session posed as the advocate of retrenchment and economy in public expenditures. The debate in the house was lengthy, being participated in by Chairman Dingley (Me.) of the ways and means committee, Chairman W. B. Hooker (N. Y.) of the committee on rivers and harbors, Representative W. A. Stone (Penn.), and others. The bill passed the house by 216 to 40 votes. The senate accepted the bill, having made a few changes therein. A conference committee agreed on the bill, May 22; and the following day it was sent to the president. Mr. Cleveland, however, refused to give it his assent.

In vetoing the River and Harbor bill, the president said: "In view of the obligation imposed upon me by the constitution, it seems to me quite clear that I only discharge a duty to our people when I interpose my disapproval of the legislation proposed.

"Many of the objects for which it appropriates public money are not related to the public welfare, and many of them are palpably for the benefit of limited localities or in aid of individual interests.

"On the face of the bill it appears that not a few of these alleged improvements have been so improvidently planned and prosecuted, that after an unwise expenditure of millions of dollars new experiments for their accomplishment have been entered upon.

"While those intrusted with the management of public funds in the interest of all the people can hardly justify questionable expenditures for public work by pleading the opinions of engineers or others as to the practicability of such work, it appears that some of the projects for which appropriations are proposed in this bill have been entered upon without the approval or against the objections of the examining engineers.

I learn from official sources that there are appropriations contained in the bill to pay for work which private parties have actually agreed with the government to do in consideration of their occupancy of public property.

I believe no greater danger confronts us as a nation than the unhappy decadence among our people of genuine and trustworthy love and affection for our government as the embodiment of the highest and best aspirations of humanity, and not as the giver of gifts, and because its mission is the enforcement of exact justice and equality, and not the allowance of unfair favoritism.

"I hope I may be permitted to suggest, at a time when the issue of government bonds to maintain the credit and financial standing of the country is a subject of criticism, that the contracts provided for in this bill would create obligations of the United States amounting to $62,000,000 no less binding than its bonds for that sum."

The bill was again considered in the house and senate, and passed over the veto by majorities far exceeding the necessary two-thirds. In the house, June 2, the vote stood 220 to 60 in favor of passing the bill; and in the senate the following day it was repassed by a vote of 56 to 5.

The president's veto of the General Deficiency bill was due to his objection to the French spoliation claims, aggre

gating $1,027,314, and the claim of Charles P. Chouteau for $174,445, which had been inserted in the bill. The spoliation claims date back to the last century, and that of Chouteau was for the construction of the steam battery Ethel during the Civil War. The veto was sustained in the house, June 6, by a vote of 170 to 39; and a new General Deficiency bill, omitting these objectionable items, was passed.

Sectarian Education. The question of abolishing sectarian schools for the education of Indian children (p. 123), was contested until the closing days of the session, when the following provision was inserted in the Indian Appropriation bill:

"And it is hereby de clared to be the settled policy of the government to make hereafter no appropriation whatever for ed ucation in any sectarian school: Provided. That the secretary of the interior may make contracts with contract schools appor tioning as near as may be the amount so contracted for among schools of vari ous denominations for the education of Indian pupils during the fiscal year 1897; but shall only make such contracts at places where non-sectarian schools cannot be provided for such Indian children, and to an amount not exceeding fifty per centum of the amount so used for the fiscal year 1895: Provided further, That the foregoing shall not apply to public schools of any state, territory, county, or city, or to schools herein or hereafter specifically provided for."

HON. WILLIAM A. STONE, REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA.

The effect of this provision is to abolish sectarian Indian schools after July 1, 1897. The provision led to animated debate in the senate and house, during which the relations of church to state were thoroughly discussed.

The same question arose in making appropriations for charities in the District of Columbia, and the following limitation was enacted:

"And it is hereby declared to be the policy of the government of the United States to make no appropriation of money or property for the purpose of founding, maintaining, or aiding by payment for serv ices, expenses, or otherwise, any church or religious denomination, or any institution or society which is under sectarian or ecclesiastical control; and it is hereby enacted that, from and after June 30, 1897, no money appropriated for charitable purposes in the District of Columbia shall be paid to any church or religious denomination, or to any institution or society which is under sectarian or ecclesiastical control."

Three New Battleships.-One of the final acts of the session was to agree on three new battleships as a feature of the naval bill. Early in the session the house had provided for four such ships, and the senate on May 2 reduced the number to two. As finally agreed on, the provision is as follows:

"That for the purpose of further increasing the naval establishment of the United States, the president is hereby authorized to have constructed by contract three seagoing coast-line battleships designed to carry the heaviest armor and most powerful ordnance upon a displacement of about 11,000 tons, to have the highest practicable speed for vessels of their class, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not exceeding $3,750,000 each; and three torpedo boats, to have a maximum speed of not less than thirty knots, to cost in all not exceeding $800,000; and not to exceed ten torpedo boats, to cost in all not exceeding $500,000, and to have the highest practicable speed for vessels of their class."

The Filled Cheese Bill.-One of the most important general measures enacted was that prepared by Representative James A. Tawney of Minnesota, defining cheese, and regulating the manufacture and sale of filled cheese. It is analogous to the act regulating the sale of oleomargarine.

The bill taxes manufacturers of filled cheese $400 per annum; wholesale dealers, $250; retail dealers, $12. In addition to this, each pound of filled cheese is taxed one cent; or, when imported, eight cents. Each package must be stamped Filled Cheese" in black-faced letters not less than two inches in length; and every dealer selling the article must conspicuously exhibit a sign having the words Filled cheese sold here."

The purpose of the act is to prohibit, rather than to regulate, and is in the interest of the dairy industry of the country. When the bill was debated in the senate early in June, efforts were made to add amendments advancing or reducing the rates of duty fixed by the present tariff law on a variety of commodities; but these were voted down as not germane to the measure.

The Filled Cheese bill declares that for the purposes of the act the word "cheese" shall be understood to mean the food product known as cheese, and which is made

from milk or cream and without the addition of butter or any animal, vegetable, or other oils or fats foreign to such milk or cream, with or without additional coloring matter; and that certain substances and compounds shall be known and designated as "filled cheese," namely: All substances made of milk or skimmed milk, with the admixture of butter, animal oils or fats, vegetable or any other oils, or compounds foreign to such milk, and made in imitation or semblance of cheese.

The substitute for genuine cheese known as "filled cheese" has found its way into the channels of American export trade within the last four or five years under false names and brands.

Other Measures Enacted.--Besides the Filled Cheese bill, two other measures calculated to add to the revenues were passed. One amends the tariff law, by repealing the provision granting a rebate of tax on alcohol used in manufactures and the arts. The other exempts distillers of fruit brandies from the general provisions of the law relating to the manufacture of spirits.

Among the more important general measures enacted were the following:

An act to authorize and encourage the holding of a trans Mississippi and international exposition at Omaha, Neb., in 1898. This act provides for a government building to cost $50,000, and a government exhibit, the whole not to exceed $200,000 in cost.

An act to incorporate the National University. This measure creates a national corporation, empowered to establish a university at Washington.

An act making one year's residence in a territory a prerequisite to obtaining a divorce there. The purpose of this measure is to overcome the indiscriminate granting of divorces in the territories after brief residence of the parties to the action.

An act to authorize the secretary of war and the secretary of the navy to loan or give to soldiers' monument associations, posts of the Grand Army of the Republic, and municipal corporations, condemned ordnance, guns, and cannon balls which may not be needed in the service of either of said departments. This act will do away with the many special acts giving cannon, etc., to particular institutions.

An act to provide for the safety of passengers on excursion steamers. This enacts that in order to provide for the safety of passengers on excursion steamers, yachts, oarsmen, and all craft, whether as observers or participants, taking part in regattas, amateur or professional, that may be held on navigable waters, the secretary of the treasury is authorized to detail revenue cutters to enforce such rules and regulations as may be adopted to insure the safety of passengers on excursion steamers, yachts, oarsmen, and all craft taking part in such regattas.

An act authorizing the secretary of war to make certain uses of national military parks. This measure provides that in order to obtain practical benefits from the establishment of national military

parks, said parks and their approaches are declared to be national fields for military manoeuvres for the regular army of the United States and the national guard or militia of the states: Provided, That the said parks shall be opened for such purposes only in the discretion of the secretary of war, and under such regulations as he may prescribe.

An act putting in force the international regulations for preventing collisions at sea, as adopted by the International Maritime Conference, and approved by all maritime nations.

An act to regulate mail matter of the fourth class, so as to include only such matter which is not in its form or nature liable to destroy, deface, or otherwise damage the contents of the mail bag or harm the person of any one engaged in the postal service, and is not above the weight provided by law (which is declared to be not exceeding four pounds for each package thereof, except in case of single books weighing in excess of that amount), and which is not declared non-mailable under existing statutes relating to lotteries, gift concerts, fraudulent schemes, etc.

Other acts approved provide for a government naval training school on Goat island, San Francisco (Cal.) harbor; ratify the agreement

between the United States and Great Britain by which the claims of Bering sea sealers will be submitted to an international commission (p. 342); provide for the deportation of Canadian Cree Indians who entered Montana during the Louis Riel rebellion of 1885 in the Canadian Northwest; and authorize a scientific investigation of the fur-seal fisheries of Bering sea.

The foregoing comprise the measures of general importance which passed both houses, were approved by the president, and are now laws.

The Butler Anti-Bond Bill.-Aside from the bills which actually became laws, many important measures passed one house and were not acted on in the other