from," and may make marks other than by written or printed words to call attention to any word or passage in the text, and may correct any typographical errors. There may be placed upon the blank leaves or cover of any book or printed matter of the third class a simple manuscript dedication or inscription not of the nature of a personal correspondence. Upon the wrapper or envelope of third-class matter or the tag or label attached thereto may be printed any matter mailable as third class, but there must be left on the address-side a space sufficient for a legible address and necessary stamps. With a package of fourthclass matter, prepaid at the proper rate for that class, the sender may inclose any mailable third-class matter, and may write upon the wrapper or cover thereof, or tag or label accompanying the same, his name, occupation, residence, or business address, preceded by the word "from," and any marks, numbers, names, or letters for purpose of description, or may print thereon the same, and any printed matter not in the nature of a personal correspondence, but there must be left on the address side or face of the package a space sufficient for a legible address and necessary stamps. In all cases directions for transit, delivery, forwarding, or return shall be deemed part of the address, and the Postmaster-General shall prescribe suitable regulations for carrying this section into effect.

SEC. 2. That matter of the second, third, or fourth class containing any writing or printing in addition to the original matter, other than as authorized in the preceding section, shall not be admitted to the mails, nor delivered, except upon payment of postage for matter of the first class, deducting therefrom any affixed, unless by direction of the Postmaster-General amount which may have been prepaid by stamps

such postage shall be remitted; and any person who shall knowingly conceal or inclose any matter of a higher class in that of a lower class, and deposit or cause the same to be deposited for conveyance by mail, at a less rate than would be charged for both such higher and lower class matter, shall for every such offense be liable to a penalty of $10.

The House, on Feb. 2, 1888, passed the following measure in regard to books as secondclass matter:

A bill to amend section 14 of the act approved March 3, 1879, entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes,' ," and relating to second-class mail-matter. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the fourteenth section of the act approved March 3, 1879, entitled "An act making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, and for other purposes," be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding to the proviso thereof, and at the end of said section, the following words, namely:

"And that no publications, that are but books or reprints of books, whether they be issued complete or in parts, bound or unbound, or in series, or whether sold by subscription or otherwise, shall be admitted to the mails as second-class matter."

Nothing further was done with this measure; but a bill was passed amending the act excluding offensive matter from the mails, and another amending the act authorizing the PostmasterGeneral to adjust claims of postmasters for losses by fire, etc. An act was passed also limiting the work of letter-carriers to eight hours a day.

Telegraph Affairs.-On Feb. 9, 1888, the Committee of the House on Post-Offices and Postroads reported an act supplementary to the act of July 1, 1862, entitled" An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes." The evil which this measure was designed to remedy was described as follows in the report of the majority of the committee: "The House of Representatives, by resolution adopted Feb. 26, 1886, empowered the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-roads to as

certain and report whether additional legislation is needed to prevent a monopoly of telegraphic facilities; to secure to the Southern, Western, and Pacific States the benefits of competition between the telegraph companies; and to protect the people of the United States against unreasonable charges for telegraphic services; and to carry out the purposes of the inquiry authorized the committee to send for and examine persons, books, and papers, administer oaths to witnesses, and employ a stenographer. Pursuant to the terms of the resolution the committee heard statements and examined witnesses with a view of ascertaining especially the relations of the land-grant railroads and telegraphic lines to the lines of other telegraph companies, to the public, and to the Government. As a result of their investigations the conclusion was reached that the

Pacific railroads had not complied with the requirements of the acts under which they were incorporated, for the reason that, instead of constructing, maintaining, and operating a telegraph line, they had divested themselves of this obligation by contracting with the Western Union Telegraph Company to perform the service."

The two leading sections of the act were as follows:

which the United States has granted any subsidy in 1. That all railroad and telegraph companies to lands or bonds or loan of credit for the construction of either railroad or telegraph lines, which, by the acts incorporating them, or by any act amendatory or supplementary thereto, are required to construct, maintain, or operate telegraph lines, and all companies engaged in operating said railroads or telegraph lines shall forthwith and henceforward, by and through construct, maintain, and operate for railroad, governtheir own respective corporative officers and employés, mental, commercial, and all other purposes, telegraph lines, and exercise by themselves alone all the teleassumed by them under the acts making the grants as graph franchises conferred upon them and obligations

aforesaid.

2. That whenever any telegraph company which shall have accepted the provisions of title 65 of the Revised Statutes shall extend its line to any station or office of a telegraph line belonging to any one of said railroad or telegraph companies, referred to in the first section of this act, said telegraph company so extending its line shall have the right and said railroad or telegraph company shall allow the line of said telegraph company so extending its line to connect with the telegraph line of said railroad or telegraph company to which it is extended at the place where their lines may meet, for the prompt and convenient interchange of telegraph business between said companies; and such railroad and telegraph companies, referred to in the first section of this act, shall so operate their respective telegraph lines as to afford equal facilities to all, without discrimination in favor of or against any person, company, or corporation whatever, and shall receive, deliver, and exchange business with connecting telegraph lines on equal terms, and affording equal facilities, and without discrimination for or against any one of such connecting lines; and such exchange of business shall be on terms just and equitable.

The remaining provisions were merely to furnish the necessary machinery for enforcing the requirements of these sections, and to invest the Interstate Commerce Commission

with the authority and charge them with the duty of seeing the law carried out. The measure passed the House March 3, and subsequently passed the Senate and received the President's signature.

lines running from one State to another under The Senate passed a bill putting all telegraph the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission; but the House failed to act on it ity of the Committee on Commerce reported before adjournment. In that body the minorin favor of such a measure March 20, but the majority reported in favor of a bill establishing a postal telegraph system, formulating the following conclusions:

1. That the time has arrived when the Government should construct and operate a postal-telegraph

system as a branch of its postal service. 2. That the service will undoubtedly be self-supporting.

3. That the Government has the right to build and operate telegraph lines under the jurisdiction of its Post-Office Department.

4. That public opinion will not permit, and good faith and justice do not require, the purchase by the Government of the property and franchises of the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Pensions. On March 8, 1888, the Senate passed a dependent pension bill, but it failed to get through the House. A measure pensioning prisoners taken by the Confederates during the civil war also failed. An act was passed, however, and approved, providing that pensions hereafter granted to widows of soldiers of the war of the rebellion shall begin at the date of the death of their husbands, not from the date of filing claims. A bill was passed and approved increasing to $30 a month the pension for total deafness, and likewise an act enabling certain volunteer soldiers denied the $100 bounty under the act of 1872 to receive the benefit of that act; and also a measure providing for the payment of $100 a year for each inmate in State and Territorial soldiers' homes. Special pension bills were passed in favor of Mrs. Logan and Mrs. Blair, but the bill in favor of Mrs. Sheridan failed to get through the House of Representatives. In all, 638 private pension bills were passed, of which 569 became laws with the President's signature, and 69 became laws without it.

Miscellaneous. On May 29, 1888, both Houses passed and the President approved a bill reviving the grade of General of the Army, so that Gen. Sheridan, then in imminent danger of death, might be appointed.

In

On May 10, 1888, the Senate passed, after discussion for more than three weeks, a bill forfeiting all lands heretofore granted to any State or corporation to aid in the construction of a railroad which lands are opposite to and conterminous with the portion of any such railroad not now completed and in operation. the House of Representatives the majority of the Committee on Public Lands reported a substitute for the Senate bill, which was debated July 5 and passed July 6. The House bill provided for the forfeiture of lands lying along the sections of subsidized railroads not completed within the time specified in the grant, and the clashing of these two measures prevented decisive action.

On May 9, 1888, the Senate passed an international copyright bill, but the House failed to act on it.

On May 21, 1888, the House of Representatives passed a bill making the Department of Agriculture an Executive department the head of which shall be a Cabinet officer; and September 21, the Senate passed the measure with an amendment cutting out the provision of the House bill transferring the Signal Service from the War Department to that newly created. So the bill fell by the way.

Early in the session the President sent a message to Congress recommending the creation of a national board of arbitration, and

April 18, 1888, the House of Representatives passed a measure carrying out the Executive recommendations; but it was not reached in the Senate.

The Blair educational bill was discussed at length, and passed the Senate Feb. 15, 1888, by a vote of 39 to 29; but it was not brought up in the House.

In his third annual message the President expressed a doubt as to authority to purchase bonds over and above the requirements of the sinking-fund, though the authority had been given in a clause in an appropriation bill, June 30, 1882. On April 5, 1888, the Senate passed a resolution declaring that such purchase of bonds is lawful, and April 16, the House passed a resolution to the same effect.

On March 21, 1888, the House passed a bill to establish a Department of Labor to be under control of a Commissioner of Labor. May 22, the Senate amended and passed the measure; and May 31, both Houses agreed to accept the report of a conference committee. The bill was approved by the President; and it merely reorganized the existing Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On March 19, 1888, the House of Representatives passed a measure authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue silver certificates in denominations of twenty-five, fifteen, and ten cents; but the Senate failed to take up the

measure.

On April 19, 1888, the Senate passed a bill admitting South Dakota into the Union; but it failed in the House, and so no action was taken on measures for the admission of other new States. The bill for organizing the Territory of Oklahoma also failed.

The House of Representatives made careful investigations of immigration and of trusts and combinations; but reached no result in legislation on either subject.

A bill was passed authorizing the President to arrange a conference between the nations of Central America, South America, and the West Indies for the establishment of international arbitration and the promotion of com

merce.

Measures were adopted appropriating money for a gun-factory and for several new ships of

war.

A bill was passed making certain judgments and decrees in Federal courts liens on property throughout the State in which the court is held.

Congress provided for an international conference to secure greater safety for life and property at sea; for twenty-seven new public buildings; for an investigation by the Geological Survey of means of storing water in arid regions; for representation at the expositions in Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, and Melbourne.

Measures not already mentioned that failed to become laws were the bill to quiet the title of settlers on the Des Moines river lands; the bill raising the salary of district judges; the