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The Work of the Recent Congress

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Sep 19, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 38.

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The Work of the Recent Congress

THE second session of the Sixty-second Congress of the United States adjourned August 24. Some important bills were left over for future consideration. A large number of bills which were introduced never came up for consideration. The principal bills passed at the recent session are summarized as follows by the New York Times:—
Abrogation of the Russian treaty regarding passports.
Passage of the Panama Canal bill providing for the opening of the canal, allowing its use free of tolls by vessels engaged in the American coastwise trade, and prohibiting its use by vessels controlled by railroads or trusts.
The act for the preservation of the fur seal herd in the North Pacific Ocean, providing for a closed season of five years, during which seals may not be killed on the Pribilof Islands, and giving effect to the recent treaty with Great Britain, Russia, and Japan.
A Constitutional amendment providing for the election of United States senators by direct vote of the people.
The Sherwood dollar-a-day service pension law, involving an additional expenditure of about $25,000,000 annually for civil war pensions.
A law providing for an eight-hour day on all government work.
An elaborate act for the federal regulation of radio-telegraphy, requiring all radio stations sending interstate or foreign messages to take out federal licenses.
An act changing the wireless law of 1910 so as to require all vessels carrying more than fifty passengers to be well equipped with radio apparatus, and requiring them to have a wireless operator at his post at all hours.
The Sulzer bill, providing a form of civil government for the Territory of Alaska.
The Hay bill to equip all army transports with sufficient life-boats to carry every soul aboard.
The creation of a Child Labor Bureau in the Department of Commerce and Labor.
The Sulzer resolution congratulating the people of China upon their assumption of a republican form of government.
A federal employees' compensation act.