Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1884 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

Congressman Cobb, of Indiana, says a Washington correspondent, will make an effort to pa'-s some additional land-grant forfeiture bills during the present session. There will be an effort made to pass the bankruptcy bill. Tho canal men are preparing for a fight to get their bills through this session. The hardest work will bo done by those interested In the Hennepin, the Ere, and tho Maryland and Delaware Canals. The? Nicaraguan Canal men will attempt to have some action taken by the House to the advancement of their interests. There will be an effort made also to pass tho bill restricting the coinage of silver dollars.

The Committee on Public Lands has ten forfeiture bills yet to report, but these will be ready in a few weeks. Tho Northern Pacific Railroad bill, if enacted, will take from that corporation no less than" 35,000,000 acres of land located west of Bismarck, in Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington Territories. These lands are worth $lO an acre upon an average, and their total value is all of $350,060,000. An English syndicate has offered to buy the whole tract for $350,000,000 If the title can be made good. Tho settlers upon these lands make bitter complaint that tho railroad no.v demands S2O and SBO an acre for their homesteads, although It was understood when they first located that the price should bo $3.60 an acre. They have cultivated the lands and greatly Improved them, and ure now asking that Congress shall grant them relief from the extortion of the railroad. Tho Atlantic and Pacific has 4,000,000 acres at stake, and the Texas Pacific 15,030,000, and tho other roads an aggregate of about 100,000,000. Several of these forfeiture bills passed the House at the last session, and now await action in tho Senate.

The annual report of William E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy, has been made pulie. In connection with tho statement that throe new ships had been successfully launched, the Secretary says it has been shown that American stool makers can readily furnish excellent material for ship-build-ing in large quantities. The Secretary points out that comparisons of speed between tho now cruisers and tho great transatlantic racing steamers are unfair because the latter attain their high speed only by the sacrifice or qualities essential to a ship of war, and adds that the former could overtake 96 per cent, of tho merchant steamers of the world. The report calls attention to tho necessity for torpedo boats, and rccommonds the construction of seven modern cruisers annually for the next ten years. Commenting on the present condition of the navy, Secretary Chandler says that the disproportion between the expenditures therefor, and tho results accomplished, is duo to the policy of attempting at groat cost to rehabilitate worn out structures undor the name of repairs. The report recommends the discontinuance of several navy-yards and workshops and certain improvements in the management of tho remainder, among these tho exclusion of politics, recites the history of tho recent arctic expeditions, comments at length upon the frauds connected with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, fixes the ordinary estimates at $17,292,601, and those for increasing the navy at $15,071,592, and, in conclusion, advocates Government encouragement for the development of our merchant marine, cither in tho shape ,of bounties upon construction or payment for carrying the mails.

The marble cap-stone and pyramidal apex of aluminium were set in place upon the Washington Monument on Saturday, the 6th of December, completing the tallest structure in the world created by human bands. The ceremonies were quite simple, the great calebration being reserved for Washington’s birthday. As soon as tho capstone was set the national flag was spread upon tho breeze at a height of COO feet, a battery of guns in the White House lot fired a salute; and the people on the platform 560 feet above the ground sang the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The Washington Monument Society, perched on the platform adopted a resolution congratulating the American people “ on the completion of an enduring monument of our Nation’s gratitude to the Father of his Country.”