Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1876-02-02
FOrty.FOurth Congress.

latiOn of the closing hours of the last Coz
gress on the postal rates, and rcstorin
the old rates of one cent for every tW
ounces on third-class matter newspaper
pamphlets, etc.) There was no oppositio
to the bill, but Mr.. Randall and his demo
cratic followers, couldn't let the opportun
tyto make political capital out of it 90 by
and so took occasion to place the who'll
burden Of last winters mistake upon tn
republican appropriations committee
the last Congress, and promising bette
things of the democratic committee {
this, which brought out the Scriptural re
tort from Mr.. Garfield. " Let not him VIII
putteth on his harness boast as he VIII
taketh it off, The rest of the Afternoon
was spent in debating the proposed reduc
ton of salaries and allowances of the pro
fcssors and cadets at West Point the dem
| ocrats generally favorinr and the repub
leans opposing the reduction. Durin:
| the debate Mr.. Hale of Me. sharply crit
clsed the attempt of the present democrat
! lc ma Oritv to arrO~atc to themselves al
| the credit for retrenchmcnt and economy
and gave figures to show that the reduc
tons during the past two years blythe repub
lloan majority had amounted to over $3l ,
not to waste time and effort on fields whicl
had been already cropped. There Wa
plenty of other ground worth going over
What the people wanted was not picayun,
pairing down of the not excessive salarie,
of able professors, but uprooting and com
pletc overturning of the rings anu
frauds that had fastened and fattencd upon
every branch of the public service. Or
these subjects Congress could not lcgiSlat,
too closely. 1t might also curtail the ex-
travagance in public buildings -cnormous
structures which, perhaps. would never be
needed; at any rate We're not needed now.
THURSDAY. !Sc}latc. A bill was passed
to settle the land contest between the
western railroads and pre-cmptorS and
homestead settlers, by confirming the lat
tiers entries of public lands within the linn
its of railroad grants, in cases where such
entries have been made under regulations
of the land Department.
House. A bill forbiddinr former officers
OF the Government, from acting * counsel
or agent in pressing claims, or obtaining
patents in Il department in which they
have been employed within two wears.
was passed. This is a cut ut such cases rs
that OF cX-c0mmissio ncr Thachcr. who
has set up in Washington since his resin
nation. The House wasted the bulk of the
day sitting in re>ultless discussion of the
proposed reduction of salaries and allow
anccs of professors and cadets at West
Point, the only new phase in the discuss
sion being the expression hv Mr. White of
Ky, off, desire to see the rctrenchment
process include the reduction of the mum
Der of cadets from 80 to 20. likewise the
strength Of the army. and he vcnturcd the
that Congress itself would do
its work cutie Us eiiectuallv and speedily
with only 200 members as with the pres.
INT Number,
FRIDAY. Su14Ht. The centennial LilI
was reported f.vorably; and the Louj.i.n.,
question came up on the question of Eu>ti>:
credentials to the seat claimed by Pinch
back, and Thursday was set for dIscu,,i,n
The death of Representative Starkvr.,thnr
vas announced and the Senate adiournrJ
House. The consular and dj,lom.1ic
appropriation bill was reported ana in il
alaries are cut down about twenty ,,n,.
ent.
Mr.. lluntoon of Virginia. from the Com
1lttec on Revolutionary Pensions. rcportcI
bill to amend the act of March H. 1S-1 |
ensioning soldiers of 1872. and to restore
} the pension rolls those person, whose
tlnes were stricken thcrctrom in ron,n-
uence of di,loyalty. He moved to have it
ut upon its passage
Mr.. Congcr of Michigan made the point
lat 1t must first be considered in Commit
,e of the Whole The point of order WI,
l-tained and the bin referred.
CitH- lluntoon. by the way. was not a
'lerul officer in the late rcbcllionD
The House with Mr.. IIa>kin> of y. Y. in
le clEtlr went into Committee of the Whole
the West Point appropriation BILL Halc
Me. moved to make the pay of cadet,
600 per annum and the debate grew very
arm. Hale accusing the Democrat, of a
fetcn>c Of economy while they presented
lst claims for los>e, sustained during the
ar, Mr.. Cox said all proposition, for
'onomv would be fought bv the republic
ms and Hale lnslnuHtcd that Cox would
IT dare TO vote against the biz claim,
hen his ''ma>tcr> dictated. Cos became
rathy and abused the chair for not riy
= HIM the floor TO answer: for this ne
'poo@lzed afterwards. but soon cot the
'or and wanted to know of Haze what he
cant and being answered grew uuparlia- /
cntary and charged Hale with hayin"
en- known a> "Blain"'s little pup. or
Elaine little hub lItlc also made some
dish reply after which Cox withdrew his /
enslVe language. Cox said he had been J
Douglas democrat ami had never ac- ,
owledged Southern democrats rs his |
'sterS. The pay C the cadet, was fixed
$50.
The death Of Mr. >talkweathcr was an Il
unced. Il
SATURDAY. Hou~,. The session wa, y
debate only, and was dull and thinly G.
ended. Mr.. Schleicher of Texas read
Ong haramoncv speech in favor of re-
nptlon. by commencing the redemption d
the smallest fractional currency. next II
ne, ut the rate Of : 600, 900 Il month. cl
Ill the higher grades are all DESTROYED. NJ
ieving that it could all be acco mplished
hrcc and one-half years Mes>rs. Ward u
New York and Campbell of Illinois al VI
made financial speeches, IN dAIills of to
xas one IN favor of frce-tradc q.
loNDAY. iScnatr. a large number of
$ and resolutions of all sorts were re-
vel and referred, includinga Joint reso
on to amend the constitution so as to nc
It the president, vicc-prc>idcnt and lie
ators by Il direct vote of the people and re
remainder Of the days sitting was ~.
Mt in further rcsultlesS debate of the
Use bill TO pay the interest on the Dis sl
I 800 bonds. up
fo1se. Mr.. Morrison of Illinois. intro un
ed his three big bills relative to the pr
fl, to-day aud the talk is tonight, that le'
: are to be brought up in the ways and VIC
ms committee ut once and by it report II"
o the House, the object of Morrison cei
Speaker Kerr being to get the tariff =
stion up before the currency debate. N'
oh has been on the carpet ever since GU
opening of the session. VI
he House finally passed the West Point no
lemy bill, to-day, with al the retrench- 'io
It's put into it by the appropriations lc'l
mittee. only amending it SO that the WI WI
IS get 500 u year and find them VIII
cs, instead of $50 with rations, or
proposed by the committee, and pro- IN =
nc for the detail of Il competcnt ''i''
officer to act rs 1uartermlstcr and see {
the cadets get their supplies at the ;.
I'll cost price. wit
lie mania for investigations is such that sun
css than fifteen separate ones are now soo
4 way,thc subjects being straw bids"
other postal matters, the Alaska COM ''N
ia. company, the Pacific mail subsidy, am