Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-12-30
FIRST EDITION.
FROM WASHINGTON.

AL LlBhhhn-A DELAWARE ASSOCIATION, ETC.
Especial Correspondence cf the Commercial
WAsHISoToN, d. O., Dec 80 1873.
What contrast has been presented by the
weather OF the past few days and that of the
preceding portion of the month Snow, hail
wind and rain now one now the other, like the
varied changes of kaleidoscope then all in a
confused combination as difficult to describe az
ii is unpleasant to face Old Probabilities must
| have been bothered at times to make head or
| tail out OF the workings OF the numerous wealth
| er cocks cropping out Of the roof OF his meteor
| illogical sanctum, II We are to judge from their
peculiar twi-tings turnngs and whirngs AZ ths
| wind endeavOred to do It's level best from all
| four quarters at once. Appearances certainly
| indicated that Winter having neoneciouely lin
| gered se long had in the way OF retribution,
determined to make amends by opening
| upon us in tho regular man OF
war broadsldo style. Had it not begun a few
days too eary we might have charged the same
/ to aud held to account for it those two thought
| less sheets, one of New York and the other OF
| this city, who utterly regardless Of the feelings
| OF humanity and wholly destitute OF the sweet
| laoteal fluid of human Kindness, deliberately
| pleaded at the head OF their columns for a
| Hail Christmas Hail" and "Seet Christmas
| Sleet,' the letters called forth by ali unworthy
| desire to "see New York and go it one better"
| Let that be aS 1t may however, the skies are
brighter now. and we trust they will remain so,
i
| hOmely phrase. "if there's one thing l hate
shove another it is a disagreeabe stormy New
| Years day. To think Of it is sufficient to send
me almost into conniptiOns
| Aud apropos Of New Years, comes the an
| nouncement OF the annual reception al the
| White House which it will be seen is to be held
| rs usual, though many thought in consequence
| Of the death OF the Presidents father-In-la law,
that it wonld probably be dispensed with As it
| is to be held the following order relating to the
| same may not be uninterestiDg to some of your
readers not verssd in the official etiquette OF the
| occasion:
At ii o'clock A. NJ. the President will receive
the members Of the Cabinet and foreign minis
| ters
AT II 80 A NJ. the judges of the Supreme
| Court OF the U1ited States, Senators and Repre-
eentatives in Congress, the Governor OF the
| District OF Columbia and suite. the judg-
| es OF the Supreme Court of the District
| Of Columbia and OF the Oonrt OF Claims will be
| received. At II NJ. the officers Of the Army
aud Navy will be received,
| At II 80 p. NJ. the Assistant Secreteries of
| Departments, the Assistant POstmasters Gem
eral. and the heads Of the several bureaus will
| be received
At 10 as II. NJ. the Associated Soldiers OF the
war OF 1872 and the members OF the Oldest In
| habitants Association OF the dstrict OF Colum-
biA will be received.
The reception OF citizens will commence at
+. NJ. (at which time the gates OF the enclosure
viii be opened) and will terminate at p. NJ.
The reception is most formal and consists
simply of Il hand shake with the President and
the customary compliments OF the season.
temporary platform is constructed from one Of
tie windows OF the Eist room TO the footwak as
exit f5f the large number who are generally IN
attendance during the ''ctlzens hour, thereby
preventing much confusion which in former
years was occasioned by the ingoing and outcOm-
ing lines Of visitors at the main entrance.
The rule discardng intoxicating beverages,
adopted by the leading ladies' OF society and 9TH
sI.- fNfKtt I1a
yoar and it is to be hoped with even more favor
able results, when we take into consideration
the large amount OF drunkenness that has al
ready developed itself during the present holi-
days.
The Judiciary Committee of the Senate
have prepared bill in modification OF the pres
ent Bankrupt law and will report IL as early as
possible after the recess. senator Edmunds Is
strongly i'll favor OF making the repeal of the
involuntary bankruptcy feature retroactive III Or
dor that debtors may be free from the oppres-
sion OF those who impatiently aud unreasonab!y
crowd them, when such forcing is to the dlsad-
vantage OF both parties. Prominent tnanciers
from New York and Philadelphia have been hero
in consultation with the committee and others.
The case more particularly involved now ID that
OF Jay Cooke X 90.
General Leggett, Commissioner Of Patents,
spoiled 'the boys" penknite gift thus Christmas
by the issuance OF clrcuiar prohibiting their
dntTibutiOn. II has been a custom in some OF
the Departments for the head OF each bureau on
Christmas, to present to each employee knlIe
gold pen, generally the former, and in the
Interior Department the bureau over which
the General presided was one OF them. The
''boys" therefore, particularly those who had
boys OF their own to breuk up the old ones Tor
them, had pleasant anticipation of replacing
lost or damaged ones by bran span new ones
But alas those anticipatlons were-not to be
realized. their worthy chief had searched IN
vain for any legal" authority to warrant his max
ing use of any portion OF the puDho
funds intrusted to his care" for that pur-
pose and consequently the practice must
be discontinued during his admins-
tration of the office. fortunately for the en-
plOyees OF tho other bureaus, their chiefs had
either not taken the pains to search out leBa
authority or viewed il from an equitable rather
than legal stand point, or didn't consider the
matter Ut all and they got their little psnknlVet.
The Commission authorize by the act of March
3.lS73, to select plan for now budding for the
Library of Congress have finished their la6orH
and made the award of premiums The hrst
premium of 81 500 was given TO Mesars H. D.
Pez and J. L. mithmayer architects OF tina city
Adolph Molander of b jston received the &C.
cond premium of 81 900. and S5huizs Schuean y
Clauss OF New York the third premium Of E5OO
In all there were tNenty-eight designs submitted
OF which ton, in addition to those mentioned,
were awarded the sum OF SlOO each Tor
mott. The design selected is OF the
Italian rennassaace order. The inte-
rior is arranged for large central
reading room, 100 feet in diameter, lighted from
above, and is surmounted by cnpula. From
this central room all the corridors radiate The
librarians office. &c, is at the front. The ca
pacity of the library is 250O,0OO volumes, but
1t is 80 planned that it can be enlarged to con-
tain 000, 900.
Ia the four corners of the building are eight
large rooms designed for eDgravlngs, photo
graphs &c. The basement is intended prinel-
pally for newspapers aud periodicals. Inc
whole interior for the use of the library is oil
iron. site for the new building has not yet
been decided upon though it 10 the Intention 10
have it as near as possible to the Capitol Tor the
convenience of the Senators and Members. 1t
will requlrs additional legislation lby Congress
before anything further can be done, and Mr..
6poffOrd Librarian, urges upon Congress IN us
report, the importance OF prompt provision
for its commeucemsn
A meeting of few Delawareans resident IN
this city was held on Saturday evening last for
the purpose Of forming State Association slmi-
lar to the other stated organizations. Hon u;
p Fisher was chosen President, Goo. Alfred
Townsend, Vice President, John g.. Sayille,
Treasurer and Richard Harrington, Secretary
The Republican OF this morning in referring TO
the same facetiously remarks 1T was pronos-
ed TO have board of directors but the IDEA
was abandoned when it was found that ths
would make every member an officer" Aud,
considering the fact that two OF the gentlemen
named have teen Uery slightly identified with
the State OF late years, there would appear 10 Dc
some truth as well as humor therein.