ceeds of the bonds contributed to raise it well above the $100,000,000 mark. In April, however, a foreign demand for gold set in, and by the close of this RECORD the surplus over this sum had again about disappeared. — The work of the pension bureau in weeding out irregularities has been continued on the lines described in the last RECORD. A number of additional frauds were discovered, and prosecutions of offending agents were instituted. A provision attached to a deficiency appropriation bill passed in December forbade the suspension of a pension pending an investigation of the right to the pension or of fraud in obtaining it. The commissioner accordingly ceased the practice, though, on the advice of the attorney-general, he refused to remove the suspensions pending at the passage of the act. In replying to a resolution of Congress touching this matter, the commissioner took strong ground against the claim that a pension is a "vested right," and held that it is only a bounty, subject to the will of the donor. — The Department of the Navy was called upon in the fall to deal with evidence of illegal practices by the employees of the contractors who were engaged in the production of armor plates for the government. Plates of less than the best quality were found to have been imposed upon the inspectors, though none that were under the lowest limit of tolerance specified in the contract. After careful investigation the secretary of the navy, while absolving the members of the contracting company from knowledge of the frauds, decided, nevertheless, that damages must be paid to the government, and, on appeal to the president, the decision was affirmed, though the amount of the assessment was reduced. The company, accordingly, on January 17, paid to the treasury under the decision $140,484.94. Reports of further frauds were circulated later, and are under investigation at the close of this RECORD. In connection with the civil service, the course of the administration has continued to excite serious criticism from the advocates of reform. Particularly hostile comment was excited by the Van Alen case. Mr. J. J. Van Alen was nominated as Minister to Italy, and was confirmed at the end of October. As it became known that Mr. Van Alen had been a large contributor to the campaign fund in the last election, it was charged that his nomination involved practically the sale of the office. On November 20, Mr. Van Alen addressed to the secretary of state a letter declining the appointment. He acknowledged his gratification at the honor done him, declared that his financial assistance in the campaign had been due to a profound conviction that the success of the party was necessary to the country's good, and that the contribution had never been regarded by him as creating an obligation, and confessed his inability to see that it was less patriotic to aid a cause in which one believed by money than with voice or pen. But as the criticism of his appointment had put him in a false position, and as acceptance would bring undeserved rebuke upon the administration, he felt bound to decline. The president urged him to reconsider, but in vain, and the place was filled by the appointment of Wayne McVeagh, of Pennsylvania. - The Civil Service Commission was remodeled

by the removal, November 29, of Mr. Johnson, of Louisiana, who declined a request to resign, and the appointment, as his successor, of John R. Procter, of Kentucky. The nomination to fill the vacancy in the United States Supreme Court led to a conflict between the president and Senator Hill, of New York. Mr. W. B. Hornblower, a New York lawyer belonging to the faction of the Democratic Party opposed to Senator Hill, was nominated for the justiceship in the autumn, but on January 15 the Senate adopted, by 30 to 24, a resolution of the judiciary committee rejecting the nomination. Eighteen Democrats voted with the minority and twelve with the majority. Lack of reputation and experience were alleged as grounds. for voting against Mr. Hornblower, though Senator Hill made much of the fact that the president had not consulted him about the nomination, and thus appealed to the custom of "senatorial courtesy.” On the 22d of January the name of Wheeler H. Peckham was sent in for the justiceship. Mr. Peckham's reputation and experience were greater than those of the former nominee, but his political attitude toward Senator Hill was even more antagonistic, and the senator was consulted in his case no more than in the other. A sharp struggle between the factions in the Senate ended in the rejection of the nomination, February 16, by 41 to 32, with 15 Democrats in the majority and 23 in the minority. The president then, giving up the attempt to appoint a New York man, on the 19th sent in the name of Senator White, of Louisiana, who was immediately confirmed. Other appointments during the period were as follows: Assistant Secretary of War, Joseph E. Doe, of Wisconsin; Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, C. W. Dabney, Jr., of Tennessee; Minister to Bolivia, Thomas Moonlight, of Kansas; Minister to Sweden and Norway, T. B. Ferguson, of Maryland. CONGRESS. The first regular session of the fifty-third Congress began December 4, just a month after the end of the extraordinary session. The president's message contained no points of especial interest in respect to foreign relations, the Hawaiian matter being relegated for discussion to a promised special message. On the currency question Mr. Cleveland expressed his satisfaction at the action of Congress in the special session, and his conviction that no further action should be taken until financial and commercial conditions became more settled and the effects of the new law

were fully revealed. He announced that, having no definite proposition ready for submission to the monetary conference, which was to have reassembled November 30, he had agreed to a further postponement. In respect to the Postal Department, the president referred to the growing deficit, which was estimated at eight millions for the current year, and suggested a curtailment of the matter carried free, and a relinquishment of the policy of extending the free-delivery system. The condition of the treasury was made the ground also for the suggestion of caution in further appropriations for the new navy. Pension frauds were vigorously denounced, and the president protested that "those who attempt in the line of duty to rectify these wrongs should not be accused of enmity or indifference to the

claims of honest veterans." The message contained an earnest denunciation of the abuses of the free distribution of seeds through the Agricultural Department. During the last fiscal year there were sent out enough cabbage seed to plant 19,200 acres, enough beans to plant 4000 acres, enough sweet corn to plant 7800 acres, etc., etc. To stop this abuse it was recommended that the appropriation be reduced from $135,000 to $35,000. The message presented a strong endorsement of the work of the Civil Service Commission, and concluded with an earnest plea for tariff reform in the direction of free raw materials, with a small tax on corporate incomes. The primary work of Congress was in connection with the Tariff Bill, the progress of which is described under a separate head. While this was engaging the attention of the House, the Senate took up the bill for the repeal of the Federal Election Laws, and passed it, February 7, by 39 to 28, substantially a party vote. By the signature of the president on the following day, this relic of Reconstruction was removed from the statute-book. Following this came a lively struggle over the Seigniorage Bill. This measure, introduced in the House by Mr. Bland, provided for the immediate coinage of silver in the treasury to an amount equal to the difference between the cost and the coin value of the bullion purchased under the Sherman Act, which difference amounted to about $55,000,000. The bill provided that certificates should be issued on this seigniorage as fast as coined, or faster, if the needs of the treasury required. A second section directed that, after the seigniorage was disposed of, the remaining bullion in the treasury should be coined, and the treasury notes based on it should be redeemed and replaced by silver certificates. This bill was passed in the House, March 1, by 168 to 129, the majority consisting of Democrats and Populists, with 19 Southern and Western Republicans; the minority, of Republicans, with 49 Eastern Democrats. In the Senate the friends of the bill took parliamentary advantage of a little carelessness on the part of its adversaries to cut off the long debate that was expected, and on March 15 the bill passed by 44 to 31, ten Republicans for, and nine Democrats against it. On the 29th President Cleveland vetoed the bill. His general position was that of favor to the idea of coining the seigniorage, but of hostility to this particular bill, and especially to the second section, which went beyond this simple idea. He objected to the phraseology of the bill, which was in places ambiguous, but found a wider ground for his veto in the belief that "sound finance does not commend a further infusion of silver into our currency at this time, unaccompanied by further adequate provision for the maintenance in our treasury of a safe gold reserve." As to the second section, he considered ill-advised and dangerous the scheme by which it was proposed to replace legal-tender treasury-notes, redeemable in either gold or silver, by silver certificates which are not legal tender, and are redeemable only in silver. Such a proceeding, he held, would inevitably stimulate the withdrawal of gold from the treasury, and render more difficult than ever the maintenance of parity between the metals in our currency.

The president expressed, in conclusion, a willingness to see the seigniorage coined, if at the same time provision were made for a low-rate, short-term bond to protect the gold reserve. On the question of overriding this veto, the vote in the House, April 4, stood 144 to 115, not two-thirds in the affirmative. — The blocking of business in the House of Representatives, due to the inability of the Democrats to maintain the presence of a majority consisting of their own members, and the refusal of the Republicans present to vote, forced the Democratic caucus finally to approve in April a rule for counting a quorum from members present and not voting. There was great reluctance to taking this course, since the principle had been stoutly resisted by the Democrats when applied by Speaker Reed (see this QUARTERLY, V, 360). But a proposition to impose a fine for refusal to vote failed to gain much support, and there seemed no other way out of the difficulty. Accordingly the rules were amended by the House, April 17, so as to provide that members present but not voting on roll-call should be counted. In distinction from the Reed rule, however, the responsibility of making the list is devolved on two tellers, and not on the speaker.

THE TARIFF. The Democratic members of the House committee on ways and means began during the special session (see last RECORD) the preparation of a tariff bill. The outcome of their labors was the Wilson Bill, which was laid before the whole committee and made public November 27. On the previous day the sugar schedule was given out, in order to terminate the manipulation of the stock market through false reports as to the committee's conclusions. The characteristic features of the bill, as described in the statement of Chairman Wilson which accompanied it, were as follows: First, the adoption, wherever practicable, of ad valorem instead of specific duties; second, "the freeing from taxes of those great materials of industry that lie at the basis of production." Specific duties were held to be objectionable, first, as concealing the true weight of taxation, and second, as bearing unjustly on consumers of commoner articles. Free raw materials were held necessary to the stimulation of industry and the extension of foreign trade. The schedules, as reported, showed, in addition to a very extensive increase in the free list, reductions in rates, as compared with the McKinley Bill, on all but a small number of items. The important additions to the free list included iron ore, lumber, coal and wool. Raw sugar was left free, as in the existing law, but the rate on refined sugar was reduced from one-half to one-fourth of a cent per pound, and the bounty was repealed one-eighth per annum until extinguished. Some amendments were made in the administrative provisions of the tariff law, designed to soften, as the committee said, features of the McKinley Bill "that would treat the business of importing as an outlawry, not entitled to the protection of the government." It was estimated that the reduction of revenue effected would be about $50,000,000, and the committee set to work on an internal revenue bill to make good this deficiency. On January 8 Mr. Wilson brought up the bill in the House, and debate began under a

rule calling for a vote on the 29th. During the consideration in committee a number of changes were made in the schedules, the most important being in respect to sugar, where the duty was taken off refined sugars, and the repeal of the bounty was made immediate instead of gradual. A clause was inserted, also, specifically repealing the reciprocity provision of the McKinley Act. The greatest general interest was excited, however, by the progress of the internal revenue bill, the chief feature of which was a proposition for an income tax. The bill, after formulation by the Democratic members of the ways and means committee, was brought before the full committee January 22. Besides the income tax, the measure provided for a stamp duty on playing cards, and raised the excise on distilled spirits to one dollar per gallon. As to incomes, the committee's bill, contrary to an intimation in President Cleveland's message (see above), affected individuals directly as well as corporations. As to individuals, it imposed a tax of two per cent on all incomes so far as they were in excess of $4,000, after allowing deductions for taxes, losses not covered by insurance and bad debts. Declarations of income were required from all persons having over $3,500, under heavy penalties for neglect, refusal or fraud in the matter. As to corporations, the same rate was levied on all interest on bonds, and on all dividends and all surplus income above dividends, excepting premiums returned to policy holders by mutual life insurance companies, interest to depositors in savings banks, and dividends of building loan associations. Corporations were required to make regular returns as to the condition of their business, and to allow inspection of their books by revenue officers. The income-tax measure was immediately and very vigorously antagonized by a considerable number of Eastern Democrats, headed by the New York Congressmen. It was adopted by the ways and means committee mainly through Southern and Western votes. On the 24th of January it was reported to the House. A Democratic caucus on the following day resolved by a small majority, against the wish of Mr. Wilson, to attach the measure to the Tariff Bill. Accordingly, the rule regulating the debate was modified to allow discussion of the amendment. The final votes were then taken on February 1. The internal revenue bill was added to the Wilson Bill by 182 to 50, 44 Democrats voting in the minority and most of the Republicans not voting. The measure as amended was then adopted by 204 to 140, 16 Democrats and one Populist going with the Republicans in the negative. In the hands of the Senate finance committee the bill underwent a thorough revision, differences of opinion in the Democratic majority leading to a careful discussion of the measure in a party caucus. The measure as amended was laid before the full committee March 8, and was introduced in the Senate on the 20th. Changes in details were very numerous. The most important consisted in taking sugar, iron ore and coal off the free list and subjecting each to a small duty. Debate on the bill was opened April 2. It was soon discovered, however, that many Democratic senators were seriously