The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-18

tdHeu anu bOOn inc Lleulenant GeneTai
was promoted to full General, and our dear
old Admiral went hand in hand with him to
the full admirals stars This Is the way
affairs stand now. The navy has an admiral and
the army has a general; Grant is President,
Farragut is dead Porter is Admiral, Sherman
is General; and the same grades extend and
assimlate down from those high officers to
the lowest. Whenever the two branches of
the service are thrown together they know
exactly who they rank with and how they
stand. The system is good, and experience
has proved it SO; but our poor, poverty
stricken country calls for retrcnchment, and
where does the blow first fall? Not in the
places where extortion and fraud have long
been known to exist, not where the barrel is
actually leaking at the bung, but upon the
poor grade of commodore in the navy.
There the blow falls, and the wisdom of the
assembled representatives of the people has
had under discussion this grave subject, and
when the bill passes, as 1t probably will, to
let the grades of admiral, vice admiral and
commodore lapse or die out, the country will
be safe. The saving to the government will
be some seventy or eighty thousand dollars
per year, and still the bunR hole is wide open.
Congress Ycsterday-A Tariff skirmlsh In
tho House-The Negro Palace Car BiIl
In tho senate.
The House of Representatives yesterday
furnished another illustration of the facility
with which important discussions are extern
porized In that body on the very slightest
provocation. A bill was reported from the
Committee of Ways and Means permitting the
importation, free of duty, of certain machinery
for the use of sulphur mining company in
Louisiana, and of a plate-glass mandatory in
Indiana, the provision in regard to the latter
being. however, general in its operation and
applying to all such manufactures. 1t was
risky proposition to be reported by protec-
tionist-Mr. Maynard, Of Tennessee-and to he
supported by the champion of protection in
the House-Mr. Kelley, of Pennsylvania-and
that fact was pretty clearly exposed in the
argument of another member of the COM
mttee-Mr. Finkenburg, of Missouri-who
pressed, with great logic and force, the idea
that what was good for the interests subserved
by the bill was good for all the other manu-
featuring interests of the country, just as the
proposed relief of the shipbuilding interest by
the remission of duty on iron, copper, cordage,
&C., would also be relief to all other con-
sumers of those products, and as the remission
of duty on house-building materials in Chicago
would be an equally welcome boon in every
village and town and city in the West
The bill was clearly an introduction of the
Wooden Horse within the fortified city of
Protection. Mr.. Dawes, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, realized that fact, and made a
speech from which 1t would be very difficult
to fix his position on the great questions of
revenue and tariff; in fact, the whole speech
was confession of unsettled convictions-of
decided lack of faith In any creed of political
economy. He described his wavering state of
mind pretty feliciteusly when he declared his
intention to endeavor to protect American
interests against protection as well as against
free trade. Mr.. Dawes, if not man of strong
convictions, is highly conscientious man, and
as he is evidently studying the great questions
before his committee with determination to
find such solution for the problem as will be
most advantageous to the country at large,
we will give him credit for his good intentions
and hopefully await their qualification.
Another interesting discussion sprung up In
the House in still more unexpected manner.
Mr.. Poland, Of Vermont rose to personal
explanation, and repealed suggestion, made
in Washington paper, imputing an improper
and interested motive for resolution which
he had offered some days before, Intended to
check the innumerable calls on the depart
ments for information which is often already In
possession of the House. Mr. Garfield, of Ohio,
chairman of the Committee on Appropria-
tions, endorsed the good sense of Mr.. Poland's
proposition, and called attention to the enor-
nous expense Of the public printing of the
government, largely increased by such means,
the estimate for the next fiscal year being over
two millions Of dollars. He presented some
curious illustrations of the mass of public
documents annually printed at the Govern
ment Printing Office, stating, for example, that
the quantity of ink purchased for it every
year was sufficient to float the largest man. Of
war in the navy. Mr.. Scofield, of Pennsyl-
vania, prescribed as cure for the evil the
abolition of the franking privilege, to which
Garfield cordially assented. Two of the demo-
cratic members, however-Randall, of Penn
sylvania, and Eldridge, of Wisconsin-ima-
gined that they discovered in this zeal of Gar
field to uphold Mr.. Poland's proposition an
attempt to cover up the frauds of corrupt
officials by preventing calls for information.
We can very readily understand the propriety
Of putting stop to these promiscuous de-
mands upon the departments without imputing
any such improper motives as those gentle