The National Capital

VY AÏSÏliENf+TUIN, O Uil. 10, ini.i. FINAXCIAL LEGISLATION. Two very important 'financia! measures were passed by the House on Wednesday - the bill authorizing the issue of ccrtificiites of dcposit in nid of rcfunding the public debt and the bill making United States notes receivable for duties on importa. Both bilis were prepared by the Ways and Means Committee, and both wcre passed by a twothirds vote witnout división. There was an interesting discnssion on the bill for convertible ccrtiiicates of deposit. Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, wantcd fo amend it so as to make the certificates convertible with accrued interest, aftet six months, into lawfnl money, and at any time into 4 per cent. bonds. Mr. Wood, the author of the bill, opposed this. He thought the bil!. aS drafted, would aftbrd the poorer cliisses an opportunity of in vesting their small earnings where they would be il'e and secure and not subject to the instability of private corporations. It was propósed by this bill to mako a national sa"iiigs bank wl?ere there would ue positive anu ausomie seuuni iui t ery dollar deposited by the poorer i classes, and the result of whieh would be to make these classes of people copartners in the Government itsclf. Another effect of it would be to cement 1 fraternal concord throughout the land. Mr. Kelley said the only provisión irfthe bill which was characteristic of a savings bank was that the Government would j receive deposits as low as $10. There was no other. The. United States Government proposed to engage the laboring people in a game of chance, of which the law was, "ïïead.s, I win ; tails, you lose." No laboring man could have any benefit f rom the bill. It would turn that class into game for Shylocks that concentrated about the stock exchunges of the country, Suppose a poor man had deposited $10 and found himself unable to deposit more, he would have to wait 123 years and four months before he would be entitled to interest. Without sucli an amendment as he proposed, Mr. Kelley thought the bill was a snare and a trap for the poor and a digrace to the Government. With it the bill would be safe for the people and beneficent in its effects in the fimding oporations of the Government. Mr. Banks opposed the bill on the ground that it would cause the withdrawal of the deposits in the savings banks of the country, force the forclosure of mortgages, bankrupt the banks, and have a bad effect generally. Mr. Butler declared the bill a delusion and a snare. The effect of it would be that the poor man might spend a day every month in procuring s $10 bond; th:ú yjaen iie get -fivof. them together he might change ttitm into i per cent bonds, and for that privilege he would have to spend five days, and would have saved just S5i cent. in interest. That'was all tliere was of it. ïhere was no element of savings bank in it. It had no saf ety, and when a poor man wanted the money for bis bond he would have to go to a broker and submit to a shave greater than the interest. If there was anything else in it, he failed' to find it. The object of the bill was, he intimated, to withdraw greenbacks from circulation, for there was no way of paying theni out when received for this purpose. It would be a further contraetion of the currency, wliioh had already depressed labor, stopped business, and brought the country to its present condition. And the re'sult of that condition (which was said to be necessary) was the heaven-born boon of resumption at New York and nowhere else. Mr. Kolley's amendment was voted down, and the bill was passcd by the decisive vote of 117 yeas to 72 nays. It is believed thut the bill will pass the Senate and become a law. At a meeting of the House Conimittee on Banking and Currency this ■week, at which seven of the eleven members were present, it was docided, by a vote of five to two, to autliorize Bepresenfcative Ewing to offer the following amendment to the bill now Tipnrlinornii the calendar of the House, ijroviding for the repeal of the Besump;ion act : 1'rnvkJed, That monoy heroafter received 'rom any bale of bonds of the United States hall be applied onlv to the redemption of ither bonds bearing tlie highost rato of interest ind subject to eall; and, I'roin'ilctl, furtfier, That whenever, from ; ;ime to time', the proceeds of Bales of bonds hall agrégate $3,00lt,000, the Secretary of the rreasnry shall a cali for that amount of i bendR to' be redeemed, and interest on the bonds malled for redempüon 8llaü ceasc in thirty days ! from the date of such cali; and, l'rwidi'd, fui-tfirr, That all United States notes received in the treamiry flial) be reiseiied, and kept in circulation without chango in the aggregato amomit of the several ; iuations existing on theölst day of May, 1878, and it shall not be lawful to issue legal-tender notos of larger denomina tion than ?1,JOO. MKXtCAN-WAR SOLDIKBS. The bil! granting pensions to soldiers who served at least sixty days in the Mexican war, ■whieh has been a bone of contention in the House for the last two : years, was finally passed this week, bnt so loaded down with amendments that it is questionable if it ever gets throngh I the Senate. The amendments, among 'ther things, include the sur%'iving soldiers and widows of soldiers who served in the Black Hawk, Creek md Florida wars. The total nnmber of pensioners on the Govrmmcnt would be increased, in caso the bilí bccomes a law, to the extent of nearly 14,O('O. PHOTECTING S1LVER BÜLLION. Senator Cbaffee, of Colorado, looks upon silver bnilion as nothing more nor j less than merchandise, and, i ly, as much entíwed to protection as j anything else in the dutiable list. ! ing upon this view he has introduced a bilí levying a duty of 2 per cent, on the shining metal. Mr. Cbaffee thinks the passage of such an act wouhl qtiiet the apprehensions of those who fear that the single-standard nations wíll throw their silvcr on onr mavket, and would also raise the price of silver bullion '2 per cent. TUE LAND OK KEVOUÏTION. The recent publication of the letters of Mr. Foster, our Minister to Mexico, on the internal conditiou of that ! try, is likely to lead to mnch nnfriendiy feeling on the part of our Soutlu in sister republic. Mr. Foster presenta a j terrible picture of general lawlessness and disorder, and claims that all commercial intercourse with Mexico must be at great risk. THE WOMEN AND THE PRESIDENT. The National Woman-Suffrage Convention luis been in session here this week, and n committoe was delegated to cali upon the President. Ttril committee