Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1890 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

The determination of Senator John Sherman, of Ohio to retire from public life at the end of his present term, March 3, 1893, was the subject of considerable comment around the Capitol Tuesday. He will be seventy years old at tho expiration of his present term of service and has told his friends that he is tired of public life and wants to get some of the comfort which man cherishes befdre he dies. He wants to retire to his old home at Mansfield, 0., and spend the balance of his life with his family. Senator Sherman has been in Congress more than thirty years, serving three decades already in the Senate. Mr. Cannon, chairman of the House ap propriations committee, emphatically denies that the appropriations by C ongress at this session for the current fiscal year will exceed venues. He est imates the appropriations at $350,000,000, and says: -‘The ordinary revenues of the government for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1890, are reported by the treasury at $402,083,000; under existing laws there is no reason to anticipate a less sum from the ordinary revenues during 1891. The postal revenue l * for 1891 are estimated by the Postmaster General at $65,414,000, making a total of $467,497,000. Deducting aggregate appropriations of $350,000,000 ) there will be a surplus of $117,497,000, which is more than ample to meet the requirements of the new pension law. and the reduction of taxation from the enactment of the McKinley bill is estimated at $60,000,000.”

The Senate expects to devote six weeks to debate on the tariff bill. The President on the 16th appointed Prof. James Russell Soley, Assistan t Secre tary of the Navy; also A. B. Nettloton, of Minnesota, to be an Assistant Secretary of tho Treasury. A statement has been prepared at the postofflee department showing the operations of the office of the Frst Assistant Postmaster-General during the fiscal year ending Jixne 30. 1890. The total number of transactions in the appointment division of tho department for the year is shown to have been 28,261. Of this number there were 4,422 postoffioes established, 1,024 discontinued and 1,579 changes of name and site. In -fourth-class offices there were 9,056 appointments on account of resignalions, 5.990 on account of removals and 638 on account of the death of postmasters. In presidential offices there were 253 appointments on account'of resignations, 579 on account of expiration of commissions 556 on account of removals, 31 on account of the death of postmasters ana 133 on account of offices becoming presidential. Of the removals in all classes, abo,:t 1,000 were made on the reports of inspectors In the 1,579 cases of change of name and s.ite, there were only 065 new appointments, in each of the other 914 cases the incumbent being retained. The whole number of postoffioes in operation on July 1, 1890, 02,400, as against 58,999 in 1889 ; 57,376 In 1888 ; 55,157 in 1887, and 40,021 in 1880, the increase during the last year being 3,401 the largest in tho history of the country. The increase during 1888 was 1,623. Superintendent Porter has appointed the following special agents to collect manufacturing statistics in Indiana: Samuel McElfresh, Aurora aud Lawrenceburg; John English, Portland; Stephen Metcalf, Andei'son; George Slagle, Seymour; Wm. VV. Perkins, Michigan City and LaPorte; Andrew E. Walkup, Jeffersonville; A. W. Henry, Madison; John C. Harmer, Kendallville; George F. Bott. Toll City, Troy and Cannelton; James H. Foster, Evansville; Daniel F. Spees, Vincennes; Benton E. Gates, Columbia City; Adolph Dalm bert, Columbus;C. C. Oakey, Terre Haute; Lorenzo F. Moore, Groencastle. Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. McKee and Baby McKee narrowly escaped death on the 18th at Cape May, by a runaway horse.

It is stated that the dissatisfaction in France on account of the increased duty proposed on French products by the McKinley bill has resulted in the actual opening of negotiations between the French and United States governments on tho subject, tho French Minister ol Foreign Affairs seeking some intimation from Washington that the proposed advance* may be modified. The House committee on elections on the 18th decided two more contested election cases in favor of the Republican contest* ants. They were the Florida case of Goodrich vs. Bullock, the decision being in favor of Goodrich, and the West Virginia case of McGiuuis vs. Aldtrson. in favor of McGinnis. The census bureau is working day and night, and the -count of the country wil 1 probably be known by Sept. 15th. Senator Pierce, of North Dakota, to-day proposed an amendment to the tariff bill* By its terms the President will be, in the absence of further legislation by Congress, authorized to impose the duties on sugar in force pn June 30, 1890, upon shipments from those countries which, a year after the passage of the act, have not entered into reciprocity treaties in regard to agricultural products of this country with the United States and the President will be authorized to enter into negotiations with sugar producing countries for such treat* ies. This amendment, if adopted, will, he says, practically secure the benefits aimed at in the Hale amendment. It is understood that tho administration approves of the tenor of the proposed amendment. Sneak thieves entered the cottages of Vice-President Morton and Attorney Bliss at Saratoga, on tho 18th, and robbed them of 110,000 worth of Jewelry.