Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1900 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

One of the most prominent figures in the political life of the national capital is Senator James K. .Jones of Arkansas

chairman of tbo Democratic national committee. Mr. Jones is regarded by his colleagues as a man of sound ideas, and great political sagacity. He is one of the veterans of Congress, having gone to Washington as a member of the House of Repre-

sentatives in 1881. He served two terms in the lower house, and then was advanced to the Senate, of which he has been a member fourteen years. Senator Jones is a Mississippian by birth, but since boyhood has lived at Washington, Hempstead County, Ark. He served as a private in the Confederate army throughout the war, and at its close went back to the humble life of a planter. At the age of 34 he began the practice Of law and at the same time entered politics, being elected to the State Senate in 1873. He was president of that body during one term. - He has long been regarded as the most influential man in Arkansas politics. Four widows of revolutionary veterans are still on the pension roll, although the war of the revolution ended 120 years ago. They range in ago from 83 to 90. Seven daughters of revolutionary soldiers are still drawing pensions. Of the $69,000,000 which has been paid in revolutionary pensions $20,000,000 was drawn by widows. One pensioned survivor of the war of 1812 remains. He is Hiram Cronk, 99 years old, and his home is in northwestern New York. The last pensioned soldier of the revolution did not die until 1869. He was 109 years 6 months and 8 days old. He lived in Freedom, N. Y. More widows than soldiers of the war of 1812 were pensioned. In that war 296,916 soldiers starved sixty days or more. The pensioned were 30,000 soldiers and 35,000 widows. To the sole survivor of the war of 1812 the Government is now paying $193 a year, and to widows of that war $293,097. To Mexican veterans the payments now are sl,107,594, and to widows of Mexican war soldiers, $818,067. On the Union side the enlistments for the civil war were 2,778,394. Of these there died in service 349,.944. The pensions paid ,on account of the civil war amount to $2,300,000,000, and there are now on the pension rolls 991,519 veterans and widows. The pensioners who died last year numbered 14,066. At the rate the’veterans are dying, it is estimated, there will be a reduction of the pensions to $80,000,000 in the next fifteen years, a little more than one-half of the present annual appropriation. Since the present system of money was adopted in 1860 the United States has issued a grand total of $8,152,621,108 in United States notes, treasury notes, gold, silver and currency certificates and other forms of paper currency, of -which $7,250,683,489 has been presented for redemption, leaving outstanding $901,937,619. How much of this money is actually ' in circulation, and what proportion of it has been permanently lost, worn out or destroyed can only be conjectured. United States notes or greenbacks have been issued to the amount of $2,99-7,189,808 and $2,650,508,792 has been presented for redemption, leaving $346,681,016 outstanding. The latter sum is daily reported to be the amount of greenbacks in circulation, but, striking an average in the opinions of the treasury experts as to the amount lost and destroyed, the actual value of greenbacks outstanding is not more than $332,000,000, and is growing smaller every year. Speaker Henderson wears a wooden leg and uses a heavy walking stick. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh, and the injured leg was cut off on the battlefield to save his life. The surgeons made a bad job of it, the wound never healed and the Speaker has lUkyi subjected to four operations upon the stump since, the last about two years ago,, On that occasion he declined to take ether and sat upon the operating table directing the surgeons. As the three former operations had been unsuccessful, he was determined that the fourth attempt should not fail and his supervision did not bring bad results, because the stump has troubled him less since the operation was performed. At the close of the last fiscal year there were 2,617 railway mail routes, of a total length of 176,726.95 miles, over which, the mail cars traveled that year 287,591,269.21 miles. The paid for the railway postofflee ears $4,175,724.86, and for the transportation of the mails $31,942,159.88, or a total to the railroads of $36,117,875.74, which was an average of cents per mile for transportation and postal cars combined, or cents a mile for the cars done. Congressman KiW the successor of Brigham H. Roberts of Utah, who was not permitted to take his seat in Congress on the ground that he was a bigamist, has undertaken to convince his colleagues that his predecessor should be recompensed for certain of his disbursements made in the endeavor to obtain his seat. The labor bureau has completed a very important investigation bearing upon the subject of trusts and the effect of the consolidation of industries upon wages. The results will be published in the July bulletin. Detailed and accurate information has been obtained of the variation in wages paid to the different trades from 1880 to the Ist of January, 1900. The report will be a very interesting and-valu-able contribution to the discussion now going on. Don’t get “tight" because money La

J. K. JONES.