Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-02-21
Our Washington Letter.


road C"H,io,i"S in III" 7|,vhu'icS-
The Snry""'-Pag'' Bill - The SHE NJ
Tmh'r Lon,l<-Rduction Of the .lrnty
-Remarks IF M. Wheeler, of N'r
York, dni reply Of Mr.. Nsmuh, Of
Opyon-Th" Iulim hspoctors--T Tie
Territorial Drl'yqtes and ne Commit
tecS-Iiomr Items.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31st, 1874.
! forward you the bill introduced bv
Senator Steward, of Nevada, to provide
for the incorporation and regulation of
railroad companies in the Territories,
and the bill known as the Sargent Page
Bill. relative to the sale of timber lands
in California, Oregon and Washington
Territory. The Territorial delegates are
not ut all satisfied with the railroad bill,
and ut their last meeting appointed
committee of their number to draw up
a railroad bill more in consonance with
their views. You can see that Senator
Stewards bill, if passed, would be viz
tually restrictive of the people of the
Territories engaging in railroad enter
prises.
The bill relative to the timber lands
will be so amended as to include all the
Territories, and will meet with little or
no opposition. This will bring into
market large bodies of land which have
heretofore produced no revenue to the
general Government, and at the same
time be of the great advantage to the
lumberinen in making the loggers the
legal owners Of the timber which they
cut, instead of being trespassers on the
public lands, and as such liable to pros
ecution.
THE rt'pIIC SURVEYS.
Congress is in q downright Bull Run
sort of Il panic on the financial question,
and on the plea of economy the usual
annual appropriations are being re-
duced in every possible way. In the
hue and cry on the subject of retrench-
ment some of the legislation may prove
penny wise and pound foolish" The
annual sum allowed for the public sur
veys will suffer largely from the prun-
ing knife, forgetful of the fact that the
more quickly the public lands are
brought into market, and subject to
purchase by actual settlers, the more
Immediately these lands are made valu-
able and remuncrtive. The amount
asked this year for the Surveyor Gen
eral of Washington is so, 900, which
Delegate McFadden hopes to obtain
without curtailment.
REDUCTION OF TIE ARMY.
There has been an animated debate
this week over the army bill. The Com
mittee on Appropriations proposed to
reduce the army some five thousand
men. The nominal force, at present, is
thirty thousand men, But as it was
shown many of the enlisted men are
doing the work of clerks, messengers,
watchmen, signal sergeants, commissary
sergents, hospital stewards, &c, and
saving the Government large sums of
money, because the duties which they
perform would not cease by reduction
of the army, but would have to be per-
formed by civilians at higher rate of
compensation. From these and other
causes the available fighting force of the
army is reported ut but little over TWEEN
ty thousand men. The reduction, there
fore, would materially affect the inter
ests of the Territories, by the necessary
withdrawal of garrisons ut several of
the exposed points on the frontier.
Mr.. Wheeler, of New York, the men,
Der of the Committee on Appropriations
who had the immediate charge of the
bill, made the very foolish remark that
if the people of the Territories had any
fear of their scalps, the better way
would be for them to withdraw from
the country where they run SO much
risk :; that he did not believe in pro-
tecting isolated settlements at such
heavy expense as the country at large
had been called upon to incur for this
purpose, and that he was in favor of
retrenchment of settlements. This Gre
ated much indignation among the west
ern members, and made them unite
against the reduction. They claimed
very properly that their people and
those of the Territories had right to
the protection of the general Govern
ment and which was not established
for the exclusive benefit of New York
and the New England States. Wheeler
was very happily answered by Kendall,
of Nevada, Mccormick, of Arizona,
and Nesmith of Oregon. The latter
said if the system of the member from
New York had been the policy of the
country, we would have had no settle
ments west of the Alleghanies. In the
course of his speech, which was listened
to with a good deal of attention, and
created much laughter, he denounced
the peace commissioners who, OF late
years, have been sent out to treat with
the Indians as stump orators of the
Lord" and " broken-down gospel ped
dlers," who always brought back false
representations of the state of affairs on
the frontier Army officers were the
only effective commissioners to send
among the Indians. When the Indian
anpronriation comes up in the House,