10. The last week of May, 1889, was memorable in the history of our country for the destruction of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. That city lay at the junction of a stream, known as the South Fork, with the Conemaugh River. Several miles up the South Fork some wealthy fishermen had constructed a dam and a reservoir, where the waters had accumulated in an immense volume. The level of the lake was high above the valley and the city. During the last days of May heavy rains fell, and the country was inundated. On the afternoon of the 31st of the month, the dam which held the lake in place was burst asunder, and the deluge of waters poured suddenly down the valley. Everything was swept away by the flood. Johnstown, a manufacturing city, was totally wrecked, and thrown in an indescribable mass against the aqueduct of the Pennsylvania Railway below the town. Here the ruins caught fire, and the wild shrieks of hundreds of miserable victims were heard above the roar of the deluge and the conflagration. The heart of the nation responded quickly to the sufferings of the people, and millions of dollars in money and supplies were poured into the Conemaugh valley to relieve the destitution of those who survived the calamity. [Sidenote: =The McKinley Bill.=] 11. The work of the fifty-first Congress was marked with much partisan bitterness and excitement. The first question which occupied the attention of the body was the revision of the tariff. On this question the political parties were strongly opposed to each other. The policy of the Republican party, though the platform of 1888 had declared for a revision of the tariff, was favorable to the perpetuation of the protective system as a part of the permanent policy of the Government. The Democrats favored a great reduction in the existing rates of duties, and the ultimate adoption of the principle of free trade. What was known as the McKinley Bill was introduced into Congress, and finally adopted, by which the Republican policy was incorporated as a part of the governmental system. The average rate of import duties was raised from about forty-seven per cent. to more than fifty-three per cent.; but in a few instances the existing duties were abolished, and in the case of raw sugar a bounty to the producers was provided instead. [Sidenote: =Counting a Quorum.=]