Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1890 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

The federal election law has been on the! Republican list of bills to be passed by the; present Congress and Speaker Reed, whoj so far, has carried out his program fromj the beginning of the session until the pre aj. ent time wants to complete it by the pasal ing of this bill. Of the two laws, the! Lodge bill and thg Rowell bill, the latter* has the preference both in House and} Senate. The Lodge bill proposes to place! all the federal elections—all the elections,' of members of Congress and Presidental: electors under control of federal officials! and at federal expense. It takes the fed-! eral elections entirely out of the hands of! the States, and it would cost $5,000,000 to ! hold a national election under such a law ! The Rowell proposition is sim?ly for the! extension of the supervisory system thatl is now in use in the large cities over the] entire country. Under existing laws! supervisors may be appointed in rural districts, but they do not hav e the same] power as those who serve in cities, which! the Rowell' bill gives them.

The House and Senate committees have .agreed upon a federal election bill. It* features will be an enlargement of the supervisory system, so that the supervisors shall participate in registration, voting and canvassing. k To carry out fully the national idea, the supervisor’s returns are to be prima facia evidence of the right of a mem , ber to his seat, and to prevail in making up the roll of the House. In cases of confllctin S returns the certificates of the State canvassers may be used to allow the House to form its judgment of Abe qualifications of the contestants. I Bids for over $5,000,000 worth of new' naval vessels were opened at the Naval Department Tuesday at noon. The ves sels bid for were of three distinct types, and there was considerable excitement about the contest between the rival ship builders engaged in the war of competition. The largest of the three vesse Is—;n fact the largest vessel ever designed lor i the United States navy, is known as the! armored-cruiser No. 2. ( Senator Edmunds introduced a bill oo the 10th, providing that all funds nr niW property lately belonging to or in the pos 1 session or claimed by the corporation of) the church of Jesus Christ or Latter Day) Saints, to which It shall appear there is) no lawful private rights shall be devoted/ to the benefit of common schools In Utah, the money to be disposed of by the Secretary of the Interior in such a manner asi shall seem to him most expedient. The f Supreme Court of Utah is invested with! authority to make all necessary and proper* orders and decrees for this purpose.

The dependent pension bill, as agreed upon by the conference and adopted by the House on the 11th, after providing for thej pensioning of dependent parents, says that! all persons who Served three months or] more in the military or naval service of the. United States during the war of the rebel-! lion, and who have been honorably dis-] charged therefrom, and who are now ori who may hereafter be suffering from ai mental or physical disability of a perma-j nent character, not the result of their own' vicions habits, which incapacitates them! from the performance of manual labor in] such a degree as to render them unable to earn a support, shall be placed upon the list of invalid pensioners of the United States, and be entitled to receive a pension! not to exceed sl2 per month, and not less', than $6 per month, proportioned to their! Inability to earn a support, such pension toi continue during the existence of such ability. Rankin the service shall not be] considered in applications filed under this] act. Provision is made for pensioning at| the rate of [s3 per month widows of men! who served ninety days without proving] death the result of army service, and like-, wise granting $2 a month to each child' under sixteen years of age. Ten dollars is fixed as a limit of the fee to be charged by agents in preparing cases under this act. There is no possible way to estimate the cost of the bill. The estimates range from 130,000,000 to $100,000,000. Mr. Morrill, in the House, placed the estimates at about $36,000,000, but it is thought it will run up to at least $60,000,000 the first year. 1

The Senate committee on finance Weds} nesday considered and amended the House silver bill. The provision making the certificates Issued in payment of bullioni legal tender for public and private debts) was struck out, leaving them receivable) for customs, taxes and public dues. The) bullion-redemption clause was stricken! out; also, the section providing for free* coinage of silver whenever the market price is $1 for 371# grains of pure silver.! This act is made to take effect in thirty) days after passage, and shall terminate at! the expiration of ten years therefrom. Col. Henderson, of lowa, from the Committee on Appropriations, in reporting a bill to make good the second pension defl-, ciency which has arisen since last Decern-: her, stated that the deficiency was due to the very large number of original pension* recently allowed and the increases which] were not anticipated, averaging $12,000 toi $16,000 each, the average first payment] being S4BO. The appropriations during thej present session of Congress for soldiers) for all causes, aggregated $167,419,731, over one-third of the estimated gross receipts the government for th 9 fiscal year 1891

An immigration restrictionlbill will not be reported at this session of Congress, i Representative Butterworth, of Ohio Friday, introduced a bill to provide for fixing a uniform standard classification! and grading of wheat, corn and other; cereals. ( The bill authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to fix, accords ing to suteh standards as he may prescribe,j the classification of cereals, as in hlj judgment the usages of trade warrant! and permit, having reference to tha standard and grades now recognized bjn the chambers of commerce and boards o<| trade. When such standard is fixed l] shall be made a matter of record in th«j Agricultural Department and notice given) that such grades stall be known as 1m United State* standard. ‘ I