Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1899 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Later developments in the arrest of M dangerous gang of counterfeiters at Phil*delphia and Lancaster by officers the direction of Chief Wilkie of the secnß||| tervice show that the gang was abort put into operation one of the boldest aMHgI most daring schemes ever contemplated by criminals. The plan was to manofac- MM ture $10,000,000 in S2O, S3O and SIOO MM notes. Jacobs, the leader, worked OU theory that every man could be purcbSMK| ed, and it was his intention after making this large amount of money to buy a tBWM ceiving teller in a subtreasury, deposit counterfeits in sums of not less than 000, take a certificate of deposit, draw against them, receiving genninejsM money in return. This daring scheme W«iMH being worked out, and when Mr. WilkieMM and his assistants interrupted it found a SSO plate completed which waijMM even better than the plate from which tiMHH SIOO counterfeits were printed and whichfEl baffled the skill of experts. These men had the machinery for making paper|M| which is almost an exact counterpart of MH that used by the Government. It is mated by the commissioner of internalMH revenue that the Government lost about MM $240,000 as a result of the work of Counts '; 1 terfeiter Jacobs and his gang. Four mM wornout plates were found in the possea-HM »ion of these men, each of which is capablgM of printing 40,000 sheets of ten stamaJMl each. This made 1.600,000 stamps, of which could be used for stamping a bogM|| containing fifty cigars, making 80,000,000®'-.‘ which have perhaps been sold under terfeit stamps at $1 per thousand less thauM. 3 the market price, thus making a tremanfl dous profit since they escaped paying revenue tax of $3.65 per thousand. aH The payment of the $20,000,000 Spain in return for the Philippines coimH|| pletes the sixth great land purchase wl|| which the United States has been a parts|jM|| Just ninety-six years ago President Jrt-fflH ferson began the thrifty practice by pajfiHH ing $15,000,000 for Louisiana, thus motyS...* than doubling the national domain. assuming claims of American citizowK against Spain to the amount of $5,000,000 ■ President Monroe secured Florida, and a part of the same deal Spain relinqmahafli S all claim to territory north of CaliforaiilH President Polk gave $18,250,000 for NeU®'--'-’ Mexico and California in 1848 and in 1858f|i| President Pierce paid $10,000,000 for thatHpart of Arizona and New Mexico south the Gila river. President Johnson $7,200,000 for Alaska in 1867. In assailing the national debt of Hawaii the ed States has practically paid cash <o|9|| those islands. Porto Rico is the only poariK& session which has not been directly pUgjMp chased. The Department of Agriculture has ett-| couraging reports as to the condition « i winter grain in Europe. From points in Russia there have been MwJI plaints of insufficient rainfall, but on .thgjMig whole the condition of the wheat crop i*ff & represented as being satisfactory. Geml’Oj many appears to be the only country in Europe where there is a doutifl as to the condition of the cereal cropaM | There considerable damage seems to havi® •'.'i been done and the crop may be short Tbra outlook for India is for considerably than a normal crop. The harvesting 1899 is practically concluded in IndiaA! The Department of Agriculture to the apparent authenticity of an esti-li ' mate of 70,000,000 bushels of wheat fo|9 Argentina, of which between 45.000.00WaHj and 55,000,000 bushels will be available | for export. ;M| Up to June 30, 1898, the had expended $2,610,921 in printing th*fl official records of the Union and erate armies, and it is estimated by PugHS lie Printer Palmer that before the wofllMfej is completed the total expenditure wHMt probably exceed $3,000,000. Thia it flaw 000,000 more than the total amount preprinted by Congress for the of a new Government printing office, worfiMjH on which will begin within a few fiayatilM The “Rebellion Records,” as the work IjM called, is probably the most publication ever attempted, the comprising 111 volumes, averaging I,OOQM pages each, and the final edition will fl* 1,298,700 separate volumes. The first copy M was sent to the public printer Aug. 1880, and it is doubtful if the work wfflM||| be entirely completed by the same draHS next year. President McKinley is becoming as veterate a smoker as Gen. U. S. To this is attributed the development (gM his nervous condition. The Presideaj-BM smokes almost continuously from the tinketb-w he goes into his office in the morning atl 9 o’clock until he retires, about During the reception of official callers tflgK President smokes. At the cabinet mat® '<l ings smoking is also indulged in, ano9 whenever the door of the cabinet room WTM opened to admit a visitor a blue haze oraS| tobacco smoke is visible. The is a believer in the theory that tohacaiMM smoke is efficacious in stopping the gic pains from which he had been a I er for the last few months. ’ |||| Comptroller Dawes has announced thiM'result of his call issued April 5, Whi«l shows the condition of the 3,583 natianaitWl banks in the United States. An abstract of the reports which come from the 3,581 national banks of the country, briefly giw| ■:< en, shows the total resources to be 63&.138.160. loans and discounts ing to $2,403,410,895, and reserve of law®<C ful money $494,217,975, of which the goMffi<-i holdings were $133,190,652. The depositgM aggregated and the age of the reserve held is shown to been 30.89 per cent. The expenditures of the Government the last ten months were against $313,763,882 in the ten months ended April 30, 1897. X The