Greenfield Republican, Greenfield, Hancock County, 6 December 1889 — Page 3

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fNf*

Sr.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

To the Senate and House of Representatives. There are few transactions in the administration of the Government that are even temporarily held in confidence of those charged with the conduct of the public business. Every step taken is under the observation of an intelligent and watchful people. The state of the Union is known from day to day, and suggestions as to needed legislation find an earlier voice than that which speaks in these annual communications of the President to Congress. Good will and cordiality have characterized our relations and correspondence with other Governments, and the year just closed leaves few international questions of importance remaining unadjusted. No obstacle is believe! to exist that can long postpone the consideration and adjustment of the still pending questions upon satisfactory and honorable terms. The dealings of this Government with other States have been, and should always be, marked by frankness and sincerity, our purposes avowed and our methods free from intrigue. This course has borne rich fruit in the past, and it is our duty as a nation to preserve the heritage of good repute which a century of right dealing with foreign governments has secured to us. It is a matter of high significance, and no less of congratulation, that the first year of the second century of our constitutional existence finds, as honored guests within our borders, the representatives of all the independent States »f North and South America met together in earnest conference touching the best meth ods of perpetuating and expanding the re lations of mutual interest and friendliness existing among them. That the opportunity thus afforded for promoting closer international relations and the increaseu prosperity of the States represented will be used for the mutual good of all, I can not permit myself to doubt. Our people will await with interest and confidence the results to flow from so auspicious a meeting of allied, and, in large part, identical interests. [The President then reviews our relations with foreign nations.]

THE SURPLUS.

Within our own borders a general condition of prosperity prevails. The harvests of the last summer were exceptionally abundant, and the trade conditions now prevailing seem to promise a successful season to the merchant and the manufacturer, and general employment to our working people. The report of the Secre tary of the Treasury for the fiscal year ending June 30,138!),has been prepared,and will be presented to Congress. It presents with clearness the fiscal operations of the Government, and I avail myself of it to obtain some facts for use here. The aggregate receipts from all sources for the year were ?387,0.ri(),058.84, derived as follows: From customs, §223,S32,741.09 from internal revenue, $130,881,513.92 from miscellaneous sources, $32,335,803.23. The ordinary expenditures for the same period were $281,996,5J5, and the total expenditures, including the sinking fund, were $229,57 9,9:J 8.25. The excess of receipts over expenditures was, after providing for the sinking fund, $57,470,129.59. For the current fiscal year the total revenues, actual and estimated, are $3S5,000,000, and the ordinary expenditures, actual and estimated, are 8593,000,000, making, with the sinking fund, a total expenditure of $341,321,116.99. leaving an estimated surplus of §43,678,883.01. During the fiscal year there was applied to the purchase of bonds, in addition to those for the sinliingfund, $90,450,172.35, and during the first quarter of the current year the sum of 137,838,937.77, all of wnich was ci edited to the sinking fund. The revenues of the fiscal year, ending June 30,1891, are estimated by the Treasury Department at $3S5,000,000, and the expenditures for the same period, including the sinking fund, at $3 *1,430,477.70. This shows an estimated surplus for that year of §43,559,52:2.30, which is more likely to be increased than reduced when the actual transactions are written up. The existence of so iarge an actual and anticipated surplus should have the immediate attention of Congress with a view to reduc ing the receipts of the Treasury to the needs -sf-the-Government as closely as maybe.

The collection of moneys not needed for public uses imposes an unnecessary burlen upon our people, and the presence of so large a surplus in the public vaults is a iisturbing element in the conduct of private business. It has called into use expadients for putting it into circulation of rery questionable propriety. We should not collect revenue for the purposeof anticipating our bonds, beyond the requirements of the sinking fund, but any unappropriated surplus in the Treasury should be so used as there is no other lawful way of returning the money to circulation, and the profit realizeu by the Government offers a substantial advantage. The loaning of public funds to the banks without interest, upon the security of Government bonds, I regard as an unauthorized and dangerous expedient. It results in a temporary and unnatural increase of the bank ing capital of favored localities, and compels a cautious and gradual recall of the deposits to avoid injury to the commercial interests. It is not to be expected that the banks having these deposits will sell their bonds to the Treasury so long as the present, highly beneficial arrangement is continued. They now practically get interest both upon the bonds and their pro needs. No further use should be made of this method of getting the surplus into circulation, and the deposits now outstanding should be gi-adual iy withdrawn and applied to the purchase of bonds. It is fortunate that such a use can be made of the existing surplus, and for some time to come of any casual surplus thnt may exist after Congress has taken the ccsvary steps for a reduction of the revenue. Such legislalution should be promptly but very considerately enacted. 1 recommend a revision ot our taiiff law, both in its administrative features and in the schedules. The need of the former is generally conceded, and an acrecment upon the evils and inconveniences to be remedied and the best methods for their correction will not be difficult. Uniformity of valuation at all our ports is essentia), and effective measures should be 'taken to secure it. It is equally desirable that questions affecting rates and classifications should be. promptly decided. The preparations of anew schedule of customs duties is a matter of irrcat delicacy because of its direct effect, upon the business of the country, and of great difficulty by reason of the wide divergence of opinion as to the objects that may properly be prompted by such legislation. Some disturbances of business may, perhaps, result from the consideration of this subject by Congress, but this temporary ill effect will be reduced to the minimum by prompt action, and by tlx*, assurance which the country already enjoys that any necessary changes will be so made as not to impair the just and reasonable protection of our home industries. The inequalities of the law should be adjusted, but the protective ^principle s-hould be maintained and fairly »applied to the products of our farms as I well as of our shops. These duties necessarily have relations to other things be sides the. public revenues. We can not limit, their effects by fixing our eyes on the public treasury alone. They have a direct relation to home production, to work, to wasr s. audio the commercial independence of our country, and the wi.se and patriotic Legislation soould enlarge the field of his vision to include a 11 of these.

The necessary reduction in our public revenues can, I am sure, be made without, making the smaller burden more onerous than the larger bv rr:i«on ol the disabilities and limitations wnich the process of reiiuerion nuts upon both capital and labor The free list can very safely bo ex tended by placing thereon articles that do not,o(7er injurious competition to such domestic, products as our home la bor can supply. The removal of the internal tax upon tobacco would relievo an iinportiint agricultural product.from a burden which

was imposed only because our revenue from customs duties was insufficient for the public needs. If safe provision against fraud can be devised, the removal of the tax upon spirits used in the arts and in manufactures would also offer

its

unobjec

tionable method of reducing the surplus. I The President considers at length the

subjects of coast defenses and silver and gold. Of the silver

Question

he says:

I I have always been an advocate of the I use of silver" in our currency. We are large producers of that metal, and should

not discredit it. To the plan which will be presented by the Secretary of the Treasury for issuance of notes or certiliI caies upon the deposit of silver bullion at I

market value, I have been able to give I onlv a hasty examination, owing to the I press of other matters, and to the fact I that it has been so recently formulated.

The details of such a law require careful consideration, but the general plan suggested by him seems to satisfy the pur pose—to'continue the use of silver in connection with our currency, and at the same time to obviate the danger of which I have spoken. At a later day I may communicate further with Congress upon this subject.

TRUSTS A XI) COM1UXATIONS. Earnest attention should be given by Congress to a consideration of the question how far the restraint of those combinations of capital commonly called "Trusts" is matter of federal jurisdiction. When organized, as they often are to crush out all healthy competition and to monopolize or sale of an article of commerce and general necessity, they are dangerous conspiracies against the public good, and should be made the subject of prohibitory and even penal legislation. The subject of an internati onal copyright has been frequently commended to the attention of Congress by my predecessors. The enactment of such a law would be wise and just.

Our naturalization laws should be so revised as to make the inquiry into the moral character and [good disposition toward our Government of the persons applying for citizenship more thorough. Ttiis can only be done by taking fuller control of the examination by fixing the times for hearing such applications, and by requiring the presence of some one who shall represent the Government in the inquiry. Those who are avowed enemies of social order, or who come to our shores to swell the injurious infinence and to extend the evil practices of any association that defies our laws, should not only be denied citizenship, but a domicile. The enactment of a national bank superintendent la of a character to be a permanent part of our general legislation is desirable. It should be simple in its methods and inexpensive in its administration.

PENSION MATTERS.

The law now provides a pension for every soxdier and sailor who was mustered into the service of the United States during the civil war and is now suffering from woands or disease having an origin in the service and in the line of duty. Two of the necessary facts, viz.: muster and disability,are usually susceptible of easy proof, but the third, origin in the servicers often diflicult, and in many deserving cases impossible to establish. That very many of those who endured the hardships of our most bloody and arduous campaigns are now disabled from diseases that had a real but not a traceable origin in the service, I do not doubt. Besides these there is another class composed of men, many of whom served an enlistmont of three full years, and of re-enlisted veterans who added a fourth year of service, who escaped the casualties of battle and the assaults of disease, who were always ready for any detail, who were in every battleline of their command, and were mustered out in sound health, and have since the close of the war, while fighting with the same indomitable spirit the contests of civil life, been overcome by disease or casualty.

I am not unaware that the pension roll already involves a very large annual expenditure, neither am I deterred by that fact from recommending that Congress grant a pension to such honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the civil war as (having rendered substantial service during the war) are now dependent upon their own labor for maintai nance, and by disease or casualty are incapacitated from earning it. Many of the men who would be included in this form of relief are now dependent upon public aid, and it does not, in my judgment, consist with the national honor that they shall continue to subsist upon the local relief given indiscriminately to paupers instead of upon the special and generous provision of the nation they served so gallantly and unselfishly. Our people will, I am sure, very gen eraiiy approve such legislation. And I am equally sure that the survivors of the Union army and navy will feel a grateful sense of relief when this worthy and suffering class of their comrades is fairly cared for.

There are some manifest inequalities in the existiug law that should be remedied. To some of them the Secretary of the Interior has called attention. It is gratifying to be able to state that by the adoption of new and better methods in the War Department the cills of the Pension Office for information as to the military and hospital records of pension claimants are now promptly answered, and the injurious and vexatious delays that have heretofore occurred are generally avoided. This will greatly facilitate the adjustment of all pending claims.

The advent of four new States—South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Washington—into the Union under the Constitution, in the same month, and the admission of their duly chosen representatives to our national Congress at the same session, is an event as unexampled as it is interesting. The certification of the votes cast and of the Constitutions adopted in each cf the States was filed with me, as required by the eighth section of the act of February 22,1889, by the Governors of said Territories, respectively. Having, altera careful examination, found that the several constitutions and Governments were Republican in form and not repugnant, to the Constitution of the United States that all the provisions of the act of Congress had been complied with, and that a majority of the votes cast in each of said proposed States was in favor of the adoption of the constitution submitted therein, 1 did so declare by a separate proclamation to each as to North Dakota and South Dakota, on Saturday, November 2 as to Montana, on Friday, November 8, and as to Washington, on Friday, November 21. Each of these States has within its resources the development of which will employ the energies of, and yield a com for:»l le subsistence to, a great population. The smallest of these new States,

Wa«lini.rton,

stands twellth, and the larg

est, Montana, third, among tho forty-two in area. The people of these States are already well trained, intelligent and patriotic American citizens, having common interests and sympathies with those of older Slates, and a common purpose to defend the integrity and uphold the honor of the Nation.

CIVIL SERVICE.

On the 4th of March last the Civil Service oomminsion had a single member. I he vttciii:•••ics were filled on the 7th day of May, ami since then tie commissioners have boon inuustriously, thouch with an inadequate force, eugasred in executiug the law. Tucy were assured by me that a cardial support, would bo given them in the faithful and impartial enforcement of iho statute u,nd rules and regulations adopted in aii! of it. Heretofore the book ot eligibles have been closed to everyone, except r.s certifications were rnado upon the requistt ion of the appointing officers. This secrecy was thesourec of much suspicion and of many charges of favoritism in the administration of tho law. What is secret is always suspected what is opened can be judged. The commission with the lull approval of all its members, has now opened its list of eligibles to the public. Tho eligible lists for the class!

fled postoffices and custom nouses are now I public posted in the respective offices, as are also the certifications for appointments. The purpose of the civil service law was absolutely to exclude any other consideration in connection with appointments under it than that of merit as tested by the examinations.

The business proceeds upon the theory that both the examining boards and the appointing officers are absolutely ignorant as to the political views and associations of all persons on the civil service lists. It is not too much to say, however, that I some recent Congressional investigations 1 have somewhat shaken confidence in the impartiality of the selections or appointI meats. The reform of the civil service will make nosafe and satisfactory advance until the present law and its administration are established in the hearts of the people. It will De my pleasure, as it is ni.v duty to see that the law is executed with firmness and impartiality. If some ot its provisions have been fraudulently evaded by appointing officers, our resentment should not suggest the repeal of the law, but reform in its administration. We should have one view of the matter, and hold it with a sincerity that is not affected by the consideration that the party to which we belong is for the time in power.

OTHER MATTERS.

The report of the Postmaster General not only exhibits the operations for the last fiscal year, but contains many valua ble suggestions for the improvement and extention of the service which are commended to your attention. No other branch of of the Government has so close a contact with thedaily life of the people. Almost everyone uses" the service it offers, and every hour gained in the transmission of the great commercial mails has an ac tual and possible value that only those engaged in trade can understand. The saving of one day in the transmission of mails between New York and San Frantisco, which has recently been accomplished, is an incident worthy af mention. The plan suggested by a supervision of the postoffices in separate districts that shall involve instruction and suggestion and a rating of the efficiency to the postmasters would, I have no doubt, greatly improve the service.

In general, satisfactory progress has been made in the construction of the new ships of war authorized by Congress. The first vessel of the new navy, the Dolphin, was subjected to very severe trial tests and t,o very adverse criticisms. But it is gratifying to be able to state that a cruise around the world, from which she hasorecently returned, has demonstrated that she is a first-class vessel of her rate. The report of the Secretary shows that while the effective force of the navy is rapidly increasing by reason of the improved build and armament of the new ships, the number of our ships fit for sea duty grows very slowly. We had on the 4th of March last, thirty-seven serviceable ships, and though four have since been added to the list the total has not been increased, because in the meantime four have been lost or condemned. Twenty-six additional vessels have been authorized and appropriated for, but it is probable that when they are completed our list will only be increased to forty-two again. The old wooden ships are disappearing almost as fast as the new vessels are added. These facts carry their own argument. One of the new ships may in fighting strength, be equal to two of the old, but it can not do the cruising duty of two. It is important, therefore, that we should have a more rapid increase in the number of .serviceable ships.

We have fortunately not extended to Alaska the mistaken policy of establishing reservations for the Indians tribes, and can deal with them from the beginning as individuals with, I am sure, better results. But any disposition of the public lands and any regulations relating to any timber and the fisheries should have a kindly regard to their interests. Having no power to levy taxes, the people of Alaska are wholly dependent upon the general Government, to whose revenues the seal fisheries make a large annual contribution. An appropriation for education should neither be overlooked or stinted. The smallness of the population and the great distance between the settlements offer serious obstacles to the establishment of the usual territorial form of government. Perhaps the organization of several subdistricts, with a small municipal council of limited powers for each, would be safe ?nd useful. Attention is called in this! connection to the suggestions of the Secre tary of the Treasury relating to the es tablishment of another port of entry in Alaska, and of other needed customs facilities and regulations.

In the administration of the land laws the policy of facilitating in every proper way the adjustment of the honest claim of individual settlers of the public lands has been pursued. The number of pending! cases had, during the preceding, administration, been greatly increased un-1 der the operation of orders for a time suspending final action in a large part of the cases in the West and Northwest, and by the subsequent use of unusual methods of examination. Only those who are familiar with the conditions under which our agricultural lands have been settled can appreciate the serious and often fatal consequences to the settler of a policy that puts his title under suspicion, or delays the issuance of his patent. While care is taken to punish and expose fraud, it should not be imputed without reason.

The manifest purpose of the homestead and pre-emption laws was to promote the settlement of the public domain by persons having a bona fide intent to make a home upon the tract of land. Where this intent is well established and the requirements of the law have been substantially complied with, the claimant is en titled to a prompt and friendly consid eration OT his case. But where there is reason to believe that the claimant is the mere agent of another who is seeking to evade a law intended to promote small holdings, and to secure by fraudulent methods large tracts of timber or other lands, both principal and agentsbould not only be thwarted in their fraudulent purpose, but should be made to feel the full penalties of our criminal statutes. The law should be so administered as not to confound these two classes, and to visit penalties only upon the latter.

The unsettled state of the titles to lr\rge bodies of land in the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona has greatly retarded the development of those territories. Provision should be made oy law for the prompt trial and final adjustment before a judicial Iritunal, or commission, of all claims based upon Mexican grants. It is not just to an intelligent and enterprising people that their peace should be disturbed and their property retarded by these old contentions. I express the hope that differences of opinion as to methods may yield to the urgency of the case.

The questions whicti have arisen during the past few years between Great Britain and the United States are in abeyance or in course of amicable adjustment. On the partof the Government of the Dominion of Canada, an effort has been apparent during the season just ended to administer the laws and regulations applicable to the fisheries with as little occasion for friction as was possible, and the temperate representatives of this Government in respect of cases of undue hardship or of harsh interpretations have been in most cases with a measure of transitory relief. It is trusted that the attainment of our just rights under existing ti-eat.ies and in virtues of the concurrent legislation of the two contiguous countries will not be long deferred, and that all existing causes of difference may be equitably adjusted. I recommend that provision be made by an international agreement for visibly marking the water boundary between the United States and Canada in the narrow channels which join the Great Lakes. The conventional line therein traced by the Northwestern Boundry Survey, years ago, is not in all cases readily ascertainable for the settlement of jurisdictional questions

The cattle syndicate now occupying the

lands ror grazing purposes an deafly one of the agencies responsible for the obstruotion of our negotiations with the Chero-j kees. The large body of agricultural lands constituting what is known as the "Chero kee Outlet" ought to be, and indeed can not long be helu xor grazing, and for the advantage of a lew against the public interest and the best advantage of the Indians themselves. The United States has now under the treaties certain rights in. these lands. These will not be used op-' pressively. but it can not be allowed that those, who, by sufferance occupy these lands, shall interpose to defeat the wise and benefieieot purposes of the Govern-, uient. 1 can not but believe that the ad-' vantageous character of the offer made by the United States to the Cherokee nation, I for a full release of these lands, as com-, pared with other suggestions now mace to them, will yet obtain lor it a favorable consideration.

The interest of the genernl Government in the education of the people 1 mind an early expression not, only in the houghtful and sometimes warning utterances of our ablest statesmen, but in liberal appropriation from the common resouicc for the support of education in the new States. No one will deny that it is of the rravost national concern that those who hold the ultimate control of ail public affairs should have the necessary intelligence wisely to direct and determine them. National aid to education has hercforo taken the form of land-grants, and in that form the constitutional power of Congress to promote the education of the people is not seriously questioned. I do not think it can be successfully questioned when the form is changed to that of direct grant of money from the public treasury. Such aid should be, as it always has been, suggested by some exceptional conditions.

The sudden emancipation of the slaves of the South, the oestowal of the suffrage which soon followed, and the impairment of the ability of the States where these new citizens were chiefly found to adequately provide educational facilities, presented not only exceptional but unexampled conditions. That the situation has been much ameliorated there is no doubt. The ability and interest of tho States have happily increased.

But a great work remains to be done, and I think the general Government should lend its aid. As the suggestion of a na tional grant in aid of education grows chiefly out of the condition and needs of the emancipated slave and his descendants, the relief should as far as possible, while necessarily proceeding upon some general lines, be applied to the need that suggested it. It is essential, if much good to be accomplished, that the sympathy and active interest of the people of the State should be enlisted, and that the method adopted should be such as to stimulate and not supplant local taxation for school purposes. As one Congress cannot bind a succeeding one in such a case, and as tho effort must in some degree be experimental, I recommend that any appropriation made for this purpose be so limited in amount and as to time over which it is to extend that it will, on the one hand give the local school authorities opportunity to make the best use of the first year's allowance, and on the other, deliver them from the temptation to unduly postpone the assumption of the whole burden themselves.

I earnestly evoke the attention of Congress to the consideration of such measures within its well defined constitutional powers as will secure to all cur people a free exercise of the right of suffrage and every other civil right under the constitution and laws of the United States. No evil, however deplorable, can justify the assumption either on the part of the Execute. or of Congress of powers not granted, but both will be highly blamablc if all the powers granted are not wisely but firmly used to correct these evils.

The power to take the whole direction and control of the election of the memb- rs of the House of Representatives is clearly given to the general Government. A partial and qualified supervision of tin-so elections is now provided for bv law, and in my opinion this law may be so strengthened and extended as to secure on the whole better results than can be attained by a law taking all the processes of such election in to-fed e.ral control. The colored man should be protected in all his relations to the federal government whether a litigant, juror or witness in our courts, as an elector for members of Congress or as a peaceful traveler on our interstate railways.

I recommend that such appropriations be made for ocean mail service, in American steamships, between our ports and those of Central and South America, China, Japan, and the other islands in both of the great oceans, as will be liberally renumerative for the service rendered, and as will fencourage the establishment, and in some fair degree equalize the chance of American steamship lines in the competition which they must meet. That the American States lying south of us will cordially co-operate in establishing and maintaining such lines of steamships to their principal ports, I do not doubt. We should also make provision for a naval reserve, to consist ot such merchant ships of American construction and of a specified tonur.ge and speed as the owners will consent to place at the use of the Government, in case of need, as armed cruisers. England has adopted this policy, and as a result '.n now upon necessity, at once place upon her naval list some of the fastest steamships in the world. A proper supervision of the construction of such vessels would make their conversion into effective ships of war very easy. I am an advocate of economy in our national expenditures, but it is a misuse of terms to make this word describe a policy that withholds an expenditure for the purpose of extending our foreign commerce. The enlargement and improvement of our merchant marine, the development of a sufficient body oi trained American seamen, tho promotion ot rapid and regular mail commur ication between the ports of other countries and our own, and the adoption of large and swift American merchant steamships to naval use in tune of war are public purposes of tho highest concern. The enlarged participation of our people in the carrying trade, tho new and increased markets that will be opened for the products of our farms, factories and the luller and better employment of our mechanics, which will result from a liberal promotion of our foreign commerce, insure the widest possible diffusion of benefits to all the States a.id to all our people. Everything is most propitious for the present inauguration of a liberal and progressive policy upon this subject.

The proclamation required by section 3 of the act ot March 2, 1889, relating to the killing of seals and other fur-bearing animals, as issued by me on the 21st day of March, and a revenue vessel was dispatched to enforce the laws and protect the interests of the United States. The establishment of a refuge station at Point xiarrow as directed by Congress, was sue cessfully accomplished. Judged by modern standards, we are practically without coast defenses. Many of. the structures we have would enhance rather than di mimsh the perils of their garrisons if subjected to the fire of improved guns and very few are so located as to give full effect to the greater range of such guns as we are now making for coast-defeuse uses. This general subject has had consideration in Congress for some years, and the appropriation for the construction of large rifled guns, made one year ago, was, 1 am sure, tho, expression of a purpose to provide suitable works, in which these guns might be mounted. An approtion now made for that purpose would not avdance tho completion of the works beyond our ability to supply them with fairly effective guns. The security of our coast cities against foreign attack should not rest altogether in tho friendly disposition qf other nations. There should be a second line wholly within our own keeping. I urgently recommend an appropriation at this session for the construction of such works in our most exposed harbors.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

Angola will have electric light. The Salvation Army has located at Hunt ington.

The Brazil miners strike is at last declirod off. A snow blockade in northern Indiana delayed many trains. Friday and Saturday.

South Bend will make an effort to secure the 1S00 encaminuent of the Indiana Legion.

Two mon, frozen to death on Thanksgiving, wore found near Torre Haute, Monday.

New Cumberland, Grant county, is exercised over a crhost that stalks the nights in that vicinity.

Rev. DeLorme, recently pastor of a German Reformed church in Adams county, committed suicide at Huntington, Friday He was probably non compos mentis.

While Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Butcher, near Bryant, were temporarily absent from home, leaving their children alone the clothing of two of them caught fire and they were fatally burned.

A new natural gas company is beiug organized at Noblesville, in opposition to the Noblesville Gas and Improvement Company, now having full sway. Exorbitant rates is the cause of the opposition.

The Billet-bending and Spoke Works, which have just started at Portland, and which give employment to one hundred persons, is claimed to be the most complete establishment of the kind in the country.

Representatives of the Evansville & Richmond Railway Company have closed contracts at Greensburg for fifteen acres of ground, on which will be located shops, depot, and other accessories to railway traffic.

Elias Heustis, one of the pioneers of Dearborn county, and a resident of Manchester township since 1319, died this week, aged nearly ninety-two. While he lived there was not one older pioneer in the State.

There are five new members in the House from Indiana. They are William Parrott, of Evansville JaSon B. Brown, of Seymour Geo. W. Cooper, of Columbus E. J. Brookshiro, of Cra wfordsville A. N. Martin, of Bluffton, and Charles A. O. McClolhm, of Auburn.

Miss Nellie Coutaut, of Crawfordsville, a graduate of the public schools, was neither absent or tardy during the entire nine years of her attendance, and the School trustees on Thanksgiving presented her with a beautiful edition of Tennyson, in recognition of her faithfulness as a scholar.

John Toenges, of Fort Wayne, six years ago, when a strippling, was beaten by a drunken teamster named Scibert, who 3truck hirn over the head with the tailboard of the wagon. Seibert was afterward sent to the penitentiary for murderous assault and served his time. Sunday Toeuges died of the injury.

Wm. Ettel, a farmer near New Albany, while going into his barn after nightfall, stumbled over the agricultural implements and fell Avith great force against the teeth of a harrow. One of the points entered his right cheek, another his hand, while a third penetrated the right side of tnehead, breaking the skull.

The attorney for Clark county, Satui'day, filed three suits against J. N. Ingram and his bondsmen, W. S. Jacob3, Jcvias G. Howard ar.d John F. Reed, for the recovery of school money used for private purposes by Ingram while treasurer of the city schools. The supposed amount is $15,000. Ingram is completely broken down.

While Robert Slocum, a widowed farmer, noar Thorntown, was away after his second wife, his neighbors gathered at his homestead, repaired the fences, cleaned up the surroundings, improved his home, and burned all the old vehicles, played-out farming implements, etc. They also left word that they hoped everything would be kept clean in the future.

Dan McDonald, of tho Plymouth Democrat, after a prospecting tour which car riedhim largely through the West, editorially says: "We have no hesitancy in advising our friends who are making a living here to let well enough alone, and stay right where they are. While a few may better their condition by going West, we candidly believe nine-tenths of those who 1o go regret it in less than a year."

The will of the lato L. B. Eaton, of Angola, made provision for establishing a home for indigent widows and old ma.ds, and Isaac Eaton, a son, brought suit to set it aside, alleging that the testator was of unsound mind when the document was drawn. Friday the administrator admitted this fact, and tho court thereupon held the will null and void, and under t.he ruling the plaintiff will enter into possession. Tho estate is valued at £o5,0Ul).

There was a little flurry of snow at Elkhart, Wednesday, which practically dem onstrated the inefficiency of the electric motor as applied at Elkhart to propel street cars. The wheels slipped upon the tracks as if the rails were greased, while the electricity spluttered and flashed among them and along the wires overhead, and the cars made exceedingly slow progress, frequently coming to a dead halt.

The annual meeting of the State Prohibition League was held at Indianapolis Friday. The various reports showed that encouraging progress was being made. The following officers were elected:

President—G. W. Hagans. Vice-president—Wymond J. Becket. Secretary—Elwood C. Sileiv Treasurer—Mrs. L. E. Scott. Trustees—Jesse T. Hutchens, Dr. John J. Baker and Mrs. J. A. Pollack.

Harrison county White Caps are again on duty. In one instance thoy compelled the ownsr of a poor and neglected horse to perform the duty of a horse for a whole Might. When they brought liim to the stable from work tho hapless victim facetiously remarked that he always curried his horse after working him hard. The obliging White Caps complied with his request with alacrity, and with tho largest and coarsest curry-comb they could find thoy groomed the human pony until the blood ran.

Dobaon, of Osgood, was killed by A. Bishop, his father-in-law, Wednesday Dobson has mistreated his wife, and her father persuaded her to return home. Dobson swore vengeance against all concerned in the separation, and he presented-him-

self before the house and fired five shots through the windows. He then set fire to the house and barn, but the flames were extinguished without loss. Meanwhile the father-in-law armed himself with an axe, and assaulted Dobson, continuing the fight until he had dashed out his brains. Bishop has the sympathy of the community, and at last accounts had not been arrested.

WASHINGTON AFFAIRS.

Total postal revenues last year, $50,148,014: deficiency, So,850,183 increase of revenue, $3,4:22,383: of expenses, $5,89:2,463, estimated expenses for year ending June 30, '91, $72,434,008—a deficiency of over $7,000,000.

The annual report of Admiral Porter shows that most of the ships in the navy are in good condition. The Autietam, Juniata, Pilgrim and Quinnebaug have been condemned and ordered sold. The Admiral says he has frequently found the reports of exercises on board ships unsatisfactory, and the l-egulations imperfectly complied with, and thinks tho reports should be made directly to the Bureau of Navigation, where thoy might come under the eye of the department. Many things wnich are obsolete are still adhered to in these reports, forms for which were made twenty years ago, and the Admiral recommends that as the systom tactics and exercises are entirely changed, new forms be made.

Assistant Secretary Tichener has approved the action of Inspector George W. Baker, in the case of two Chinese laborers smuggled into the United States from Gretna, Canada, and captured by him in North Dakota, nearly thirty miles from the boundary line. The men were arrested by direction of the Inspector anu taken before a United States Commissioner,and it being proved that they had entered the country illegally, they were taken across the boundary line and delivered to the foreign customs authorities.

Senator Vest's committee, which has been investigating the dressed-beef inter estsof the country for some months, resumed the examination of witnesses in the room of the Senate committee on commerce, Saturday morning. There were present of the committee Senators Vest. Coke, Farwell, Manderson and Plumb, and a number of persons interested as witnesses or otherwise. Among tlieiu was Mr. P. D, Armour, the Chic go beef and pork packer. He was accompanied by his attorneys, Messrs. Campbell, Martin. Quinn and Dudley. He submitted a written statement to the committee.

There are some interesting facts stowed away in the annual report of tho Commissioner of Internal Revenue. There were manufactured in the year ending June 30, 1SS9, nearly 289,000.000 more cigarettes than during the preceding year. The whole number of cigarettes made was ,15l,5l5,5!50, while the number of cigars was 3.807,395,640. New York State is the great cigar manufactory of the Union. It turned out 1,108,404,f01. cigars and nearly a billion cigarettes, using up in the pro duct-ion of these articles nearly 27,000,000 pounds of tobacco. Pennsylvania comes next to New York, consuming nearly 19,000,000 pounds of tobacco in its cigar and cigarette production. Virginia, which is heard of so much in connection with the production of cigarettes, comes after Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and California in cigar production, but is third in importance as a cigarette producer. Thcic were used in the manufacture of tobacco during the year more than 12.5,000,000 pounds ol' licorice, 18,(i'35,550 pounds of sugar and more than 8,000,000 pounds of other materials.

The United States received special taxes from seven rectifiers, 2,75S retail liquor dealers, 35 wholesale liquor dealers, 41 brewers, 223 retail dealers in malt liquors, and 50 wholesale dealers in malt liquors in Iowa, and from one rectifier, 1,254 retail liquord&alers, 3 wholesale liquor dealers and 4 brewers in Kansas. There are two pages and more of tho report that housekeepers would do well to get and pin up in their kitchens to enable them to know the makers of some things they don't want to buy if they are anxious to avoid adulterations. There are more than 100 brauds of baking powder that are described as adulterated. There are twenty-two sorts of coffee, so,called, that are described as made up partly of clvcory, peas, beans,rice,corn, wheat and coloring matter. Ten makes of cream of tartar are adulterated with phosphate of lime, sulphate of lime, more than 6 per cent, of tartrate of lime, alum, corn starch and flour are spread before the reader.

Democratic congressmen had a caucus Monday morning aud nominated the old officers for officers of the House. A resolution pledging the members of the party to every effort to secure tariff reform was adopted.

The public debt was reduced $4,S69,6T2 during November.

BLAZES IN BOSTON.

Two Acres of Toweriug Buildings Destroyed—toss 85,000,000a

Tho most disastrous fire from which Boston has suffered since 1872, broke out at about 8:20 a. m., Thursday, in the sixstory granite building owned by Jordau Marsh & Co., and occupied by Brown,Dur roll & Co., dealers in dry goods, on Bodford street, corner Kingston. Tho coil flagration rage for six hours, burned ovor two acres of territory covered by magnificent structures,and entailed a loss conservatively estimated at $5,000,000. The origin of the firo is not known, but is generally attributed to the electric wires. Some of the fiuest blocks in tho city were destroy cd. Buildings of granite and iron, always regarded as fireproof were swept up like timber, many persons were injured by tailing walls, but so tar as is now known none werekillod.

Tho village debating society will be called upon at tho next meeting to explain how a lire go out willi all the doors and dampers shut. *,