Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1884 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

Congressman Browne, of Indiana, has received letters giving details of gross frauds practiced by speculators in timber-lands on the Pacific. It is asserted that certain Senators and Representatives are interested in the .profits. A Washington telegram says: The House Commerce Committee, as it is constituted under the new order of things, will be devoted almost entirely to the subject of interstate commerce. This is a question with respect to which party lines will be drawn. At the White house reception the question was decided as to whether, in the absence of Mrs. President or Mrs. Vice President, the wife of tbe Speaker ranked the wives of the Secretary of State and Chief Justice as the first lady of the land. A precedent was established, for when the hour for the reception arrived Mrs Carlisle came in upon the President's arm and took her place on his right. Friends of the measure express confidence in the speedy passage of a bill extending thqf bonded period on whisky. • Following is the statement of the public debt, issued on the Ist inst.: Interest-bearing debt. Four and one-half per centss 250,000.000 Four per cents 737.032,750 Three per cents 274,937,250 Refunding certificates 315.150 Navy pension fund * 14,000,000 Total interest-beaming debt 51,276,885,15 ) Matured debt.■”s 15,138.795 Legal-tender notes 346,7.19:6 6 Certificates of deposit 14,560,000 Gold and silver certificates 200,930,531 Fractional currency 6.989.428 Total without Interests 569,219,655 Total debt (principal)sl,B6l,243,ooo a otal interest 12,172,323 Total cash in treasury37s/174/200 Debt, less cash in treasury 1,498,011'723 Decrease during mb r.. 11,743’337 Decrease of debt since June 30, 1883. 58,049483 Current liabilitiesinterest due and unpaids 1,930,229 Debt on which interest has ceased.. 15438’794 Interest thereon '336198 Gold and silver certificates 200,930*531 U. S. notes held for redemption of certificates of deposit. 14,5i>0,000 . $ 375,374,200 Available assets— Cash in treasurys 375,374,200 Bonds issued to Pacific railway companies, interest payable by United 81a.es— Principal outstanding»... $ 64,623 512 Interest accrued, not yet paid. 1, > 5'7,15 Interest paid by Uuited States Interest repaid by companies— By transportation services 17,631 893 By cash payments, 5 per cent, net earnings 655,198 Balance of interest paid by United States 40,935.000 The decrease in the public debt during December amounted to $11,7(3,837. The decrease since June 80, 1883, was $58,049,483. The Attorney General has ruled that a Postmaster cannot take from the money order fund of his office sufficient to pay a clerk for issuing the orders. Commissioner Dudley has discharged from the Pension office three highsalaried clerks, on charges of frequenting gambling-houses. The first matter tfoat will be considered by the House Committee on Agriculture will be the suppression of pleuro-pneumouia and other contagious diseases among cattle.