New-York tribune., 1876-03-24
CURRENT TOPICS At TIE CAPITAL.
THE IRON MANUFACTURES PROTEST.

WASHINGTON. Thursday, March %, 1876.
Judpe Kelley this morning telegraphcd to
the Secretary tho Iron aud st.e Association ~ fol
lows:
Does the iron and steel assent TO the rates pro-
posed by the Morrison bill fnot "hy Is dissent not c1
pressed
He received the following reply from the President OF
the Association:
has been receivrd With ono hall the furnaces aud ro'ne
mills the country standing idc with iron 81 al knls
WI wiG tni,ure n upon faiinre OF our most *
pcricnc,d and respected iron masters anh'uh'c'i
in the pu lie prints from iay 10 day with ages {"
IRON WORKERS necessarily reduced low that they and
their families scarcely escape from dcsiltuton ana
starvation TIE american Iron and ste Assoc at0n i
a-onishcd TO learn that reduction of dnc> on "i"fh
iron seriously contemplated by the ways ana mras
Committee and IL respectfully, through you, protests
AGAINST such action. II your tohmltiee Wou Nsit VIC
iron districts Of The country u woun I'm io % a m
selling iron below cost and men who are WORKING 10.
inye measure which would encourage the importation
OF foreign aud s further diminish NE home mar
ket We hope the Committee wall allow tlc duties on
ron ana steel and all other manufactures TO remain as
they are until the country rcco'cis from Us present
,dc,rcad os.rat.on. sAAI- j. REEVES, Picsid,hi
OBJECTIONS TO THE NEW POSTAGE BILL
The Senate Committee on Post Offices and
Post Roads to-day heard committee, consisting of
NJ ssls. W. T. Groom, p. Farclly, y. W. Bliss, Henry
Arthur, aud Peter Henderson, leather merchants,
seed dealers &c. representing the Ncwiork
Roard and Messrs. Birdseyc, Backman. and
d. g. Appleton, of New-York, representing the
publishing and school book trade, IN reference o Senator
Hainn's bill the postage for third class mail matter
Mr. Farrclly made the principal argument. He pro-
tested against discrimination In rates upon printed mat
ter and set forth the difficulty OF determining between
circulars or advertising sheets containing inforna
tjon ard irregular pub icatonS the postage on
which would lie arbitrarily determined by the
81, 900 postmasters Of the country: lie sild
tuat al rent rule differently on tue
same subjects aud frequently the law officer of the GOV
erunent reverses their dccsions He favored UNIFORM
system Of postage. siml, that II cannot possibly he
misunderstood. He opposed the provision that third
cass matter shall pay according to dis
Of our postal treaty with Canada, which allows circular.
10 be printed there and 10 the states at SAVING o
Mr. Appleton followed lie wanted law Ia allow bound
and unbound books 10 pay the SANE osiaes ne saw no
reason why a bound Wcbstc's spelling book should mol
60 a. cheaply Il no,el with yellow paper cover
ALMOST \ SCENE IN A COMMITTEE ROOM
The Spencer investigation continued
this morning. Jackson Morgan tcolored testified that
ne was the body servant Of Francis Widmer
late Collector Of internal Revenue. who died
ten months after the election OF Senator Spencer
with yellow fever; that about III or lZ
days before wdner taken sick he was arrested by
special Agent Lutz as a dcf,uter; that widmer rep
sred his pri, ate ami puDc papers before Ills sick
ness Gen. Morgan here stated that he expected 10
prove that Senator Spencer borrowed "idmci
money, knowing that lie was de'anltcr' or
that the money was public money Mr' Niy'I VI ,
sci for spencer oecied TO this question: aud stated ha
the obe OF Morgan attained ny nlahihR th's
assertion; that Sslave Committee 0i Alabaia iI
Thoroughly siftcd tins matt that the COMMITTEE were
al potca opponents OF spencer and that he deneab'
Mopan TO point sciEtia OF evidence wlch Woulu
sustain lif assertion Gen. Morgan rose To rrpiy wheh
senator Morton said no personalities would be p p'rin-
teI aud allowed Gen. Morgan 10 ask the Witness the
question tending snow tine borrowing of money from
Widmer by senator Spencer To witness replied ti, lie
did not know anything Of the sO-callcd tranHactioli
John Cashn per Of colorcd saloon In Mongoin'r
tcst nod In he mad Jones Of IOwndes win
three 90 bills III his hand about the time oi the Gee
lion nch he had reason to believe he had oDtahcu
from <, ,natOr spencer.
yor Eegpar Export Of COnossfonai P'oesedin| " Se'ond