The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-14
WASHINGTON.
EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS.

| bAhSuLlNE AfPUlNTAENTH,
| WASHINGTON, May 13.-The followlu
appointments Of internal revenue gaugel
were made to-day: Lester Shaw, Sd Dii
trict OF Ohio; ]. B. Jones, 9th District {
Kentucky.
ACTS APPROVED.
The President has approved the az
authorizing the Commissioner OF Claim
to appoint special commissioner to tax
testimony, and for other purposes. Alsc
the act To carry out certain provisions c
the Cherokee treaty Of 1866, and for th
relief Of settlers on the Cherokee lands
ALABAMA CLAIMS CORRESPONDENCE
The President may to day or to.moroy
send to the Senate the correspondent
relative to the Alabama claims. It viii
include the latest kilograms, and SHOW
that several propositions have been mad
to accommodate the differences as to con
sequential damages, though no conclusion
has yet been reached. The correspon
dence will not be published unless tht
Senate remove the injunction Of secrecy
PRESIDENTIAL CONFERENCE AT THE
WHITE HOUSE.
The conference at the Executive Man
sion Saturday night was between thu
President and about dozen Republican
Senators, and not with Cabinet officers, a
has been incorrectly stated.
The President sent to the Senate to-day
the following nomination Merritt g
Page, Attorney General for Montana Ter
ritory.
The Committee of Conference on the
deficiency appropriation bill have agreed
to recommend the adoption Of the House
substitute for the 80 called Morrill, amend,
ment relating to the jurisdiction of the
Court Of Claims, with some additional
regulations regarding the Treasury in the
payment OF money authorized TO be paid
for cotton seized since the close of the
war.
MIR. CaseY's successor as Collector oi
Customs at New Orleans will not be ap.
pointed for several days.
The Secretary Of War has sent to the
Senate, reports from the commandants ol
the Springfield armory and Rock Island
arsenal, giving a comparative statement
showing the operations Of the eight hour
law. With regard to the Rock Island
arsenal, the commandant says he believed
1t was expected that under the law, the
employees would swork more willingly,
moreintelligently, and with more strength
and dispatch than under the ten hour sys.
TEN, and therefore more work would be
done per hour, 10 compensate or partially
compensate the government for the loss
Of two hours work. This expectation has
not been realized at that arsenal. 1t has
been claimed that il the men worked only
eight hours per day, that the additional
leisure time allowed them, would gener.
ally be devoted to reading and study,
and otherwise to the benefit Of
the physical, moral and mental condi.
tions, thereby making them be more and
more valuable workmen and citizens.
This expectation has been partially reall.
zed in the case Of the carpenters and me.
chanics, but has not been realized TO any
considerable extent in the case OF the
masons and stone cutters. The leisure
time has been generally an injury rather
than a benefit in the case Of the laborers.
Those in the latter class have generally
no houses Of their own, and their leisure
time In most cases was more productive
Of bad habits than good. The command.
ant at the Springfield armory says that q
careful calculation shows that an average
saving of about $500 q year for gas for
lighting purposes is efecIed by reducing
the hours frontier to eight, which saving
Is principally in the short dsyso Of the win
ter months the total saving in coal and gas
is $4,000 per year, ot 500 working days
in favor Of the eight hour system, about
equal to the wages Of three workmen for
the same time. On account Of the valua'
BILE nature and the amount Of work done
before and after the introduction of the
eight hour system, some sixteen different
models Of guns having been worked on
since the close of the war, 1t is found
impossible to give any accurate and
reliable data regarding the cost Of work
by the day workmen under the two sys
tens, except, perhaps, that it is believed
that the rates of the foreman, assistant
foreman, inspectors, helpers, policemen
&C., to piece workmen were not materi
ally afflicted by the reduction in the
length Of working day.
The House Committee on Appropria
tions by an unanimous vote this morning
authorized Palmer, Of Iowa to report the
postal telegraph bill introduced by him
and to recommend It's passage.
The Court of Claims adjourned to-day
until November, having disposed Of al
important cases. &