The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1854-12-20

: mote IRON ,1qe lssulpg .pnn X, and. iQrclnR the
! better currency OF gold and SILVER outs 81
bfSTSs Tbitsd SUITES Hdsidg placed, SslH-
ceipts andiexpendH6fes' upoaith constitu-
tiohAl, curreneybf sg5d1 and silver a is an in
Athe power Of the States, by, Pr9hibiti9g stbg
! banks from issuing apd CIRCULATING notes -pf
a small denoifnation, and by making lie
! constitutional currency the basis oFttkeir
own receipts nodH ex pendturesI Ilto giKef the
f victory at lttimes to til g eopstitutipHalep
reney, keep, a suGisieney in tbe country, fpr
II all the purposes of circulating medium,
l and prevent the evils and losses that always
II attend on inferior currency. aFso oitHIoom
I.iu The disorder now felt i'm money y1matters
grows out of the future ofsmanY of these
4 banks, and the enrichment Of the circuls-
ton and discounts OF others, which ia the
last six months have reached ferty or fry
millions of dollars; and in part out Of the
/ effects produced by the large imports,sand in
part out of the want of confidence between
lender and borrower! 1t cannot be attribu.
ted to the shipment If gold and silver, which
is nothing bit consequence growing oat
of these cnuses. 1Fsa Boo .Eeci 10 soissis
I The work onethe coast survey Continues
to make good progress. and the means aP-
pear to have been carefully and econeEii-
eally used; If the work shall have the con-
tinued support of Congress for few years
more, the fullest and most reliable knowl-
edge will be obtained of our extentive coast
and OF all our harbors, to the great advane
tage Of our navigation and commerce. saiss1
" a synopsis Of the report of the Light
| house Board accompanies the report, and
the further wants of the service are brought
to the atLention'of Congress. 'as,1a
The late melancholy disaster TO eship
New Era has shown the inbdequacy of the
mortars heretofore used for throwing lihe9
to vessels in distress, and establishing .
communication between the wreck and the
shore, Experiments are now being made,
with the view Of providing a mortar, noun
ted, and capable of throwing ball and line
the requisite distance. The appropriations
will not be sufficient to place all the !staS
tions in an entirely effective condition. - .a,i
The steps taken by fhe department. 80
carry out the measures of Congress for the
erection Of new custom houses are noteds
Appropriations to make the mint buildings
in Philadelphia and New Orleans fre-proof
are Recommended. ta-9ssrh
The report Of the supervising Inspector
of steamboats, shows the loss of sixty-thres
steam vessels from the lst of January, 1854
to June Of the same year, with the causes
| thereof The table exhibits ten by collil
sions, seventeen by fire, FIVE from ice, TWEEN.
ty-three from snags, and states that niBsI
teen of them were lost from inattention
and negligence. thirty-one from accident,
and one from being uRseaworthy,o and one
from unavoidable causes. This exhibit
proves that much remains to be done, under
the steamboat act, to secure capable and eff
fcient officers on steam vessels, for the
preservaton'of life. y $50 2fng "
y1 These, and the, recent losses upon the
ocean, properly raise the question whether
the law should provide greater security in
the construction Of steam passenger ves-
sels, or leave them as now to the ship
owners. ..H g. .Eg3 DaIqI3GiFa
The propriety of providing for supervise
| ing inspectors on the Pacific coast is again
recommended. The attention of Congress
is also called to the penalty for coilisiohs,
under the act of 1888, which only applies
to the destruction of life on the yesseirthe
officer commands, and does not embrace the
killing done on the other vessel, -.
There seems to be no express provision,
in any act Of Congress, that the records
and papers of the several collectors of cuss
toms shall be public property, and left in
the Offices for the use of their successors
nor any, provision making it felony to make
false entries in the collectors books, or re-
turn false accounts to the treasury 9ls8stsa
1t has been customary in many cfsthe
districts for the outgoing collector to carry
away the books and papers. on thu, pretence
that they were private property, because
purchased out of the emoluments of the
collector. under the regulations of the treas.
nry. They have been declared, by a treas
ury circular, the property of the United
States, and directed, to be preserved and
handed overto the successor. -,
The fact that these books we're carried
away was 'a2cause ofsuspicion as toltheb ins
tegfitS ,Df the .colIector, and in sfolF ports,
tor wit: 0swego, Cleveland, ,Tolede,1 and
Milwaukee, where, other strong circumstan-
ces strengthened the suspicion, investiga.
tions were instituted. H"'asShoI
The accoaHts~of the late collector at 0ss
wego were ascertained TO have suppressed
duties actually collected by him to over $75,-
900; the. collector at Cleveland to an amount
almost Of $ll5000; and the collector at
Milwaukie to over $4,000. These are the
first frauds of this description that have
ever been 'hfdn9ht to light. They are now
, presented to- the consideration of Congfess,
lorr such additional legislation ass may be
: deemed necessGry, y,r.asoI qs. ,eb 6,g..ia .drv
5 In the, revision of the revenue laws pre-.
E pared at this department, under a resolution
) Of The Senate, and now before that body,
clauses have beeninserted 1or,the, purpose
of, providing the proper remedy. There
$ I,has. been no revision of the, revenue laws
5 since The enactment 1859. The necessity
of d'reVision is respectfully urged up6ntthe
!, consideration Of Congress. ~ tssis hsgoA
3 he The important interests confded to this
: Department require that the clerical force
f should be snot only capable, but Trustworthy
in all respects. ] find there has been great
} improvement in that force In most cases,
the best 6oftthose found in o6iceuwere, e,1ra-
d tanned, and under the system Of classi6cs-
E ton, when vacancies occurred, q rule was
: established to promote, for capacity and e.
a fciency,d from the lower to the higher iclas-
!, hsesy whilst the.required examinations haye
! ksecureSbimerel capable oleEks for the sfisst
I class 4aa; d,ae IA, Il, sasa,, 4 - Mad
lf The rules Of the, Offices are strictly en-
} forced, ana there exists commchdabIes aii.
dast6ga ca caPacity, Efficiency, end, il, bslieF-
II ed, integrity, in the corps employed; The
ii idepartmeiit Is being brought into good con-
iq8hiShYgeT oaj Rua essSSaaJ 1t 9tGgaisb
II I1i All Of which isrdspeetfullS submittsdx
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