Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1896 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

The State Department at Washington has received a cablegram from United States Minister Smythe at Fort Au Prince. Hayti, confirming the Paris report of the death of President Hippolyte, of Hayti. The minister’s cablegram gave no details, simply reading: “President dead.” , The naval appropriation bill for the fiscal year which begins July 1 next was completed by the House Committee ou Naval Affairs. The total amount carried by the bill is $31,011,034, of which $12,770,133 is for the increase of the navy; The appropriation is au increase over thp amount of the last hill, which was about $29,330,000. Under the increase of the navy tile chief items are the four new battleships and fifteen torpedo- boats, the former “to carry the heaviest armor and most powerful ordnance upon a displacement„of about 11,000 tons, and to have the highest practicable speed for vessels of their class.” Speed premiums are to be offered, all parts of the vessels are to be of domestic manufacture, and the contracts are to be let Within ninety days after the passage of t'ae act. One firm, under the act, may bid for all Of the Vessels. The Supreme Court at Washington announced Monday its decision in the celebrated Brown interstate commerce case from Pittsburg. By a vote of live to four the court sustained the constitutionality of the act of Feb. 11, 1893, positively requiring witnesses to testify, no matter if their testimony incriminated themselves. When the opinions were read several distinguished railroad solicitors were present. By this decision the power of the Government to control commerce is sustained, and the interstate commerce act, for the first time iu its existence, becomes a danger to railway men who violate the provisions. The decision is a great victory for the Government. It has a direct effect on every shipper in the United States, and in its scope is almost ns important as the income tax decision. The Supreme Court has probably never made a decision of more importance to the railways of the country. The Treasury Department has instructed the_ New York sub-treasury to nyse the premium on gold bars from 1.10 to 3-10 of 1 per cent. The Department’s purpose in the issuance of this order is to do what can be done legitimately to . prevent future exports of gold. The order has a triple purpose. First, it will tend to raise the price at which gold can he exported profitably, the price of exchange now being dangerously near the export poiut; second, it is regarded as good policy to get rid of coin instead of bars, because the former frequently have lost weight through abrasion, and third, it is iutended to meet the pf the Bank of England in raising the price of gold bars to 77, shillings 10 pence, and thus practically lowering the rate of exchange at which gold Can be shipped from the United States to Great Britain to about 488Vj or 488-’>i. Treasury officials admit the issuauce of the order, but will uot talk further concerning it.