Washington Matters

Washington, Jan'y. 19, '87. The flr.it day of the present week congress was occupicd ty pension leglslafion. TLe senate passed tho general apfiropriation bill, voting $75,000, OOü in one Iump. The houso added au army to the pension roll by ti.e mssage of tbe Mexicaii pension bill. The houso refused to tnke up the ; state comineree WU, although this is not necessnrily an indioation that it will not pass the mensuro vvhen it gets ready. In the hou-,0 Co-day, the timo was devoted r-rmcipally tu a discusion ol' the joint ; olutionauthorizin an investigation of tho accounts of the Pacific railroads, I and a protracted discusssion of the conference report on the inter-state corameree bill. Fuiling to exhaust this latter subject the matter went over, and the ses-lon oio ed with the submission of the postoflice committee's report of the postollice appropriatiQD bill. In the senate a joint resolution from the senate committce on the contennial celebration of the adoption of the coustitution, providing for the appointment of a joint oornmittee of five senators and eight represent atives to considerthe expediency I of holding in 1S92 nn international ; tion of the industries and productions of ; all eountries, was passed. A nuniber of I bilis wore reported from committeo, and the bill declaring forfeited tho lands grant i ed to the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicksburg raiiroad coinpany, was passed. The bilis grant ing pensions to the widows of Gen. Logan and Gen. Frank Blair [ were defoated in the house committee on j invalid petMons. The divisions was made j on party lines. strictly. The ouly ! ents for passing such bilis are found in the cases of the wldowa and families of ; mi ral Farragut. Generáis Hancock, [ as and Grant, and the majority of the ' committoo believe that it would be bad policy to folio w thoso precedonts In view ! of tho fact that there are about 103 survivIng widows of ollicers who would then be ! entitled to pension, who aro now exclud" j ed by the general law. The fisheriesquestion is far from being ! settlfd, and it is rumored that a ! ment is on foot to take retalitory stops : against our neighbors, the Canadians. Hon. S. S. Cox is vory ill at his home in ] this city. His physicians are constantly j at bis bedside. and while admitting that : he is a very sick man, express the opinión ] that he will recover unless something ! forceen should arise. The house passed the bill for tho relief of depemleut parents and honorably discharged soldicrs and sailors who are now disabled and dependent on their own labor for support. It provides a pension of $12 a month for e very honorably discharged soldier unable through honorable physical disability to earn a support. Dependent parents are required only to show that they are without other means of support than their own manual labor or euarity. The senate has passed a bill granting a pension to Anna Ethridge Hooks, a celebrated Michigan woman, who acted as a field and hospital nure during the war, her service having been with the second, ! third and fourth Michigan regiments. Sha was on the field in the thickest of the fight ! once in Virginia, and when the ! er feil mortally wounded she jumped upon his horse, rallied the soldiers and led the charge. In her papers for a pension is a letter from the late Gen. Hancock of a : highly eulogistic nature. Mrs. Hooks is in bad health as the result of exposure and is poor, it is said. The Chinese minister has issued invitations for a ball Tuosday evening, Jan. 25, In eelebration of the day of t'ie Chinese new year. The ballroom of hi- legation is one of the handsomest in the city, and this first large entertainment by his excelleney Chang Yen Hoon is lookedforward to with great interest by those fortúnate enough to be honored with lnvitations. The Japanese minister and Mme. Kuki have issued cards for a reception for the '. evpning of Monday, Jan. 24. Both the cards and the onvelope containing the handsome invitations are stamped with a Japnncse crest in gold. Capt. George E. Lemon of tho NatlonnX Tribune has roceived to date $47,039 for tbe Logan fund, which added to the amount collected in Chicago, makes a total of : 000. The mortgages, etc, against GenLogan's property, so far as ascertnined, araount to $20,000 and after theso are paid there will be but 530,000 left for Mrs. Logan. ] Capt. Lemon say.s that tho statements to the effect that the mortgages have been j pnid off and canceled are erroneous. Her home will not be clear until all the general's liabülties are paid. Bell' s Heavy Loss, At an early hour the other mornlng flre was discoveied in the mansard roof of the Washington residence of Prof. A'exander Graham Bell, thetelephone inventor. The house was gutted and flooded. Many thousands dollars' worth of furniture and book and models, worth almost as much as the building, were destroyed. Prof. Bell was outof the city. His faraily and servants liad a narrow escape. As Mrs. Bell fted from the burning building she carried with her at the peril of her llfe a lnrge Unidle of papers. It is said they were technical descriptiqns of some ot Prof. Beli's latest invontions and worth more than the whole Bell telenhone inventions being intenfied to jupplant the ; ter when the term of the patents expire. ; They are for tclephoning without a wire; cablinE without wire; telegrapliing from moving trains, etc. Prof. BelTs sciontiflc library, composed of more thnn 5 OsjO volumes, and the comSletet private library in the world, wa ; entroyed. The peciiniary loss is nothlng te the professor, nn he has a nest egg in Mrs. Beli's Mint of t4,OOO.0Of in ment honds, and quite a muoh in nis own title, but the loss to sciencc is great. Hts ] laboratory and librury and rosidence have attracted scientists here from every part of the world. The New Oypsy Qncen. The position of quoen of the gypsles in the United States, mi.de vucant hy the death of Mrs. Emmu Stanley, which oecurred near Jac-kson, Mis-., on December 80, last, has been ttlieJ by the appointment of Miss lucy Stanley, a sister of the dead queeu, who "lives about two miles west of vansville, Ind., where she owus valuable property. Mis- Stanlev has gone to Dayton, O., to attend th9 fiineml of the deceased queen. after wbich ceremony the coroniition of the new queen will take place. Mis- Stanley will remain at ,uat place until the return of different oands that are now In the soulh, when a grand jubilee will take plnce. Aftor these ceremonies, which will continue for four dajs, ht-ve been brought to an end, and her orders issued. which will govern the action of this predatory people for a year, Miss Stanley will return to Evansville. The new queen is but i9 years of age, prepossesing in apptarance. fairly educated and i is a favorita, n:it only with hor own peo1 ple. but with all who know her. She will Issue her mándate from Evansville, but will lead the ancnal migration of her people to the gouth, which commnces early 1 in November noxt.