The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-03-04
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WASHINGTON. ID. c., March q

WASHINGTON, ID. c., March O.
The beautiful snow that fell yes
terday almost stopped travel on the
streets of Washington, Slop. newt
able slop, always follows a fall Of
snow in the capital 1t is now food
ing the cutters and running a strong
lcompetition with the water carts of
the District upon the hard road bed
Of the streets. The change from suf-
locating heat, which troubled US for
few days prior to the snow storm,
was so great that colds are quite fash
iOnahle in consequence. .-...-..
Among Yesterdays capital gossip
are the, facts that Gov. Hartranft, of
Pennsylvania, was on the floor of the
IL s, Senate, and it is not improba-
bile, that he desires to see how the
thing works with view to following
the, common practice of graduating
into the SeEstc from the Gubernato-
rial chair; Rca. Admiral B. F. Sands
has been retired. although there was
an effort to continue him in Office and
rank until after the transit of Venus;
Secretary Delano and Indian Com
missioner Smith were before the Ap-
preparation Committee and opposed
any sweeping reduction from the es-
Inmates submitted. 1t appears that
certain sections of the Adjutant Gen
erals Office will soon have to stop
work if a special appropriation is not
very soon made The White House
was visited yesterday despite the
storm-the Mayor of Philadelphia
and other Philadelphians waited on
the President Mr.. +. III. Smith and
Judge Jones of Ohio have been APP
pointed to fill the vacancies in the In
dian Peace Commission. Secretary
Fish was before the House Commit
tee on Foreign Affairs yesterday and
spoke on the Encouragement of the
consular service system, salaries, &c.
The District Court has decided to re-
strain the issue Of Land Patents and
Certificates 20 Caleb Gushing, until
an account can be stated between him
and Mrs. Mira Clark Gains, who is
admitted in the answer of that gentle
man to her bill to have an interest in
the land .. ...... f..
Having heard Gen. Buffers speech
yesterday in the House on the subject
of the franking privilege it is not an
easy thing to Withhold the need OF
praise due to great intellect and the
bard practical good sense with which
be treated the subject He showed
the absurdity of an attack recently
made by Mr.. Dawes on the carrying
of dead weight in the mails With a
table of statistics prepared at the New
York post office in his hand he show
ed that from that city alone 81 tons
of mail goes daily to all parts of the
country; that only 400 pounds Of this
was Of the character named by Mr..
Dawes, viz: packages not containing
reading matter; that 8 tons Of it are
letters that pay over twenty million
dollars year, while Az tons Of New
York newspapers pay little over one
million dollars; that where these pa
pers contain two columns of carefully
prepared reading matter, they also
contain four whole pages of advertis-
ing not all of which is wholesome
reading: that misrepresentation Of
what is said or done by members of
the metropolitan press goes practical
ly free from end to end of the coun-
try, and it will cost a member hun
dreds of dollars to send reply to his
constituents; that postal cars are gov
ernment Offices on wheels and that
whether the mail cars go. compare
lively empty the cost is the same
that from the days Of Franklin all
our pure forefathers sustained the |
franking of public business through
the mails though for long time they /
We're carried by men on horseback.
He secuted the idea of pretending
that the franking of public documents
and speeches of members is a burden
upon the metropolitan press and de-
lnounced the kind of education which
that press carried through the land.
He defended the country press from
the aggressions of their less scrupu-
lous city cotemporaries and sent home
telling hits at the sensational newspa-
pers of the times. He showed that
the unequal taxation consisted in the
present discrimination against Con-
gressmen who could not transact the
public business without paying post
age on it, nor defend themselves from
attacks in the newspapers because. as
be well knew, they would not publish
retractions when convinced of their
error A modified privilege will no
doubt be adopted, though there is
strong opposition to it, A test vote
will be taken in the House to-day.
Another contested election case
will soon come before Congress where
in John NJ. Burns, of the 10th Ken
tuckv district contests the seat of
John ID. Young. Mr.. Young secured
the seat on a formal certificate of elec-
ton by Democratic officers. His al
legged majority is only IsS, while a
much larger number of votes polled
for him and rejected from the count
Of Mr.. Burns by the election officers
appears in the published testimony.
From the rough treatment received
by Mr.. Burns at the hands of his op-
ponent; it appears to be no easy or
pleasant thing for Republican to
run campaign for Congress in Ken
lucky against the dominant party of
the State In the first place it is |
shown that intimidation was used bv
the friends of Young, and threats
were freely made that the Ku-Klux |
would kill the Radicals found voting
against him. Then the Democratic |
officers, who acted irregular and fail
ed to properly sign the tally lists ac-
cording to the requirements of the
law Of Kentucky, threw ort Bumer-
Gus votes in favor of the contestant.
while they contend illegal votes for
the sitting member to a large extent
over and above the majority claimed
for him. Ii is TO be hoped that if
justice is denied to Republicans in
Kentucky, it will not be denied bv
the proper Committee of Congress-
and that the whole matter will be