Washington Letter
Washington, Feb. 9, '87. The senil te has passed the house bilí to prohibit government ollicers hiring or ' trading out the labors of prisoners, and amendlng the statates In relation to the ! immediate transportation of dutiablo goods. The liouse has passed tlio senate bilí probibitingthe Importo t ion oí o]iimby the Chinese, and eubstituted and passed the house liill to indeninify certaln subjects oí the Chinese empire for lo íes i-nstnlned by mob violence at Hoek Bpringg, W. T., in September A genera] order is being prepared at tho I war department desigoating flxed courses , of i linies at colleges and schools where armv offloera are detailed as military professors. The effect ol the order willbe to have a ei urge prescribed s high a the fir.-t, yeare' course at West. Point This c lange in uur educational syatem has been brought about by Major Hogers of tho Michigan Military Aeadeniy. Amonjtpetitionspresented theother day waa one signed by 18 citizens of New Lexington, óliio. petitioning congreas to instrnct the president to opennegotiations with Great Britain for the oestdon ol the Dominion of Canada mul other British : possessions to the United States. The house committee on public buildings , has reported a bilí approprlatine $75,utO for the erection of a public building in Kalamazoo. 'llie original bilí called íor $150,000, but the ma oiity of the committee thought the amouut asked tor exoessive. liowi'ver $75,Ot 0 will ereot i very credltable.-tructiire if the amount be judieiuusly expended, lt's to bedevoutly hopod that , K alnniaoo wlll not have to wait as long ; for a settlement of site, auiount, etc., as j Detroit has. Senator Palmer in company with Senator Uorman vUited tho white houe a 1ew days no in benalf of Senator Conger. i Mr". Palmer Olade a very able speech in support of his colleague for inter-stata eommissloner, and he is of the opinión that Mr. Conger wtti be appointed, although the president gave him no definite ; as-uriince ol this f u-t. Judge Reagan, uho luis worked faithfully for the ! pL the bill during the past twelve yi-.nv, u;i sumniDiied to tlio white house in relátion to this subject, and it is underttood tbat Judge Keagan, recommended the appoint inent of Gov. Ireland of Texas as one of the connnission. It seems a Bettled fact that Judge Cooley will not get an appointment on the interstate commerce commission. as the pre-ident lias expressed a dttemination to appoint, no one who hns been in any way eonneitfcd with railroads. '1 his. of course, will bar Cooley. The president has sent to the house, in answer to the resolution Introdueed by Mr. Belmont, copies of correspondence whieh has taken place sineo December 8 last, between tho department of state and the gavernment of öreat' Britain on the flsheriea dispute. The lowerinp; of the flag on the Marv (linies, the action of Canadinn iiutliorities toward the fihing vessel dit tenden, and thé refusal of the aut' orltie to allow the sehooner Sarah H. Pryor to enter the port of Mac}ieque, are discussed in the corregpondence, as is the keizure of the üaviil J. Adams. In the cásea oí the Everett Steel and Pearl Nelson. detained for non compliance with Canadian fiistonn regulations, the letter of Lord Lansdowne emphasizes the statement tbat the British government does not de iré to i nrtail any of the privileges enjoyed by l'nited States fishermen in Canadian "waters. The correspondence between the two governmenfs is exceedinily spicy, nnd partakes not a little of ncrimony. Tho position of the United States, howevei-, on this matter, is for a direct settlement of the matter. During President Cleveland' term ot office, there will be two vacancies among the supreme court judges to be filled. Justices Samuel F. Miller and Stephen J. Field will take off their silk gowns and retire on a full salaiy of $IO.iKj() per year. It is now believed that Mr. Bissell of Buffalo. President Cleveland's former law partner, and Don M. Dicknison of Detroit, will be appointed to the vacancias. The senate began the duties of the week b tho diücussion of the bill to encourage the manufacture of steel for modern army ordnance, arraor and other a rmy purposes, and to provide heavy oidinance : adapted to modern army wariare. The j bill was passed, and appropriates $8,0O0,0UU for the construction of steel into the implenients needed and $5,000,000 for the coustriution of works of coast fortifications and defense. The senato has also passod the bill to amend the act of Fob. 2(5, ISSd, to prohibit the imp'jrtation and immigration of ' eigners and alieus under the contract to perfora labor. Tho Eads Tehuantepec bill has received considerable attention in the senate this week. At last, after weary months of waitinf; ihe bill to increase the limit for the Detroit public building ha been agreed to by the , house, and that body has passed the bill appropriatiug $125,000 for tho comjiletion oi the building. As it stands the entire appropriation is $i,K.",0J0. The senate bill fixing tho salaries of judges ot the United Staten district court at $,(XX) was defeated in the house, as was the sonate bill with an amendment in tho nat uro of a sulistitute supplemental to the Bowniau act referring private claims to the court of clai ms. Tho question of retaliation regarding the flsheries matter Is still being agitated, and the sentiment in favor of it continúes to grow, and it seems ïeasonably certaln that before niany days a rigid rotslitory nieasure will be adopted. Notwitlistanding the feelinfjon the part of all th-it we must retaliuie, there is a decided disposition on the part of members of both hou-es, to refrain from going ! yond the limit of prudenco, i - . The credentials of Michigan's now senator, Francés B. Stockbridge, were presented in the senate on Monday of this week. The supreme court has renderod a ! cision in the polygumy case of Lorenzo i Snow, which canie up on an appeal frum a decisión of the third judicial court of , Utah, denying the appliuation for a writ Of habeas corpus, Snow v;is tried and - found guilty of polygamy on three lndictmenta, alike. excopt that they covor ed different periods ol time. Snow was sentenced to paya lino "o; (800 and six mouths imprison'ment upon each iudictment, the sf-veral terms of imprisonment to follow each other. Alter túe flrst term had expired Snow íiled a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and discharge frora prison on tne ground that he could not bo genteneed to three terms of imprisonment for the same oüetise. His npplication was denied. and he appealed to the supieme court, tind that tribDaal holds that there v:s onlv a single ofteuse committed prior to tho time, tho indictments were found, and the order and judgment of the Utah court is reversed. Henry Clay Dean, at one time chaplain of tho United States senate. and a well known democratie political orator, isdead. The senate bas taken suitable action upon his deuth. The senate finance committee has agreed to report favor nbly the bill refunding to the states the direct war tax. It is hoped to pass the bill this session. Judge Keightly of Constantine, is the gent for tbestate oí Michigan for the collection of Michi: gans rebate. Michigan was assessed for j $501,703 88, and none of it bas been paid. : She will Ret that amouut should the bill ' become a law, and the knowing ones say that thero is no doubt about the matter. The military committee of the house had ' a "field day" the other night, and the i calendar was nearly cleared of bilis upon which that committee has made favorable reports. Gen. Cutcheon of Michigan, a member of the committee, secured the passage of [ severa) bilis of which he was theauthor,or 1 upon which he made favorable reports. The most important perhaps of them. was tho bill which he introdueed in March last authorizing the president to confer brevet rank upon otlicers of the army now on the the active or retired list, wbo have been ! recommended for brevet rank for gallant ! service by their department commander ! in action against hostile lndians since Jan. 1, 1867. Mr. Evarts of New York introduced a bilí in the sennto the other day for "the parchase of John Kriccson's Destróyer and ieu onlnrged steel vessels of the saine type for defending the harbon of the United Btatea," appropriating $112,000 iind $2,000,000 for thi-se pui-poses respectively. While the astuto senator from New York fully iilivo to the danger threatening our harboro he isequally vigilant where liis own Interest are concerned. When the bilí to prdhil.it members of congress from acting as attorneys for subsidized railroad companies was undcr discussion, no ono opposed it moro vigorously than did Evarts. The bilí to enable the people to elect theii' own postmasters has been reported artversely in the house, and we must be content with haviug postoflices dealt out as "politica] swag." The President and Mrs. Cleveland entertaincd the diplomatic corps at a state dinner a few nights since. Covers wero laid for forty-one guests. The White House was magniftcencly dncoratod with plante (nul flowers, and masic was furnished by the mariiie bnn 1. All the foreign ministers residing at the capital were present) except the Japaneso minister, who was absent on account of illne-s. The Haytien minister e corted Mis. Cleveland to dinner and she had the seeretary of state on her '■ left. President Cleveland hassigned the interstate commerce bilí. His uction is in full accord with the views of Attorney ■ eral Garland, and there ís perfect harmony j between the President and his cabinet on the subject. The attorney general is said to hold that the present bill does not confer judicial powers on the conimission l.ut puts them In the courtson re])ort from the conimission. and thnt it does not confer legislativo power except in the fourtb section (the long and short uaul Oíanse), and that this is warraníed by numberlesa precedents in the legislativo history of the government. The senate bas passed the bill to credit and pay to the several tutes and territories and the District of Columhia all moneys collected under the direct tax levied under the act of Anglist ". 1881. The bill passed with but ono dissenting vote. Van VVyck of Nebraska voting in the negativo. An amendment in the nature of a substitute to the railroad attornoy's bill, was pássed. The amendment mnkes it unlawful for a mcmlierof congress to accept employmont as an attorney in opposition to the United States in any case to wljich the United otates may be a party, orfrom any subsidlzed railroad cotnpanv, if such memtier have can e to behevo that measures special'y ell'ectins: the intere ts of Mich railroad aro pending before congross or are about to be so pending during his j term of office. The president has signed the bill for : amending the bill relrtting to the muster and pay of certain oflicers and enlisted men in the volunteer service. The bill provides that where nu oflicer served in a bigher grade from that to which he was commissioned, and was sub-eouently coramissioned to that Myher grade, he should be mustered and paid from the date from which be was to take rank bv the terms of his commisiou, wbether that commision was r.clua'i .. Issued to him at that time or not. At lea-t lOofficers to every regiment enscaged on the nnion slde duiing tho war will come under the terms of the bill, Knprlish spnrrows. and paupers from every clime, have come to this country 1 almost without a protest from the 'powers ' that be," but the report that a Ciiro of j Austrialian rabbits is bound for, the United ! States has created wide-spread havoc at j the sent of government. The matter has ! been laid before the ways and means comiuittee. It is the general opinión that I pleuro pneumonía, small pox or cholera ia preferable to the English-Australian rab
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Ann Arbor Democrat