Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1883 — WASHINGTON NOTES. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON NOTES.

Infernal revenue reasipte the first nine months of the cutrent year, notwithstanding all the agitation in Congress, were $2,102,881 more than those of the corresponding period of the previous year. The Treasury Department has made a ruling that the provisions of the new tariff act, amending section 2,510. of the Revised Statutes, took effect from the date of the passage of the act This section of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the new tariff act, provides for the free importation of shipbuilding material to be used in the construction of vessels built in the United States for foreign account Senator Van Wyck has been urging the Interior Department to order the immediate sale of the Otoe Indian lands, in Kansas and Nebraska, notwithstanding the House of Representatives neglected to pass the Senate bill, which was deemed necessarv for a complete sale. The appraisers have -finished their task, and value the lands at $4 to $lO per acre. Secretary Teller is satisfied that he can protect all the interests, and the sale will be made about May 1. To judge from the declarations made by the Star Route jury, they not only expect a hung jury, but some of tbe principal defendants intend to spend the rest of their days in suing newspapers for libel It is rumored, that Dorsey and Brady are planning to sue the New York Times. The damage is laid at half a million dollars. Dorsey says he will spend a good deal of money for what he calls punishing the Times, while Brady expects the government will in some way foot his bills. Attorney General Brewster is said to be preparing an elaborate peech to close the Star Route case. The rumor has been again revived that Mr. Merrick proposed to withdarw from the star-route prosecution, but the report is not credited, as his contract with the Department of Justice is too fat a take to be relinquished. It is now thought the star-route trial will be finished in about four weeks. Commenting on the enormous cost of the prosecution of the starroute cases, Senator Conkling said: “The prosecution of these Cases as they have been prosecuted, at the expense of the Republican party, is like burning a house to boil an egg.” The Commissioner of Internal Revenue says the allowance of export drawbacks under the provisions of section 3,386 of the Revised (Statutes, on all tobacco, snuff cigars and cigarettes, entered for export on and after the Ist of May 1883, will be limited to the tax on articles of this class in force on that day as follows: On manufactured tobacco, including snuff, 8 cents per pound;on cigars andcigarettes,weighing over three pounds per thousand, $3 per 1,000, on cigarettes weighing not over thrie pounds per thousand, 50 cents per 1,000. Secretary Folger had a conference with the Director of the Mint and the Hawaiian minister with regard to the request of the Hawaiian government to have its sivler money coined at the United States mints. It was decided to grant the request, and preliminary arrangements for the coinage will be made at once. The mint at San Francisco was selected as the place for coinage. The dies will probably be made at the Philadelphia mint. The Hawaiian silver ooms will be of the following denominations: One dollar, halfdollar, quarter-dollar and eighth-dollar. The new law. for the adjustment of the salaries of post '• asters, taken in connection with t'ie forthcoming reduction of letter postage fron 3 to 2 cents, will effect a material change in the pay of postmasters in all small offices, as well as in the amount of revenue derived from such offices by the government. It is estimated that under the new law, and upon the present volume of business, the aggregate revenue of the Postoffloe Department from the sale of postage stamps of all kinds will be reduced 20 per cent Upon the basis of this estimate, the proportional receipts of the government and postmasters respectively, in the smaller offices, will be changed as follows. In the postoffice, where the annual revenue from stamps amounts to SSO, the postmaster now receives S3O and the government S2O; under the new law, for a like amount of business, the postmaster will receive S4O and the government nothing. Similar proportionate changes will be made in the receipts of the government and postmasters, according to the amount of business don* until offices are reached which have gross revenue from stamps of $250 per annum. In this class of office the postmaster now receives $l5O per annum and the government $100; under the new law the former will receive S2OO and the latter nothing. In offices where the revenue exceeds that of the class last mentioned the government begins to derive revenue. For instance, in postofficee where the income from stamps amounts to S4OO a year, the postmaster now receives $240 and the gjvernment $160; under the new law the postmaster will receive 8272 and the government S4B! In

offices where the pay of the postmasters from the sale of stamps reaches SBOO, the increase from the rent of boxes is usually enough to make the compensation of the postmasters SI,OOO per year, and when it reaches that amount the office is placed in the third class and the postmaster is then commissioned by the President, with a specified salary, and his pay is no longer determined by the amount of stamps he cancels.