The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-01-08

General Gushing has Informed the President
of his readiness, if necessary, to proceed at
once on his mission, but he also mentioned a
previous engagement to address the National
Convention OF Mexican veterans on the 18th
inst. The Presidant replied thai nothing would
be done to interfere with this engagement
Gen. sherman ON Army Expenses.
Gen. Sherman was before the Committee on
Military Affairs to-day, to give his views on
the subject of reducing the expenses of the
army The summary of his opinion is that
the force of cavalry, artillery and infantry is
now at the minimum, considering the extent OF
land and sea frontier which it has to protect,
and that if the pruning knife was applied at
all it should be only to the engineer and staff
CORPS over which he has no control, and that
with the exceptions of the forts i'll New York
and Boston harbors, Fort Alcatrase, San f ram
CISCO harbor. and some forts In Portland har-
Dor, Maine, the other sea coast defences of the
country are not of the slightest Importance and
should not have another dollar spent on them.
lie recognizes in possible contingency the
Importance OF Fort Schuyler and the fort at
Wlliet Foiht, N. Y, in the event of Hell Gate
channel being opened, but thinks that unit
that time no expedition should be made there.
The Secretary of War and Adintast General
Townsend are expected to give their views to-
morrow.
Treasury Balances.
The following are the Treasury balances to-
day:-Currency $3,O47, 299; special deposit of
deposit, S3S, 900; con $50, ISL ,449, including
coin certificates 41 ,227 800; outstanding legal
tenders, $379,722,032.
Patent Decision.
In the Superior Court to-day, the following
decision was rendered.: Coffin VS.. Ogden ct al.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Southern
District of New York. This was bill to res
train an infringement of patent for an i'm
provement in locks and latches and to recover
damages. The Court dismissed the bill, find
ing that the plaintiff was not the original in
veDlor but the novelty claimed had before been
introduced in locks and latches by one Erbe.
The decree was affirmed
The Chief Justiceship.
Midnight.-It is positively asserted to night
at Attorney General Williams wro Ie ter
this afternoon, reques ting the President to
withdraw his nomination to be Gu eff Justice.
This report comes from trustworthy private
source, but cannot at this hour, be officially
verified.
Various Matters.
The President sent to the Senate to-day the
nomination of Col. Crook to be Brigadier Gen
erel.
Internal revenue receipts 1921, 1898.
A number of drafts for refunling of taxes
were stolen from one of the rooms of the inter-
nal revenue office between yesterday afternoon
and this morning.
The Work ON Public Buildings.
New YORK. Jan. IA Washington special
says it appears probable that the appropri tons
for continuing the work on the pnblic buildings
already begun will not be materially reduced
The diversity of interests is so great that it
seems impossible to discontinue the construc.
ton of any building begun except by an entire
suspension throughout the country.
Issue OF Circulating Notes.
Representative Houghton. in an interview
atter's approva lof his bill to authorize nation
al gold banks to issue circulating no ties TO the