Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1889 — WASHINGTON MOTES. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON MOTES.

. The Senate, iif secret session Thursday, discussed the nomination of Murat Halstead to be minister to Germany. The nomination was hotly debated, the criticism of Mr. Hal-tead coming principally from the Republican side of the chamber. The principal cause of grievance against Mr. Halstead was his criticism of the course of certain Republican Senators during the investigation of the election of Senator Payne. The criticisms of Mr. Halstead were quoted from a file of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette in -the Senate chamber by Republican Senators. Sherman defended Mr. Halstead, while Senators Ingalls and Teller led the attack upon him. A vote on the nomination resulted in its rejection, the Democrats voting solidly against it, and the votes of Senators Ingalls, Pumb, Cullom, Farwell and Teller being recorded in the negative also. When it was evident that the nomination would be rejected, Senator Sherman changed his vote from affirmative to negative that he might be in a position to enter a motion for reconsideration. That motion was entered, and was pending when the Senate adjourned. The intimacy that has suddenly sprung up between President Harrison and Samuel J. Randall appears to occasion uneasiness among the Pennsylvania Republicans, as well as among the Democratic leaders. Mr. Randall comes and goes at the White House just as if he was a member of the Republican party, and it is understood that the President has consulted him about several appointments. It is said that Mr. Randall at present has been intrusted with helping to select the Democratic member of the Board qf Commissioners for the District of Columbia. It is understood that three commissioners to negotiate with the Cherokee Indians for the sale of their lands in Indian Territory, will be ex-Governor Long, of Massachusetts; Judge Wilson, of Arkansas, and ex-Congressman Warner, of Missouri. This appointment is one of the most lucrative in the gift of the President, as the commissioners are each to receive a fee of $5,000 and their expenses, and their duties will not occupy them more than two or three months. It is stated .that the President said a few days ago that he did not intend to make a change in the office of Commissioner of Railroads, now held by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. General Sherman, it is said, has made a special request that General Johnston be retained. The Commissioner is now eighty-two years of age, but in spite of his advanced years he is able to attend - to the business of the office. • By a vote of twenty-five to nineteen the Senate refused to reconsider the rejection of Murat Halstead to be minister to Germany. Two Democrats, Senators Blackburn and. Call, voted for Mr. Halstead. The Republicans who voted against him were, according to General Boynton, Senator Ingalls, Plumb. Evarts, Teller, Dawes ana Quay. A confit shows that there are 200,000,000 stamps in the vaults of the Internal Revenue Bureau, their total value being $45,000,000. The count, which was made necessary by the transfer of the office from Commissioner Miller to Commissioner Mason, has been completed. „ President Harrison received his first month’s salary Wednesday. It amounted to $3,888.88, and was delivered to him in in the form of a Treasury note. It was for the month of March, minus the first three days. Mr. Cleveland received the President’s salary for that portion of the month. The reason the President withdrew his nomination of John W. Berryman, nominated for postmaster at Versailles, Va., was, it is said, because of the discovery of the fact that he has a son named Jefferson Davis Berryman. President Harrison has been asked to issue a proclamation calling upon all clergymen in the country to hold special services on the morning of April 30, in honor ol the Washington Centennial Celebration.

A friend of Mr. Robert T. Lincoln, at Chicago, is of the opinion that that gentleman will decline the appointment to the Court of St. James because his wife is a confirmed invalid. Secretary of the Interior Noble has issued an order to heads of bureaus, directing that no resignations are to be Called for except by instruction of the Secretary. Col. John C. New’s nomination as Consul -General to London, to which there was some opposition, has been confirmed. ; The nomination of Murat Halstead to be Minister to Germany was rejected by the Senate, Saturday, by a vote of 25 to 19. Presidents Harrison offered “Stonewall” Jackson’s widow the postmastership at Lexington, Va., butane declined. The President, Wednesday, issued a proclamation declaring Oklahoma open for settlers April 21.