Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1885 — Page 7

The Republican. RENSSELAER, IN DIAN A E. MARSHALL, - • - ' Pubijshek

A Newry (Me.) farmer was attacked by a bear -while in the mountains with a yoke of oxen. It was a stern chase between the cattle and the bear. The farmer jumped for the plug in the yoke, and dangled there until the oxen had carried him out of reach. The bear tore the oxen fearfully, but could not reach the farmer. So wholesale was the dead-beating at Boston this year that the American Board of Foreign Missions will no longer send delegates and their families into private families to be guests during convention week. This year there were 4,000 visitors that enjoyed free board. Some pastors brought large numbers of relatives and friends; six thrifty bridal couples spent a week of their honeymoon “D. H.;" where three or four “delegates” were invited six or eight came, and so on.

An immigrant at Castle Garden asked for information with regard to the size of Dakota Territory, and was handed the followings “Pull Dakota up by the roots and throw it over the fence into the British possessions, and you have a hungry-looking hole big enough to bury Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, and what the tornadoes have left of lowa. Cut the vacancy left in the ground up into knot-holes, and you have enough lumber to build houses for all of the United States and part of New Jersey.”

According to an official report, there are six times as many lunatics in Paris as there were in 1801. A curious fact is that down to the year 1866 the number of female lunatics exceeded that of the male, but since that date the men have predominated in an increasing ratio, and now supply nearly 56 per cent, the total, against about 44 per cent of women patients. The numbers of the married and the single are almost exactly equal. Excessive drinking and domestic trouble are responsible for about 60 per cent, of the cases.

An incident of the craze for family and noble ancestry in Philadelphia is noted by the Press. A rich manufacturer of agricultural implements offered an agent a large fee to compile a history of the manufacturer's lineage for 250 years. The agent, after a preliminary search, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to connect the family on this side of the ocean with the stock on the other, and declined the fee; but the manufacturer went elsewhere, and now bears a new coat of arms, in red and yellow, as big as a pie-plate.

Some months since, Holkar, one of the great East India rulers, while on a visit to Lord Dufferin, saw ; his lordship going through the process of cutting his newspapers and reviews. The Indian potentate asked for the ivory paper knife, promising another in return. The Prince returned recently to Government House, taking with him a young elephant. The animal had its tusks shaped and sharpened, and between the Rajah’s two visits to Calcutta, had undergone a training in secretary work. When led into Lord Duffer in’s presence, it took up some newspapers with its trunk, cut them, and placed them on a carpet in an orderly fashion.

A dozen years ago an Antwerp tailor bought, for a franc, a dirty little picture which had belonged to an old doctor then recently deceased- ’"i-a tailor hung the picture upon the wall, but did not think it worth the cost x»f cleansing,- and nobody found it very attractive. A little while ago, however, an artist happened to see it, and induced the owner to lend it to him to . clean. No sooner was the first coat removed than there was seen in one of the corners the signiture, “Pietro Paulo Rubens, 1G14." The picture represented Christ blessing the world, and is said to be in excellent preservation. The tailor has already received several good offers for his picture, but he is waiting until a rich American comes along.

A lady who bought a watch-dog for protection was dismayed to find that he possessed a disposition so social and gentle that strangers were welcomed rather than urged to retire. One day a veritable tramp appeared. To prevent the dog from exhibiting his usual affectionate manners', the lady chained him securely, when the following conversation took place: Said the tramp: “That’s a very fierce dog?” “Very,” said the lady, .looking anxiously at the good-natured brqte. “It makes them fiercer to chain them,” volunteered the tramp. "Shall I unchain him?” The tramp turned a shade paler and began to retire quickly. “Oh, no; not to-day. That’s a very fierce animal. I guess not to-day.” And as the lady made a movement to unchain the dog, the tramp retreated precipitately. y ■ - Gkobge Gould, all reports to the contrary, is as abstemious as his father. George inherits his father’s piercing black eyes and retiring disposition, but, otherwise, the features and temperament of his mother. Probably because he sees there is no necessity for it, he does not devote himself as assid-

- , ■ i T uosly to his business as his father did at his age, and indulges an inclination to hunting, fishing, and yachting. But all the while he is the shrewd, careful, conservative, economical man that his father is—a chip of the old block, indeed—and all the stories of his youthful indiscretions are coined in the brains of those who promulgate— hose* who write them- As cold blooded apd calculating as his progenitor, he is careful to never get himself in any scrape that he cannot clearly see his way out of.

I suppose if any one was to ask, “Who is the biggest man in Boston ?” the universal answer would be, “Phillips Brooks”—the biggest man mentally, morally, and physically, writes a newspaper correspondent. Few, however, ever experience his size by being alone in the room with him. It is a belittling experience. The 1 Home Journal says a well-known Boston business man once had occasion to call upon him, and was shown into his study. On his entrance of Mr. Brooks his height and overpowering largeness quite overcame his* caller, who was something of a wag. With no waste of words the clergyman went directly to the business in hand. Hardly had he started, however, when his caller had put his hand beside his mouth and laughingly called out “Wait one moment, sir; I always insist on a platform of equalityupon which he leaped into a chair and retained his station during the entire interview.

Chicago Herald: A middle-aged man, wearing a tall white tile, a whitesatin necktie, lavender pantaloons and a corn-colored vest, shivered and looked blue on the rear end of a Madison street car. The conductor scanned his passenger with piteous eyes and at the bridge remarked that it was a cold day. The man in the dog-day raiment said nothing. At Green street a young fellow wrapped in a heavy overcoat leaped abroad and leaned his broad back against the car opposite the man with the white tile. “Guess it will snow before morning,” said the fellow in the big overcoat, after the gaze he planted on the corn-colored vest had taken root and sprouted. “I’ll bet it’,l be a blizzard,” chimed in the conductor. There was a shaking of teeth under the white tile and a pair of quaking jaws chopped off these words: “I that the bell toiled some time ago for this kind of outfit, but you see a fellow isn’t married every day and it seems rather raw to talk about the weather especially when a man has his wedding harness on and the wind is blowing icicles, November frosts and Michigan snow crystals down his back. I know it’s cold; just let me shiver and say nothing.”

“The great readers of the Sensite,” said an old Washington correspondent recently, “are many. Senator Voorheey has often from sixty to 100 books out of the library at a time, and he reads a great deal in preparing for his speeches He likes the biographies and speeches of statesmen—lives of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and their speeches. He reads more for business than amusement. Secretary Bayard is much like Voorhees in this respect, though he does not read as many books. Senator Logan is now reading on the Civil War while working at his book, which is about completed. He has out now the “History of the War,” by the Comte de Paris, “Sherman’s Memoirs,” and Badeau’s “Grant.” Mr. Blaine read a great deal in preparing for his first volume. He devoured all'the literature relating to the times of which he wrote, and he came to the library and spent hours in readihg the newspapers of the period. Mr. Cox got a number of books from the Congressional Library, but he did not do any work in it. Cox is a great reader, but his drawings before this were books of travel largely. Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, is one of the most learned men in Congress. He is very accurate in his knowledge, too, and he knows almost as much about books as the Librarian. He knows the different editions, is up on biography, of Americans especially,-and is a great student of American history. Senator Edmunds is a very learned man, and reads books in foreign languages as well as the English. Senator Ingalls is a classical scholar and a reader. Both Garland and Ransom are great lovers of the classics. Ranson is always quoting Virgil, and Garland is fond of hunting up the origin of the quotations from Greek and Latin. Senator Vance reads good books. Senator Sherman reads on financial questions, and generally for special purposes, such as for political and legislative speeches. He reads everything relating to finance. Joe Brown sometimes reads religious matter and also American history.”

Skepticism Cured.

“Mr. Jlagersoll, did you ever try a bottle of my Magic Anti-Fat Remedy?” asked'the'-proprietor of a patent medicine. -X' “I never did,” replied CoL Ingersoll, blandly. . “You should try a bottle; it does all that I claim for it in my advertisement.” “What do you say in your advertisement?’ “That a single bottle will convince the most skeptical.”—=Alar. Sweet. Wf. have jtfst discovered why a man going fishing always carries a bottle with him. It is in order that he may have the cork to use as a float for his line.

UNCLE SAM’S SERVANTS.

Reports of the Heads of Government / Departments and Bureaus. >** Secretary Lamar on the Indian Problem—Points from the Report of Secretary Manning. SECRETARY LAMAR’S REPORT. Another View of the Vexed Indian Question and Another Flan for Its Settlement, The annual report of the Secretary of the Interior reviews at great length the relations of the Indian tribes to the Government and the settlers residing near their reservations. The Indian outbreaks of the year and the causes of them are considered. The recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the less guilty of the rebellious Chiricahuas should be transported to an islahd in the Pacific Ocean, as a penal colony, to earn their own living by fishing, stock-raising, etc., or sent to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, is indorsed. It is recommended that the Southern Utes be located in Indian territory, and that the Piutes, of Oregon, be settled on homesteads and given farm implements and other assistance. The subject of the leasing of land by Indians to cattle companies is taken up, and, after showing the passive consent of the late Secretary to such leases, and the evil that has resulted from tho practice, the Secretary says: “From all the facts developed on the subject I am convinced that the assistance rendered by the respective Indian Agents, in the making of these alleged leases, was directed more for the interest of the cattlemen than that of the Indians placed under their care and supervision. While many of the Indians favor the leasing of their lands for grazing purposes, others opposed and protested against such use and occupation of their reservations, and refused to participate in the making of the alleged leases, or to accept any share of the money received thereunder. Sufficient influence, however, seems to have been brought to bear upon a majority of the respective tribes to induee them to enter into the arrangement made. In my judgment, not the least among such influences were the encouragements and persuasion of the respective Indian agents, or some of them at least; and in many instances I fear they have shared in the profits of these speculative transactions.” After speaking of the encroachments of railroads on Indian rights, the Secretary unfolds a plan for the civilization of the Indian which is, in effect, the severalty plan on a small scale, only a small portion of each tribe being placed on homesteads at first, and the number gradually increased. The Secretary thinks it impossible to break up the tribal and reservation systems in any other way.

| IThe Secretary recommends the appointment of a commission of not more than six men of integrity, intelligence, and experience, and of such ability as to be able to comprehend the course of treatment and-methods of management best adapted to insure the speediest progress of the reßjiective tribes and bands, to visit each of the reservations, and investigate and report the condition, peculiar circumstances, and needs of the Indians residing thereon. The Secretary recommends, in order to destroy the evil influence of “squaw men,” the passage of a law .providing that whenever an Indian woman shall ’marry a citizen of the United States she shall be deemed a citizen, and that all children born of such marriage shall be deemed citizens. Under the provisions of this law no Indian woman would marry such a man with the certainty of losing her membership in the tribe and her right to - remain on the reservation.

The condition of the Indian schools, the report says, is gratifying. The Winnebago and Crow-Creek Reservation trouble is reviewed, and it is announced that the President's order withdrawing those lands from settlement has been almost universally obeyed. The exceptions, if any exist, are cases in which a removal would cause suffering. The story of the Oklahoma invasion is retold, and it is stated that these unlawful movements have rendered it unwise at present to open negotiations with the Indians owning the title of these lands for the purpose of opening them to settlement. Three million nine hundred and twelve thousand four hundred and fifty acres of public land have been sold for cash; 16,201,213 acres have been absorbed by public entry, an,d KIIIBSO acres of Indian lands ha ve been disposed of, making a grand total of 20,995,513. The total receipts from these lands were 88,619,598; The total area of surveyed lands tip to the 30th of June, 1885, is 969,469,347.50 acres. That unsurveyed is estimated at 845,360,390.50 acres. In speaking of the. Yellowstone National Park, the Secretary recoinmends the establishment of a court within the park, with exclusive jurisdiction over all misdemeanors, and with power to examine and to hold to bail in all cases of felonies, to be tried in the nearest court having criminal jurisdiction. The Assistant Superintendents should be authorized to serve any process of such court, and to arrest without process any person taken in the act of violating the law or any regulations. The wholesale slaughter of game in the park has been stopped, and game is increasing. Appropriations are recommended for five Assistant Superintendents to aid in the protection of game and the suppression of vandalism ; for a new building for the Superintendent for stables, and for the construction of new roads. The estimated expenses for the next year are 8150,000. The reports of the Governors of the various Territories, njost of which have already been published, are reviewed.

THE NAVY. Secretary Whitney’s First Report Thereon —He Thinks the Whole System Should Be Reorganized. Secretary of the Navy Whitney, in his first annual report to the President, says the property of the navy yards, valued at about fifty million dollars, is Reported as falling into a condition of extreme decay, and it is recommended that improvements be made at once unless it be the desire of Congress to abandon. the property to waste and ruin. The Secretary reports that excellent progress is being made in the manufacture of steel guns for the new ships, ‘and says that five six-inch and two five-inch breech-loading high-power steel guns have been completed and satisfactorily tested. He also says that the forgings for the eight-inch guns have arrived from England after a year's delay. These are the guns for the Chicago and Boston. The estimates for the navy for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, amount to 835,104,695, in which sum are embraced estimates for new objects, not those ordinarily fur the service, amounting to 816,069,959, leaving for the customary purposes of the service 819,034,744. They embrace for increase of the navy $10,503,770; for the completion and armament of the doubleturreted monitors $4,202,656; and for public works and improvements at the yards and stations $4,268,337. Mr. Whitney says it is the desire of the department to avoid the long delays which have occurred in the construction of the ships now in progress, arising from the making of changes in the plans after the letting of the work, ana continues : “Upon my accession to office the department had in process of construction, under contract with Mr. John Roach three modern steel cruisers and one dispatch-boat. They constituted the first attempt of the Navy Department for many years to construct a war vessel up to the modern requirements. They should be looked upon and judged as such. As such they wilt, I trust, be found in the main creditable to those who have been engaged in their creation. They will certainly, if they have been well built, be no improvement upon the previous work of the department, but it is not profitable to consider them as standards of excellence for future work, nor was it to be expected that they woufll be. It is to be regretted (I think all will now accede to this suggestion) that greater deliberation was not had ov6r the preparation of the plan.-:. The Dolphin, as she now is, should ba regarded as a pleasureboat rather than us a dispatch-boat. At the present time it is quite t profitleßs to discuss her characteristics." ' The Secretary then goes over in detail the circumstances connected w ith the trial of the Dolphin and the trouble had with hex, with which circumstances the public is familiar. The case’ is still unsettled. He also refers to the Roach trouble. Mr. Whitney refrains from any discussion of the subject of future appropriations for war material, as Congress has made “a most intelligent effort within the last three years to gather information,” etc. He says'it is important that the navy should be._snpplied with torpedo-boats. It has none while othehnatiohs have many. He says it must be evident that there is something radically-wrong .with the department; that the universal dissatisfaction proves this. He thinks the present bureau systems are vicious, and says “at the present moment it must be conceded that we have nothing which deserves to be called a navy." He thinks the United States should pattern after other-power-ful nations in the mutter of naval education and naval improvements—that it is folly to waste time and money patching up wooden hulks. It is his opinion that, as in the English service, and notably in the French and German, the Secretary should be provided with a board or boards for consultation, consisting of naval officers and experts, most of them comparatively free from executive duties; whose duty it should

be to assist him in solving the technical problems of the department. THE ARMY. Secretary Endicott’s First Annfual Report of the War Department. The Secretary of War in his annual report to the President says the expend iturea or appropriations by the War Department for the fiscal year-ending June 30, 1885, were $45,850,999.54, of which $13,164,394.00 were for public works, including river and harbor improvements. Tho appropriation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, is 5)1,76-2,413.40, of which $2,247,892.34 is for public works. This large reduction as compared with the appropriations of previous years is caused by the failure of Congress to pass tho river and harbor Ijill. The increase of expenditures for 1885 over those of 1881 was mainly for river and harbor improvements.. The estimates for the fiscal year ending June-30, 1887, na received by tho Secretary, amounted to $81,782,423.97, which he has reduced to $-18,204,183.48, of which sum $16,465,630.18 is recommended for public works, including river and barter improvements. The Lieutenant General commanding reports that the army at the date of the last consolidated returns consists of 2,154 officers and 24,705 enlisted men. Desertions in the army during the pastyoar have greatly diminished, but ifris difficult to adjudge an adequate punishment where a. man has deserted several times. In a case occurring recently the recruit had previously deserted six times, and the Lieutenant General remarks that, while there were more flagrant cases,- this matter ought to be brought to the attention of Congress, in order that a proper punishment might be provided. With regard to the Signal Service the Secretary says: “I am unable to concur in the recommendations of the chief signal officer fdr legislation to provide for the permanent detail of sissy enlisted men from the line of the army for duty on the military telegraph lines; for including the appropriations for the Signal Service in the appropriations for the army ; and for the reorganization of the Signal Service corps of officers by appointing a Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major, and eight Captains, and the promotion of Second Lieutenants. “The duties in which the corps is now engaged are civil, and not military. It performs no military service; its only exercise that is military in its character is the art of military signaling, which, owing to the pressure of meteorological duties, has been neglected in the past, though it is proposed to press the study morevigorously in the future. Nor is this study us pursued in tho corps important to the army, which receives, through its own officers, all the necessary instruction. It is evident that the studies anil labors of the signal service in tho scientific field upon which it has entered will more and more absorb and engross its energies, and it must ultimately become a purely civil organization. It would;,therefore, be unwise, with this prospect before hs, to provide for its permanent attachment to the army, and to give to it the unbending organization and discipline of a military body. It must depend upon the efforts of men who ore engaged in technical study, and any officer who takes part in its work must be valuable for his studious and scientific labor, rather than for his military ability and his soldierly qualities.”

THE RED MAN. Commissioner Atkins Discusses the Indian Problem in His Annual Report. Gen. J. D. C. Atkins, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, prefaces his report with the statement that “it requires no seer to foretell or foresee the civilization of the Indian race as a result naturally deducible from a knowledge and practice upon their port of the art of agriculture, for the history of agriculture among all people and in all countries intimately connects it with the highest intellectual and moral de-. velopment of man.” He continues: “The increased interest in agriculture manifested since the opening of last spring and the preparation on several reservations for a still increased acreage in farming, are among the hopeful signs of Indian progress and development This brings me directly to the consideration bf the practical policy which, I helieve, should be adopted by Congress and the Government in the management of the Indians. It should be industriously and gravely impressed iipon them that they must abandon their tribal relations and take lands in severalty as the corner-stone of their complete success in agriculture, which means self-support, personal independence, and material-thrift. The Government should, however, in order to protect them, retain the right to their land, in trust, for t wenty’five years or longer, but issue trust patents at once to such Indians as have taken individual holdings. “When the Indians have taken their'lands in severalty in sufficient quantities (and tho number of acres in each holding may and should Vary in different localities, according to fertility, productiveness, climatic and other advantages;, then having due regard to the immediate and future early needs of the Indians, the remaining lands of their reservations should be purchased by the Government and opened to homestead entry at 50 or 75 cents per acre. The money paid by the Government for their lands should be held in trust in 5 per cent, bonds, to be invested, as Congress may provide, for the education, civilization, and material development and advance of the red race, reserving for each tribe its own money. There are in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, 260,000 Indian souls ;of that number there are in the five civilized tribes in the Indian Territory 64,000. There are in New York, 4,970; in North Carolina, 3,100; and there are some in Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and a few in California and the Northwest who are civilized, and still others who can lay claim, to civilization. Many others on the reservations hq,ve cast off the blanket and are adopting” the fashions and dress of white people, but among all these, except among the Indians of New York and North Carolina, a few in the Northwestern States, and a part of Jhe. fi.ve civilized tribes.in the Indian Territory,., there is a very large number who do not till the soil. Nearly all who are called ‘The Blanket Indians' have never tilled the soil to any extent, and fully half ot the Indians of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, as yet have declined to commit themselves to the life of the fanner. Exclusive of the lands cultivated by the five civilized tribes, the number of acres in cultivation by Indians during the year number 248,241, an increase of 18,473 since last year’s figures."

SECRETARY MANNING’S REPORT. He Urges a Cessation of Silver CoinageOther Recommendations. The report of Secretary of the Treasury Manning is a pamphlet of more than a hundred pages. Its statistical features are well summarized in the President’s Message. The Secretary treats at great length of the silver question, and concludes that the disorders of the currency may be perfectly remedied without shock to business interests by the repeal of the clause requiring the treasury purchases of silver bullion, and the repeal of tho act making compulsory treasury issues and reissues of the legal-tender notes. A cessation of ‘the coinage of the silver dollar is strongly urged. The recommendations of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue as to an amendment to the bonded whisky law which shall postpone the collection of the tax, under certain conditions, until withdrawn for consumption ; as to the abolition of the office of Inspector of Tobacco ; as to the exportation of tobacco under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner, and as to the taxation of fractional parts of the gallon of distilled spirits, are approved. It is recommended that the immigration law be so amended that all commissions or officers, to be charged with the care of immigrants at the several ports, be appointed directly by the Secretary of the Treasury. A special report is made on the evils arising out of tariff duties, such as false invoices, extortionate consular fees, and bribes given and received at tbe port of entry;ln closing which the Secretary says: “The law which denounces those acts as crimes or offenses to be punished ought not to be a dead letter, as it is now. But the real difficulty is, I fear, in the fact that 'so large a portibn of the people of the country disapprove of the present tariff rates, and would condemn any adequate punitive and deterrent legislation, like that of 1799 and 1863, intended to Uphold those tariff rates, or would only support such legislation because obedience to all law is, among right-minded people, a general obligation. But yet, if the existing rates of duty are to stand, and if those compound rates wherein even specific rates dej>end on foreign values are hereafter to be inflicted, there will be need, I think, of new deterrent legislation which will more surely and swiftly imperil the property on which foreign manufacturers and shippers seek to evade payment of duty which they know the law imposes, and which duties those who present truthful invoices must pay, since the collectors cannot levy -ad valorem rates on , less than the invoice or entered value.”

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. Annual Report of Mr. Sparks, Commissioner bf the General Land Office. The annual report of Hon. William A. J. Sparks, Commissioner of the General Land Office, states that during the last fiscal year the sales, entries and public land under various acts of Congress relating thereto embrace 20,113,663.37> acres, and of Indian lands

881,850.21 acres; mailing a total of 20,905,513.58 acres, being rm ii-treeto, as compared with'jthe year 1834, of 6,535, -Xi.4l acres, and »n Increase over the year 1883 of 1,562,430.18 acres. 'Hie receipts from the disposals of public lands arc $7.(86,114.80; from .salen of Indian birds, $033,483.52; a total of -:8,(119,5'28,32, bring a as compared with tho venr 1884. of si ,159,532.01, and with 1883 6f $3,086,107.33, to which fa to be added $8,821.86 for certified copies off records furnished by the GfanAal Land Office, ihfckJag the total receipts for tho year from all sources $8,628,420.18. Surveys nave been extended during the lust five years far beyond tho needs of legitimate occupation of thft soil. Nearly the whole of the Territory of Wyoming and large portions of Montana have been surveyed under the deposit system, and the land's on the jureanis fraudulently token up under the dest-rt-jaud act, to the exclusion of future settlers desiring homes in those Territories. Nearly all ■of Colorado, tho choicestcattle-raising portions of New Mexico, the accessible timber lands of California, largely the forests of Washington Territory, and the principal part of the pine lands of Minnesota are already surveyed, and in all the Western land States and Territories the surveys have anticipated actual populations for yhars to come. To enable the pressing tide of Western immigration to secure homes upon the public domain it is necessary, not that further surveys should be hastened, ’ but that the hundreds of millions of acres of public lands now unlawfully appropriated should bo wrested from illegal control. The Commissioner reports that ninety-eight land claims, founded on Spanish nnd Mexican grants, are pending, covering H,5iX),000 acres, which are based upon the reports of Surveyor Generals, and not scrutinized in the land office. He recommends that no such claims should be confirmed without examination by the office, and in the field, and that as thirty years have elapsed since the passage of the act under which the claims ore presented, an • act should be passed limiting the time for such presentation to one year. Grants have been made to aid in the construction of Ip, 129 miles of road, of which 7,098 miles have not yet been completed. Of the lands granted 14,929,121 acres have bebn patented, leaving 100,000,(XX) acres of unpatented lands included in nil the grants subject to forfeiture, an area equal to that of the combined States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The right of tho Government thereto being a legal one, tho default of the companies being voluntary, the power of Congress to declare a forfeiture should be exercised. Tho Commissioner, referring to alleged fraudulent land entries in regions domihoted by the cattle companies, says that he has suspended the issue of patents thereon until a full examination of the bona fide -character of the applications cun be made. He suggests the repeal of the pre-emption system, of commuted homesteads, of the timber-culture law, of the desertland act, and of all general provisions of law authorizing sales of land for cash, and restricting the sale to the actual settler, because they offer covers for fraudulent transactions. The Commissioner recommends the abolition of the fee system in the registry offices, and that measures be taken to preserve the forests on the public domain.

- LAND-GRANT ROADS. ... Points from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads. The report of the Commissioner of Railroads shows that the sinking funds of the Union and Central Pacific Railroad Companies, held by the Treasurer of the United States under the act of May 7, 1878, amounted to $8,560,807. On June 30, 1885,the Union Pacific had to its credit $5,523,343, and the Central Pacific 83,038,463. The premiums paid on account of investments for the Union Pacific amounted to 8850,791, while the interest on its sinking-fund investments amounted to 8210,558. In the seven years since 1878 only the sum of 88,560,807 has been paid into fund, which has produced in interest but $437,524. This proves, in the Commissioner’s opinion, that the law of 1878 can not accomplish the object intended, that of furnishing a sum sufficient to pay debts due from the Pacific Railroad Companies to the United States. It is therefore suggested that it might be alike advantageous to the Government and to the companies to substitute for the present law one fixing an annual or semi-annual payment by the companies concerned, which should extinguish their debts to the Government in a reasonable time, as proposed by the two bills in the Senate lust year by Senator Hoar. The total debt of the railroad companies on Jan. 30,1885, was 8131,600,426, made up as follows: Union Pacific (including Kansas Pacific): Principa1833,539,512 Accrued interest . 35,111,924 Total debt 868,651,436 Central Pacific (including Western Pacific): Principa1.827,855,680 Accrued interest 28,463,485 Total debt. 556,319,165 Sioux City and Pacific— A 1,628,320 Accrued interest 1,659,625 T0ta1:53,288,095' Central branch, Union Pacific— Principal.. 1,661,000 Accrued interest 1,741,806 Total.. $3,341,818 The total credits were $28,273,001, made up as follows: Union Pacific.sß,B3o,2Bß Sioux City and Pacific.■...178,659 Central branch, Union Pacific.... £266.673 The balance in favor of the United States but not due until maturity of the principal, is $102,627,425, made up as follows: Due from Union Pacifics4B,9l4,os6 From Central Pacific, 44,488,877 From Sioux City and Pacific 43,109,356 From Central branch, Union Pacific... 3,115,134 The excess of interest paid by the United States after crediting the amounts reimbursed by the several companies was as follows: Paid on account of Union Pacific, 835,116,924; on account of Central Pacific, 28,463,485; on account of Sioux City and Pacific, 81,659,695; on account of Central Branch Union Pacific, $1,741,890; total, $66,976,912, which, after deducting credits, leaves the excess of interest paid by the United States, $38,005,911. The Commissioner criticises the mode of keeping the accounts of the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company, saying that they do not give any approximation to the actual net earnings of its “unaided" part, 5 per cent, of which is due to the Government, and that the Government has been receiving for less than its due. r The Commissioner points to the fact that more than 820,000,000 credited to the Pacific roads now lies idle in the Treasury, a judicious investment of which would be of great benefit to those concerned. He therefore recommends that the attention of Congress be called to the matter. He also suggests that the Kansas Pacific, Sioux City and Pacific, and Central branches of the Union Pacific be included in the provisions of the law of May 7,1878, creating sinking funds for the Pacific roads.

THE FEDERAL COURTS.

Beport of Attorney General Garland for the Last Fiscal Year. The annual report of the Attorney General says that during the year 1,658 civil suits and 11,977 criminal prosecutions were terminated in the various United States courts, leaving 2,146 of the former class and 3,838 of the latter class pending at the close of the yetyf. The aggregate nmouht of judgments rendered in favor of the United States in civil suits during the year was 5Cf7,383, and the . amount actually collected on these judgments was 8170,457, while £37,028 was obtained during the year on judgments rendered in former years for the United States, and 8143.452 was otherwise realized in civil suits. The aggregate amount of fines, forfeitures, and penalties imposed during the year in criminal prosecutions was £481,856, and’ the amount of these fines, forfeitures and penalties collected during the year was 862, 124,while 46,187 on fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed in former years. The aggregate amount of court expenses naid during the year was 82,874,733. The Attorney General suggests the advisability of building jails at each place in the country wherd United States Courts are held; the necessity of building a Government penitentiary, where all Jjersons convicted of United States dtfenses could be confined, and the propriety of erecting on the grounds adjoining the Department of Justice a proper building for the accommodation of the Supreme Court and other proper courts and commissions of the United States. ’ The Attorney General makes a number of other recommendations, among, which are the following: That the fees of marshals in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming he doubled; that the salaries ot marshals be revised ; that the comjljnsation of United States attorneys for New Mexico and Arizona be increased, and that the compensation of clerks of United States courts in California be reduced; that attorneys and marshals bo required to make returns by fiscal instead of calendar years; that the accounts of chief supervisors of elections be taxed in open court under the inspection of the district attorney; that the penalty for the punishment of persons resisting officers be made more severe; that increased provisions be made for the j>rotection of United States witnesses; and that a suitable United States jail be built st Fort Smith, Ark. The report closes with a brief statement of the Union Pacific Railway litigation, and says that a motion will be filed by the Government in the Supreme Court, in a few days; to advance the appeals on the docket so as to have a speedy determination of them- 4 ■

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—A postoffice has been established at Ellistoi, Green County. —Dr. J. Yargerlennere, of Pleasant View, died very suddenly from paralysis. —A. N. Knee, a brakeman on the Wabash Road, fell between the cars at Andrew#, and was killed. ,—The late Vice President Hendricks paid taxes at Indianapolis on property appraised at $65,1)80. —The family of J. C. Adams, an attorney of Vincennes, was poisoned by taking morphine for quinine. ' —Michael Enden, clothier, o flndianapolis, made an assignment. The liabilities are SB,OOO, and the assets, $7,000. —A number of colored youths, sons of ex-soldiers, have organizer! a society of Sons of Veterans at Jeffersonville. —The 1 ippecanoe Paper Mills, near Delphi, were burned. Loss, $50,000; insurance covering half that amount. —John. E. Beale, a Washington banker, was last week married to a daughter of Hon. Frank Landers, of Indianapolis. —Mary B. Brown, an eye-witness of the launching of Fulton’s first steamboat on the Hudson River, ended her days at Saline City. —A freight train dashed into a hand-car filled with section men, near Lafayette, fatally wounding one man and seriously injuring another. i

—James Whitcomb Riley, the Indiana poet, who thinks and writes in the peculiar dialect of the State, was launched into life, as a sign painter. —Henry W. Taylor, of Terre Haute, has recovered SIO,OOO damages from Harrison J. Rice, who charged him with having procured an abortion. The report of the Treasurer of Clark County shows that there has been $20,175.44 collected, and that there is a delinquency of $10,953.75. —M. Fletcher’s branch clothing house at LaSalle, 111., was closed on attachments by Chicago creditors. Fletcher’s principal store is at Lebanon, Ind. —At Purdue University a stock-barn is to be built, in which choice breeds of cattle will be kept, upon the fine points of which the students will be instructed. Ananias Calahan, of Washington, has discovered gold on his farm. Mr. Calahan’s first name 1 is unfortunate to have his mine “pan-out” very big.— Exchange. —At Green Springs, a station on the Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad, two car inspectors named Burke and Weitz were ran down by a switch engine and killed.

—Some fifty fanners living in Washington Township, sent a communication to Eckert Burket that if he did not get out of the county in twenty-four hours they would hang him. —lsaac Latchem, a farmer near Wabash, secured a verdict of SI,OBO against Dr. F. M. Wall, of Urbana, for malpractice in the treatment of his wife. Latchem sued for SIO,OOO. —A shortage of about $3,000 was discovered in the accounts of John Wharton, Trustee of the township in which Wabash is situated. He is not charged with Issuing any illegal warrants. —An Indianapolis dispatch announces that a Chicago bank had authorized the bringing of a suit there to recover $10,024 on account of fraudulent township bonds. The name of the bank was omitted. —Miss Louise Mather, daughter of a wealthy Chester township fanner, Became suddenly ill after retiring Sunday night, and died in a few minutes, the remains immediately swelling to unnatural proportions. , . , ■

—Perry Snurr, an old penitentiary bird of unsound‘mind, in the insane ward of the county asylum at Fort Wayne, made an assault on Tom Clifford with a shovel he had managed to g?t hold of. He had to be put in irons. —Wabash is excited over the doings of highwaymen., Tuesday night ex-Post-master Sayre was robbed and thrown down a steep hill, add Wednesday evening an unsuccessful effort was made to rob President McCrea, of the Citizens’ Bank. An Eastern paper says: “Mr. Hendricks solved the monument question so far as he was concerned in a very plain and an entirely Jacksonian manner. He erected his own monument several years ago, 'and paid for it.”

—Senator Voorhees, o£ Indiana, will be one of the principal speakers at the dinner of the Holland Society of New York, to be given Jan. 8. He is descended in thie direct male line from Stephen Coerte Van Voorhees, who came from Holland in 1660. -A man supposed to be Andrew Coppelin, from Kansas City, on Ins way to Europe, jumped from a train on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad, near Richmond. When picked up he was unconscious. His skull is fractured and his condition is critical-

—Leroy Snyder, a South Bend boy, seven t ears old, while romping about the house, ran against his mother, who had a knife in her hand. The blade struck him on the right side of the face, cutting an artery and making a wound an inch and a half long and through to the bone. He will be disfigured for life. —Mr. Hendricks had an old-f-i»hioned, ugly honesty, and our townsman, Dr. Chaffee, tells a, good story of the time when he was in Congress and Hendricks was Land Commissioner, illustrating this fact. On his first visit to the Land Office on publie business, Dr. Chaffee got there just in time to see Mr. Hendricks turij out of his office a party who had approached him with a corrupt proposition. The Land Commissioner’s indignation overflowed the Presbyterian limits of speech.— Springfield Republican.