Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1886 — NATIONAL LEGISLATION. [ARTICLE]

NATIONAL LEGISLATION.

Two Million-Dollar Monuments to Lincoln and Grant Proposed. J A Five-Million Dollar University at the Hational Capital—Other Measures. Washington special. Among the bills introduced in the House are two tariff bills by Mr. Maybury, of Michigan. One provides that on and after July 1,1886, no customs duty shall be levied upon lumber—boards, beams, plauks, joists, scantling, laths, pickets, shingles, timber, round or sasved, staves, heading, or any other description of timber, whether rough or dressed. The other provides that on and after July 1, 1886, ores of Iron, lead, copper, and zinc, bituminous coal, salt, and lumber of all kinds, whether rough or dressed, shall be admitted free of duty. Mr. Maybury shows his faith in free trade by placing on the free list the articles in the production of which his State is most largely interested. PENSIONS. Senator Blair, of New Hampshire, has introduced a bill to give applicants for pensions, whoso applications have keen rejected by tho Secretary of the Interior, on appeal from the Commissioner of Pensions, a hearing before a jury. TWO-MILLION-DOLLAR MONUMENTS. Senator Blair has looked with great admiration upon the Washington monument, and he is profoundJy impressed with the belief that we. need more gigantic obelisks. He has introduced two bills for the erection of monuments to Lincoln and Grant. The formerIs to be erected in Lincoln Park, east of the Capitol, where the emancipation statue stands, and the latter at some noint north of the Capitol. The Washington monument stands west of the Capitol, so. that symmetry will demand the erection of a like monument to Mr. Blair himself south of the Capitol. Mr. Blair proposes to appropriate SIOO,OOO a year for each of these two monuments for ten years, so that each one will cost $1,000,000. No labor and no materials so far as possible are to be procured by contract. Chinese labor is excluded by the provision that only American citizens shall be employed yi the work. The monuments are to be similar in style to the Washington monument. THE SILVER IDEA. The silver men are not content to remain on the defensive and await the attack' of the antisilver men. Senator Morgan has put in a bill to compel tho Secretary of the Treasury to re- * place with silver one-half of the gold in the fund reserved for tho redemption of greenbacks, and one-half of tho gold or greenbacks in the national bank redemption fund, and in other tp. cial funds. JUDICIAL RETIREMENT. In the Sepale Ih9 following bills, among others, have been introduced • By Mr. Dolph, to amend Sec. 717 of the Revised Statutes. It provides that judges of United States courts who have held their offices thirty years, cr who have held office ten years and have-attained the age cf .70, may retire upon full salary. By Senator Call, to retire Judges of Circuit or District Courts. It provides that when any Judge of a Circuit or District Court shall have become disabled through tho excessive- or habitual use of intoxicants, or any other cause, he shall be retired with an annual salary of $2,000 a year, unless he shall thereafter be tried and impeached. This disability is to he determined bv the Judge of tho circuit adjacent to that in which . the Judge to be tried has jurisdiction. Tho Attorney General is authorized to institute proceedings against such Judges on complaint of Senators or Representatives. COMPULSORY EDUCATION OP INDIANS. By Senator Teller, to provide for the compulsory education of Indian children. It authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to take any Indian children between the ages of 8 and 18, who belong to tribes receiving annuities from the United States, and place them in Government schools for the education of the Indians, to be kept there for five years. This is not to apply, however, to the five civilized tribes, nor to the Osage Indians of Indian Territory. The Secretary is authorized to withhold rations and annuities from parents who refuse to comply with these provisions., All such schools are to be manual labor schools, and to include teaching of agriculture and stock-raising to boys and housework to girls. A NATIONAL UNIVERSITY. By Senator Ingalls, to establish a national university in the District of Columbia. The sum of $5,000,000 is granted to the board of regents in a perpetual registered certificate of the United States, to be unassignable, and bearing 5 per cent, interest, the interest to be paid quarterly; so much of the interest as is needed for sites, building's, etc., may be used. The treasurer of the United States shall be treasurer of the university. No chair for instruction in sectarian religion or partisan politics shall be maintained, and no sectarian or partisan test shall be allowed in selecting officers or professors. Chairs or faculties may be endowed by gift, bequest, etc., but no amount less than SIOO,OOO shall be 'considered an endowment. Instruction shall be os nearly free as is consistent with the income. No person shall be admitted for regular study and graduation who has not previously received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, or a degree of equal value, from some recognized institution. States and Territories shall be entitled to scholarships in the ratio of one for each Representative or Delegate, and two for each Senator. These scholarships shall secure free instruction for five years. The Governor of each State shall nominate candidates for life scholarships, and each State and Territory shall be entitled to one life scholarship. Two classes of fellowships are established, one open to competition of graduates best qualifying themselves, and the other open to learned men of all nations who have merited distinction. SUPPRESSING THE INDIANS. Among the measures introduced in the House are the following: By Mr. Laird, of Nebraska, a joint resolution authorizing the President to call out two volunteer regiments of cavalry in the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, to be enlisted and officered from citizens of snch Territories, for the suppression of Indian hostilities therein. LAND PATENTS, Also, a joint resolution instructing the Commissioner of the General Land Office to pass to patent all pending homestead and pre-emption claims against which,*- specific charge of fraud is not pending or proved, and also calling on such officer for a statement in detail of the reason for issuing the order of April 3 suspending the issuance of patents; also, a bill to establish a soldiers' homo in Nebraska, lowa, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. , REGULATION OP LABOR. The constitutional amendment introduced by Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts, provides that Congress shall have power to limic the hours of labor. SUGAR DUTIES. A bill touching the duty on sugar, introduced by Mr. O'Donnell, of Michigan, provides that the duty on sugar shall c< ase after July 1 next, prohibits importations of sugar from any country imposing nn export duty thereon, provides for thtt-payme nt of a bounty of one cent a pound on sugar produced in the United States, and appropriates 88,000,000 for that purpose. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. A constitutional amendment proposed by Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, provides that Presidential electors shall be elected in every State on the third Tuesday in- October, and that no ohter officers than Representatives in Congress shall be elected on the same day. POLYGAMY. Mr. McAdoo has also introdueed a bill depriving of the right of suffrage “hll polygamists or persons who are members of organizations that encourage other persons to commit bigamy. REFORMING THE CIVIL SERVICE. Mr. Cutcheon, of Michigan, offers a bill to "reform the civil service and preserve the constitutional distinctions between legislative and executive-duties by tho organization of a bureau of civil appointments.” The bill makes it unlawful for any head of a department or chief of a bureau to request or solicit recommendations from any Senator or Representative in regard to the removal or appointment of any official in any of the executive departments, or for Senators or Representatives to nominate or recommend or to solicit or request the appointment of any person tor any position in either the executive or judiciary departments. It makes the violation of any of its previsions a misdemeanor and punishable by a fino of 81,000 and removal of the appointed officer. It provides far the establishment of a bureau of civil appointments to consist of the Civil-Service Commission and the officers, examiners, and other employes thereof, and of civil appointment boards in each judiciary district of the United States, to consist of three members each, who shall reside within the circuits, which board shall bo sulordinalo to the Civil-Service Commission, and whose, duties shall be to examine and report in regard to any matter referred to them by the President cr the heads of the department*, as to the resignation, removal, or appointment of any executive or judicial officer. The recommendations of these boards are. however, to lie advisory also. The bill provides that it shall be the doty of the Civil-Bervice Commission to extend the competitive examinations to all appointments below the grade of the Classified civil-service where the compensation exceeds S6OO a year.