Show BEHINb CLOSED LOOKS Senate Discusses the New Arbitration Arbi-tration Treaty TOW DlSTRICf IN TEXAS BILL PASSED OVEB TH ECU TIVS VETO I Electoral Votes Received i the House District of Columbia Business Busi-ness Takes Up Most of the Day Other News From the Capital of the Nation Stuyvesant Fish Testifies Tes-tifies Scalping Bill Being Considered Con-sidered Washington Feb Practically the whole of todays session of the senate t took place behind closed doors the question under consideration being the r AngloAmerican arbitration treaty the During the morning hour before r motion to proceed to executive business I busi-ness was made by llr Sherman Rep 0 chairman of the committee on foreign for-eign relations the senate indulged in an exhibition of its utter disregard for r the reasons assigned by President Cleveland for withholding his approval approv-al frcm a bill passed by both housesIt houses-It was a bill creating a new judicial district in Texas The United States f judge district attorney marshal and clerk had reported to the department of justice that the proposed legislation was not only unnecessary but that it 4 would be a serious interruption to the r business of the court and on that report re-port the president had acted in vetoing f the bill He was roundly taken to task by Mr Mills Dem Tex fort for-t having consulted these officials instead in-stead of consulting the two senators and Irf representatives from the state of Texas Remarkably enough howl how-l > > ever Mr Hoar Rep Mass found E very strong good and honest reasons f > for the presidents action but still favored fa-vored the bill in the interest of the L people living in the counties embraced within the new district and when I came to the yea and nay vote there was but one senator Caffery Dem La recorded against the bill while i there Were 57 senators voting to pass t it notwithstanding the presidents objections r ob-jections A concurrent resolution for the withdrawal of a bill from the G president on account of the discovery t of a substantial mistake caused by Mr t Hill Dem N Y to question the constitutionality con-stitutionality of such appropriation and the matter went over for further 1 consideration At 525 the senate adjourned until I tomorrow unt tomorowTH THE PROCEEDINGS i Mr Daniel Dem Va from the t 1 judiciary committee reported back the house bill to constitute a new division of the eastern judicial district of Texas t with court to be held at Beaumont with a recommendation that it be r pased the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding l These objections are to the effect that according to statements of judges and lawyers the change is unnecessary and would interrupt judicial business Mr Mills Dem Tex argued in support > sup-port of the bill and criticized the president presi-dent for consulting alone the judge the district attorney the marshal and the clerk of the United States court instead in-stead of consulting the two senators and 13 representatives of the state of Texas Tne bill was passed by the r > quisite twothirds majority Yeas 57 nays 1 Mr Caffery Dem La A bill to remove doubts as to the r power of the supreme court of the District Dis-trict of Columbia to provide for filling 1 a vacancy in the office of district attorney tornev was reported from the judiciary committee and passed r A concurrent resolution requesting the president t return to the senate a bill now in his hands in relation to r the timber qulture land law was introduced t in-troduced by Mr Pettigrew Silver S D with the explanation that a serious error had been discovered in the bill which would frustrate its purpose The power of withdrawing a bill which had been Sent to the tresident under the constitution was questioned by Mr Hill Bern N Y except it was to t correct an error in engrossment and after a brief discussion the matter was I l passed over for the present without action tion ton t In accordance with his notice Mr i Sherman moved an executive session a few minutes after 1 oclock at the afer ocock a conclusion I = con-clusion of the morning business and the doors were closed for the consideration I r tion of the arbitration treaty with i t Great Britain Mr Hill at once made a 1 motion that the doors be opened and the debate proceed in the presence of the public He laid some stress upon the ridiculousness of the debate upon a I matter the text of which was in possession pos-session of the public not only the text but the amendments proposed by the I c rommittee which were published in full despite the refusal of the senate remove I < the injunction of secrecy therfrom L The motion was antagonized not only upon parliamentary grounds but for the reason that i would be against public I t policy for such proteedings t be permitted r per-mitted Mr Gray of Deleware was the first speaker to antagonize the motion E of the senator from New York The debate on this motion will probably t consume considerable time and prevent pre-vent much attention being given to the N merits of the treaty meris y Senator Gray was followed by Senators Sena-tors Lodge and Sherman who likewise opposed the motion of Senator Hill Both these members of the foreign re lat n committee took the broad grounds that such a proceeding was against the established precedents of the senate and if it was agreed to consider openly would only lead to ill l results Treaties were solemn compacts with powers ana whatever was said f t in thp consideration of their merits or F demerits ought to be said behind closed t doors I there was to b criticism i r ought not to be in public placeswhere the heat of debate might lead to the r utterance of sentiments that might be t prejudicial to the friendliness now existing ex-isting between the two nations t In the course of his remarks Mr s Lodge said that the open doors meant r endless debate and what he wanted was i action He did not wish to see this treaty debated to death As amended and reported to the senate he favored r it and desired that such course might be pursued as would lead to its ratification s ratifi-cation by the senate k Mr Morgan another member of the b committee also antagonized the motion of Mr Hill Senator Stewart of Nevada made avery a-very vigorous speech in favor of an open session While he did not say so In words the inference was drawn from his remarks that he desired such a session for the reason that i would be conducive to the defeat of the treaty Mr Hill again took the floor and made a brief speech in favor of his motion and was replied to by Mr Sherman Sher-man who made a final appeal to senators sena-tors not to open the doors on such an important matter as wns now before the senate The vote was then taken and resulted In an overwhelming majority against public debate The vote cast in favor of an open sessionwere Messrs Brown of Utah Hill of New York Lindsay of Kentucky Peffer of Kansa Rosach Ketucky Pefer of Dakota Stewart of Nevada North Nevada Till 2 man of South Carolina and Teller of Colorado Colordo The consideration of the treaty on Its merits was then begun The discussion of the day which continued close on to 6 oclock showed that the chances of the ratification of 2 the treaty are better than many of its i friends supposed The opposition sin 4 gularly enough appears to be confine to the silver men who supported the ticket headed by Mr Bryan I is believed be-lieved by the more sanguine advocate of the convention that the vote maybe may-be reached b fore the end of the week but this is disputed by many who say that the debate will be somewhat protracted The proposition for an open session was supported in speeches by Senators Hill and Stewart and antagonized by Senators Mills Hoat Sherman Lodge Gray Morgan and Daniel Senator Sherman read a letter from Secrtar Olnev urging that the senate sen-ate in i view of its rejection of King Oscar do not further humiliate that monarch by permitting the criticism that might be made to be made in pub Ue The letter was short but earnest I although couched in diplomatic lana lan-a e When the treaty was taken up on Its merits Mr Sherman as chairman of the commite made a short but effective ef-fective speech He denied the statement I state-ment that any of the interests of the United States had been placed in jeopardy jeop-ardy The treaty had been carefully considered bv the committee and hat been amended as it was believed best it should be Those amendments while few in dumber contain matter important import-ant and essential and operate as a safeguard The Nicaragua convention was affected by the amendment which declared that all Questions affecting the national policy of either government govern-ment towards any other government I should not be submitted to arbitration The Monroe doctrine was not included I in-cluded and the United States never would agree to the arbitration of that doctrine Arbitration was however the policy of the American people They had always endorsed i The sneaker submitted an elaborate statement showing that we had entered into 39 treaties in which arbitration was the cardinal point He spoke with his old time vigor and made a speech that impressed the senate most favorably Mr Nelson of Minnesota briefly advocated vocated the treaty and expressed a high tribute to the character of the king of Sweden who had been agreed upon by Mr Olney a umpire He denied de-nied that his sympathies were with the English and intimated that at the proper time hewould move to reinsert the article making him the umpire Mr Morgans opposition to the treaty as a whole was based upon the ground that the convention went too far inasmuch a i sought to force the senate to yield up its constitutional function as a part of the treatymak ing power This treaty provided a general court and left it with the president to determine what matters should be taken before it This was a power that was delegated to the senate and Mr Morgan declared that i could not give up that power He would not say that he was opposed to arbitration as a principle but he insisted in-sisted that each case be made as i came up I arbitration was necessary he insisted it should be arranged for in each case and that the senate should have a voice in arranging the details and determining upon the tribunal Mr Vest injected a remark to the effect that the treaty virtually abol ished the power lodged in the senate and it was a dangerous precedent to establish Mr Turpie said that the United States had invited this treaty and it would not do for i to now withdraw To this Mr Sherman readily assented Mr Danie of Virginia opposed the treaty briefly as an unnecessary convention ention that would only tend to draw us into entangling alliances Several amendments will be offered during the course of the debate Mr Stewart offered one eliminating byname f by-name the Alaskan boundary from the operations of the treaty Mr Stewart I vent so far as to insert in his amendment amend-ment a statement of the United t States claim with respect to this boundary defining its location as determined termined by United States surveyors Other amendments that will bespoken I spoken of will eliminate the Nicar aguan canal by name provide that I nothing in the treaty shall affect state issue of bonds or interfere with the rights of the states when incidents similar to the killing of the Italians in New Orleans unfortunately hap ened I is the purpose of the committee I to keep the treaty before the senate as steadily as possible and it willonly give way to pressing and urgent business busi-ness I I Mr Morgan will resume his speech tomorrow where i will be broken off by the motion to adjourn of I The senate remained in executive session ses-sion until 525 p m when it adjourned until tomorrow House Todays session of the house of representatives rep-resentatives was taken up almost wholly in the consideration of business relating to the District of Columbia None of i was of more than local im sortance A copy of the returns of the votes of the several states for presidential electors which the law directs shall be sent to the speaker was laid shal fore the house and will remain on the table until the official canvass of the votes is made on Wednesday The second agreement of the confreres of the immigration bH was presented to the house by Mr Danforth Rep 0 who gave notice that he would call It i up for action tomorrow At 510 the house adjourned |