Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1882 — DEPARTMENT REPORTS. [ARTICLE]

DEPARTMENT REPORTS.

The Navy. The report of the Secretary ot the Navy reeommeuds promotion by selection to the (trad' ot Rear Admiral, and the oonstrnotlon of two sec-ond-rate steel cruisers, one steel ram and an iron dispatch boat, all to cost net to exceed $3,500,000. The report r-commends the transfer of the lighthouse service, coast survey and revenue marine to the Navy Department, as the first two are not property part of the treasury, and are largoly unrated by navy employes at present, and properly oome within Its scope of operations. As a measure of ro nomy a union of naval and mat lne hospitals is suggested. The repot t comments at length upon the decline of American shipping, and says the present evils must be remedied or American shipping will be entirely wiped out He recommended the adopt ion of a protective system, and lt rge oomt enaation for caminir the mails in Ame lcan ships, ami the • stab ishment of a mercantile marine in the Nm v Department: the report concludes as follows :‘u the ns' al establlshmen’ is not made effective it should be discontinued, and the $15,000,000 annually expended bo rese ved to procure, in national emergencies the assl tanoe of foreign ships and gun-. If Governmental measures are n t soon adopt* d to promote the carrying trade and arrest the disappearance of American ships from the ocean, w« shall -oon cease to be a seafaring people, a d not need to maintain a navy of ourojva." The Postofllce. Postmaster General Howe in his annual report reooommends that a system of postal sav-ings-banks should be Inaugurated. After careful study he has arrived at the oonolnsion that the telegraph and postal systems of tbe country should be included under one management and that the only protection for the public against multiplied extortions Is for the Government to sssume exolusive control of the transmission of domestic messages. He considers the telegraph “too terrime a power to be wielded by any other than tbe representatives of the whole people.” *or the first time In thirty-one years the postoffice has not been a burden on the pnbllo treasury. After deducting all extra expenses there was a net surplus of reoelpts over expenses of $330,050, while last year there whs a deficiency of $2,444Utt8. The estimated revenue for the fiscal year 1883-81 is given at 650,670,456, and the estimated expenses at $16,741,111, wbioh will leave a surplus revenue of $3,939,345. The heaviest item of expenditure is for transportation of malls on railways. The next heaviest is that for the pay of Postmasters. These two items mnst swell with the volume of business, since tbe rate of compensation is proportioned to the amount of business done. The exKndlture next In rank is for what is own as tbe star servioe. That Includes all the mall transportation' not on railways nor on steamboats. The amount and oo t of that servioe is left almost wholly to the arbitrary control of department For tbe year ended June si, 1881, the s ar servioe oovered 79,557,206 miles of transportation, at a cost of $6,597,353. F* r the year ended June 3>, 1883, tbe same servioe oovered 76,934,867 miles, and coat $5,553,849. Congress is Invoked by the Postmaster General to make one more effort to engraft upon tho postal servioe a system of deposits for small some, and a recommendation is made that postage on seoond-class matter be abolished. “After the fullest consideration which I have been able to give the subject of postal telegraphy. I am forced to Me conclusion that the time has fully oome when the telegraph and postal service should be embraced under one management”

Department of Justice. Attorney General Brew ter asks legislation to protect civil officers of tne Government in the performance of their duties, as there is no Federal law to pqpish tbe murderer of an official. He calls attention to tbe refusal of tbe Leaislature of Utah to appropriate fun is to execute Territorial l-.ws. by which it evades a charge of about per annum. The Interior. Secretary Teller commences bis report with tbe discussion of Indian affairs, ami sepommends tbe disarming of the Indians as a means of removing temptations from them to go npon the warpath. Upon the vexed question of the title to Indian lands, the Beere’ary says that the savage Indian object.* to land in severalty because he has been taught, both as a question of political economy and Indian morals, that it is a crime to divide the land and allow one man to svtn it to the exclusion of ano her. To the end ■ hat the Indiana may be spduie In their titles and have the assnranc * than they will not. be remo ed exoept by their free consent, he recommends tbe passage of a lawHo give each tribe a patent for the land the Government has gu’iruntced t • it, leaving the Indians to determine the question of allotment for themselves. At le st half of all the Indian children of school age should to put to manusl-lab r schools, and more atffintum should be paid to teaching them to labor than to read With 20,000 or maqp Indian children properly selected in onr schools there will be no danger of Indian wan. Some core should be had in tbe selection Of 'the children to inolnde the children of those indlv duals and tribes most likely to make trouble. The Secretary Indorses the recommendation of the Commissioner of the Land Office for the repeal of tbe pre-emption law and the modification of tbe Homestead law. The Pre-emption law, intended as a me.ms es enahUrg the citizen wishing to make a home to do no cheiply and speedily, Has been nsal largely to aggregate large quantities of lands for the benefit of tbe speculator, and not for those whose benefit It was intended. It will be useless to repeal the pre-emption laws if the opportunity still exists to commit the same frauds under the cover of tbe Homestead law. If it is thought best to retain the pre-emp-tion laws they shonld be' so amended that toe filing for pre-emption should precede the entry by at lesst a year. The Commissioner of Railroads reports that, with the exception of a few minor roads, he regards the United States as secure in the ultimate payment of both principal and interest of tbe loans odvssoed.