Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1898 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Sir William Van Horne, president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, estimates that from $200,000,000 to $250,000,000 will be taken into the Klondike country during the present year, and it is a problem how much Of it will be brought out. He bases this estimate upon the expectation that from 200,000 to 300,000 people will start for the gold regions, and that each of them will take an average of sl,000, which is very moderate and probably less than the amount. Forty-two steamers and twenty-four sailing crafts are how engaged between Puget sound and Alaska, and twelve British steamers and several schooners sail regularly from Vancouver. Every ship is loaded to the limit of safety with freight and passengers, and the congestion at all of the ports of embarkation is increasing instead of being relieved. * ♦ ♦ Secretary Wilson is trying to impress upon Congress the necessity of passing a pure food law that will protect the export trade in honest agricultural products from the designs of speculators and unscrupulous producers of bogus and adulterated foods. He does not demand prohibition, for that would be impracticable, but insists that all articles of food that are sent to foreign markets should bear a certificate of Government inspection and that they are exactly what they pretend to be. If filled cheese is exported it should go on the manifest as filled cheese, and the purchaser on the other side of the water should be made fully aware that he is not buying the genuine article. The same with flour, which is now being largely adulterated with cornmeal. » « ♦ The appearance of Speaker Reed in the House lobby smoking a . Wheeling “stogie,” illustrates' the extent to which that plebeian production of the American tobacco manufacturer hffs made its way into “polite society.” For many years the “stogie” has been the solace, if not the pride, of the people of the upper Ohio valley and of the lake country between Sandusky and Buffalo, but its circulation seemed to be limited to that region. About five years ago, however, it began to make its way into the vicinity of the capital, and its introduction was favored by several Congressmen. With the seal of approval given by the Speaker, the “stogie” may be said to be fully established in the favor of Washington smokers. • * * The great dome on the Capitol building moves quite a distance every day. In this connection a curious experiment was tried to show how far out of plumb it usually goes. A thin wire was hung from the inner topmost point of the dome. On the lower end of the wire was a plumb-bob, in the lower point of whicl) was inserted a lead pencil. It just touched the floor of the rotunda, on which a large sheet of white paper was laid. As the dome moved it dragged the pencil with it, and consequently left the tracing of its course on the paper. An oval fully a foot in length was marked out every day, showing that the apex of the dome of the Capitol moves that much in twenty-four hours. ♦ ♦ * Secretary Alger thinks that at least $5,000,000 can be properly expended at once by the engineer corps in strengthening the const defenses, and the President will probably set aside that amount for the benefit of certain works on the Atlantic ■and gulf coasts. This will be in the line of permanent improvements. The advancement in military science is so rapid that arms and projectiles soon become obsolete. All the beautiful artillery and muskets that were made for the war of the rebellion have gone to the junkshops long ago, where the material we are now spending millions of dollars for will have to follow in a few years. ♦ o » The late Senator Bruce had for years supported the widow and daughter of his former master, who was a planter in Virginia. They have been entirely dependent upon his bounty, and although there was no legal obligation whatever, they had treated him with great kindness when he was n slave, he had acquired the rudiments of an education from the tutor of his master’s son and felt a gratitude that expressed itself in this manner when he learned that they were in needy circumstances. » » » The Coroan minister fears that lie will have to close the legation uml go homo because he does not receive any money from his Government. The minister is very much in debt, and it is said that he has not received any remittances either dn account of his salary or expenses for a year or more, although he is n great favorite of the king and has twice saved his majesty from assassination. * * * The extraordinary feat of counting $2,000,000 in ninety seconds was recently performed by George Willnrshnll, a deputy in the sub-treasury in New York. The money consisted of United Stall's legal tender certificates of the SIO,OOO denomination. • * • One of the obstacles to the purchase of warships in foreign countries is the difference between the calibers of the guns and the United States standards, and ammunition for the foreign guns will have to be purchased in Europe. • e • Mrs. Victoria Conkling Whitney, of the Missouri bar, has been admit ted to practice liefore the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia ami the several departments of the Government. « • • All the private establishments in the country are now at work night and day and seven days in the week filling the orders of the ordnance department. • * * The President lias signed the Dill appropriating S2BO,(XX) to the Methodist Episcopal Church South for property of that association used during the wnr. It is reported in Washington that the United States Government prevented Spain from purchasing the Chilian battleship OTliggiua.