A Compliment For Congressman Gorman

Congressmaii Gorman is among the workers of the iraportiint Military Affairs Committee oL the House. ïhat some idea of the work he has to do may be given our readers we clip the f'ollowing Washingten dispatch trom the St. Louis (Mo.) Republic. ïhe compliment paid Congressman Gorman by Chairman Outhwaite, of the committee, will be noticed: The House Committee On Military Affairs will tomoirow unanimously decide to report favorably the bill for the )enefit of sundry persons residiug in ,he vicinity of Jefferson Barracks, Mo. iepresentative Gorman, of Michigan, was delegated by the committee some ;ime ago to prepare a report upon this )ill. That report he will submit to the committee tomorrow, and it will be adopted and will accompany the bill when it is favorably reported to the üouse. The report is upon an interesting subject, and is one of the most thorough ever submitted to either house. Representative Outhwaite, who is the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, said this afternoon to the Republic correspondent that Mr. Gorman's report is the most interesting document of the kind that this Congress had seen or is likely to see. The Republic correspondent, through the courtesy of Mr. Gorman, today had access to the report. Mr. Gorman links together the law and the history of the case in a very terse and elear manner. He opens by ref erring to the fact that on the acquisition of all the lands west of the Mississippi by the United States, in accordance with the treaty of Paris, it was found that according to a custom established by Spain before the Louisiana Territory was ceded by the latter country to France, a certain amount of land was set apart to each city, village or hamlet. This land was called '-commons," and was to be used in common by the people. From this point the history of the land in question is traced. The action of the United States Government in regard to it is noted. The judicial decisions hearing upon the title to it are quoted and reviewed, and in fact the whole story and the law given in such a way that it would convince anyone that the conclusión which Mr. Gorman arrivés at, namely, that the Government should withdraw all claim to what is known as the Jansen and Martegny grants, which have been in dispute for years, is the correct one. These tracts have been claimed as a portion of Jefferson Barracks Military Reservation by tbe Government. The bilí itself has already passed the Senate. As no ameudment to it will be made by the Committee on Military Affairs there is every reason to believe that it will pass the House before the end oí the session. Chairman Outhwaite of the Military Committee said this afternoon that lie was pretty certain that the bill would beeome a law. It should be stated that liepresentative Seth Cobb of Missouri has been very industrions in forwarding the bilis on the House side.