Weekly Trinity journal., 1872-03-23
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
FROM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.
WASHINGTON, March s, 1872.

the enemy's camp once month, must be
silenced-at least until after the New
Hampshire election. This is the desperate
edict of the Democratic managers. The
last monthly debt statement, which Off
cially announces that twelve millions
more have been salted down during Feb
ruary, and about three hundred millions
within the three years of Grants Admin
istration, has furnished such conclusive
reply to the false charges of corruption
that the Democracy has nerved itself to
attack the veracity of the Treasury ac-
count. / wonder that Schurz has not put
forward this charge as he has so many
others equally untrue.
Some foolish fellow has been employed
to discredit accounts who has not the most
remote idea what they represent. He has
been trying to add, in violation of all
elementary rules of arithmetic, cats and
dogs together, and finds to his astonish-
ment that the sum is neither. In another
place he subtracts potatoes from apples,
and swears he has ten bushels of apples
remaining, when the whole process is an
arithmetical impossibility.
The Public Debt Statement is issued
upon principle-First, Of taking all the
outstanding debt, next calculating the
accrued interest to date, and then deduct
ing the cash in the Treasury. The cash
in the Treasury is ascertained by examin-
ing the reports of receipts and payments
to date ; and while this statement is ac-
tually correct as to what is claimed on
the face, it cannot be correct as to the
actual and precise statement of the cash
and debt respectively because it will take
months to bring that to an accurate ad-
justment.
The Register of the Treasury represents
on the other hand, in reports long subse-
quent, the actual payment of the debt
he has no cognizance of the money yet in
the Treasury, and he reports not the in
terest actually due, but the interest paid
at irregular times. Therefore TO treat the
'"""'iJ NOo1 sIaVoIHclII3 hlIhOuSh per
fectly accurate as to what it processes to
be, transcript of the Registers book, is
as foolish as the substraction of pigs from
dogs, and can lead to no results.
THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS FROM
OHIO.
During the late Agricultural Conven-
ton and since that time, have met
several delegations of Ohio farmers, who
while disconnected with official, still take
lively Interest in political affairs. Their
testimony is unanimous that President
Grant has been gaining ground since the
exposure of the baseless attacks upon the
Administration. These gentlemen affirm
that the President will receive the votes
Of large number Of Independent Demo-
Gratis who love peace and prosperity more
than agitation. They are not anxious to
follow the man who was we'll but would
be better, took medicine, and here he
lies" as the epitaph reads. All the mod
crately progressive elements of the nation
support the Administration, and the ex-
tremists of all shades, who are only uni
ted by the common bond of hatred and
destruction to existing things, will find
themselves in hopeless minority in No
vember next.
TEST IN LIGHTING GAS BY ELECTRICITY.
Your readers will remember that in
one of my previous letters / referred to a
job set up on the Senate by ingenious and
unscrupulous lobbyists, by which means
bogus patent gas lighter was introduced
into the Senate Chamber.
To-day petition of Professor Samuel
Gardiner, the Capital electrician, was re-
ferred to the Senate Committee on Con-
tingent Expenses for examination into
his claim of damages for infringement on
two of his patented inventions by the SEN
ate jobbers.
This Infringement was very clearly ex-
planned to the House Committee on Pub
lie Buildings and Grounds on recent in
vestigation of electrical lighters, and the
result of test in electrical gas lighting
has just been announced, showing the
failure of the Senate method and the sue
cess of the method employed by Prof.
Gardiner in the House and Dome-as fol-
lows, Uiz:
The Committee first visited the Senate
side alleged TO be lighted by the Wilson
patent gas lighter. From the floor they
assembled the narrow stairs leading over
the ceiling of the chamber where the gas
was turned on by hand, and the electric
spark lighter was applied by the operator.
AT the first application about sevcnty-fve
burners failed to ignite, at the second
about fifty and after third and fourth
trlal-mahy OF them catching the flashes
by close contact, without receiving the
spark-ten burners remained unlighted
from which the gas continued to escape.
Repeated trials left about the same num-
Der Of burners unignited. From the
time of leaving the Senate floor till the
first trial was completed, and the twenty
one panels over the Senate were thus i'm
perfectly lighted, from ten to twelve min
utes were employed.
The same Committee witnessed the
lighting of the House by Prof. Gardeners
method. He turned the gas on and light
ed it almost simultaneously by electricity,
by turning small key, and touching a
knob in silver-plated dial fixed in the
wall of cloak-room, and in the short
space of foar minutes and thirty-eight
seconds the entire seventy-seven panels,
each equal in size to those of the TWENTY