Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1883 — WASHINGTON NOTES. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON NOTES.

It is estimated that the reduction of the public debt during the month of March will be about $10,000,000. The Patent Office has prepared, and has now for sale, an index of all patents relating to electricity granted by the United States prior to June 30,1882,comprising about 4,000 patents, and making a volume of 250 pages. The acting secretary of the Treasury has decided that the rate of duty as between the old and new tariff, is to be fixed by the date of arrival of the importing vessel at the port of entry,and that goods imported before the Lew act takes effect and shipped to western ports under immediate transportation will be dutiable under the present tariff unless they remain in. a public store or bonded warehouse until the act goes into operation! It has finally been decided to begin work on the Washington • Monument on May 1. The ‘appropriation of $250,000 reads “to finish;” so that the shaft will it is to be hoped, as it is to be done at all, now be sent up to the intended 555 feet It is now 340 feet, and when- finished will be forty feet higher than any other artificial work in the world, topping the tallest spire of the Cologne Cathedral that much.

United States Conul Astwood, at San Domingo, reports to the State Department that, owing to the bar which has formed at the entrance to the harbor, that port is virtually closed tu commence. Vessels drawing more than eight feet of water can not enter the harbor withont great risk of stranding. He says unless dredging is resorted to to clear out the mouth of the river the commerce of that progressive district must become paralyzed. The returned seamen of the Jeannette were before the board of inquiry Friday. They all said they had no statements to make with regard to the management of the expedition bes ore or after the sinking of the Bhip, and no charges to prefer against any officer. They believed everytmng was done that could be done to ensure the safety of the crew, and thought that Lieutenant Dautnhower in particular had displayed great skill and good judgment in bringing the whaleboats safely to land. Representative Flowers’ return of $458. 50 to the tresury, because he was absent a sufficent number of days to take that much out of his salary, recalls the fact that if certain othec representatives followed his example they would not have drawn enough to pay their board bills. Wood and Cornell, of New York, for instance, did not occupy their seats more tnan halt a dozen times daring the session while Hubbeli, of Michigan, was away about half the time, and Facheco was only in liis seat the last four days of the session. Mr. Flowers is from New York.

The department of Agriculture will begin issuing monthly crop bulletins, in April. These reports are becoming very valuable, and eagerly watched for by grain dealers, growers, and speculators tHroughout tlie country. Tire April bulletin will be one of the greatest importance aB it will give the first reliable reports of the damage done to wheat in the West andin the .Northwest by frost and snow. Many of the operators in Chicago and New York in a measure anticipated the regular reports of the Agricultural Bureau, but their information is unavoidably more limited in its scope, and not so impartially reliable as those furnished from Washington. The bureau gets returns from 2UOO reliable and experienced crop observer every month, from April tc December. The growth of the postal order system at home and abroad has been remarkable. It was created by the aot of May 17, 1864* during the civil war. In toe fifth year of its existence the orders amounted to about $24,800,000. The system now extends to the remotest countries. The domestic and international orders of the last offical year aggregated $120,000,000, about $6,501,000 being on foreign account. No attempt has been made.to glorify |this branch of the publio service, or to puff its achievements. It is modestly and well manag'd. Confidence has been gained by good management. The system has beoone a most important element of the postal servioe, an immense convenience to tlose who wish to send small remittances without risk of loss or danger of repudiation. Instead of it being a charge on the treasury, the money order system is actually a source of profit, At the end of th« last fiscal year, after deducting all expenses of every sort, induding the appropriations made by"oongress the business had to its credit the respectable sum of $165,000. It is said the Naval advisory board will report in saver of equipping the League Island yard with plant and machinery necessary for the construction of iron and steel ships. Navel offioers. believe that the action of Congress in authorizing the construction of the , f new steel cruisers is a foreoast of the future

policy of this government touching its navy; that the war ships in future will be of steel or iron, and that this government will soon appreciate the importance of being able to build its own ships. A prominent official of the Navy Department remarked: “Now that the vexed question of monitors is out of the way, we may confidently expect to have a navy. The great mistake of this government was in undertaking to have its ships built by contract instead of at its own yards. When wooden frigates were in vogue ours were in every respect the finest in the world. We have the most skillful and intelligent artisans, and our frigates were the admiration of all nations in every part of the world; but wooden ships are now out of date, and we have fallen behind in the construct! >n of iron vessels. Sooner or later, however, Congress will realize the importance of equipping some of our yards for iron and steel ship bnilding and I have no hesitancy in assorting that it will soon be found that we can excel other nations in this character of ships, as we always have done with our wooden vessels.” Comptroller Lawrence has rendered a decision that the salary of Congressman Ochiltree, of Texas, must be paid to himself, notwithstanding his indebtedness to the United States, on the grounds that his office is a constitutional one, and that if his salary was withheld he would be deprived of the means of support and his constituents t of representation. Torrito rial delegates, however, are not constitutional officers, and it is held that in their case their indebtedness to the government can be set off against their salaries. It is said that not less than 75 per cent of the retiring Republican members of the Forty-seventh Congress have applied to the President for appointments of one kind and another, and their claims are pending. Ex-members do not go about this business like the general run of candidates for office. They do not overwhelm the Executive with cemetery petitions and formal written applications Instead, they call on the President in person and urge their fitness for some place they have fixed their eyes upon, going at him thus: “This position (including the one they want) is one for which lam especially fitted. I possess every qualification for the place, and I want it. I haver served my party long and faithfully, and it owes me that much n recompense.” Congressman are not mealy-mouthed in telling what they want when it is an office they are after. They go at it with no more ado or fuss than a private citizen would in entering a store to buy a paper of pins.