The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-16

Letter from washington.
Congress is by not very rapid advances
settling down to the work of LEGISLATION.
The House has been laboring under
! various disadvantages that precluded the
possibility Of work being rapidly pushed.
The experience Of the greater part of the
members necessitates slow progress by
the committees, and it is we'll that ! de.
sire to exhibit great dispatch has not
seduced the committees into presenting
badly.digestcd material to the House.
Then, too, tho prerequisites for leeisla-
ton that would ensure economy in rub.
sarily protraeted investigation of the
manner in which the funds had
been disposed Of in past times.
The committees were called
upon to unravel the intricate methods by
| which the various departments had sue
ceeded in laying such burden of taxa.
ton upon the country. Such investiea.
tons are proceeding with fair CELEBRITY in
all the departments. The committees
have deemed it best to hold their exami.
nations in private, on the political ground
that if the disclosures expected to be
forthcoming were permitted to dribble
out little by little, they would have less
effect upon the public mind than if pre-
sented en- n,dsse in the reports. Some
thing may be said both for and against
the soundness of this policy, but on the
whole it ie, perhaps, best that the dag.
nosis Of the disease should not be pub
lished until remedies are ready to be of.
fered simultaneously.
You have perhaps already heard that
the old measure for making q new terri.
tory. to be called Pembina, out of north
ern Dakota, is again before Congress. 1t
is in charge Of Judge Kidder, delegate
from Dakota. The capital of the pro.
posed territory would probably be Bis.
lnarck, although as yet it is not abso-
lutely decided whether that place or Far.
go should have the preference. The
friends Of the bill maintain that the cost
of an additional territorial government
would be actually less than the present
expense Of the section to the government.
The vast extent of Dakota, and the i'm.
perfect communication between the CAPT.
tai and the northern part of the territory
render necessary an excessively heavy
outlay in order to transact the judicial
and other business Of government. The
people of the district in question, claimed
to plumber some fifteen thousand, are said
to be greatly inconvenienced by their
practical separation from the capital, and
the interests of the region to fall far short
of the development that they would OBJ
tain if the inhabitants had a government
near enough to make itself felt vigorous.
ly. Judge Kidder holds that it is decid-
eddy to the interest of Minnesota that the
new territory should be established. In
the Senate, Hitchcock, chairman of the
committee on Territories, is heartily in
favor of the project. have been unable
to learn who will be appointed to the
principal Offices TO be created should The
territory be established, but doubtless
fore they exist. Ex-senator Ramsey
has, it is safe to assume, finger in the
pie.
All the government employees have
been for some days in state of the Ut
most trepidation. It is proposed to re-
duce by ten per cent. all salaries above
81 200, and to reduce the working force
of the several departments by one-ifth.
This is certainly a very strong measure
toward economy, and will, Of course, be
strongly opposed. I fancy that that Con-
CHEESEMAN'S lot will for some time to
come be the happicst who has
fawact op,,oin+ooc in tho rovoc,~,ox,4
Offices. The lamentations and entreaties
to which members are bound to be sub.
jected will be enough to make the most
enduring sigh for the quiet of private
life and bewail the unhappy fate of the
peoples representatives. It is estimated
that saving Of seven millions of dollars
will be effected by the enactment of the
aforesaid reductions. Whether or not
the public service can, without de!riment
to efficiency, withstand such limitation
Of outlay, 1t is certain that the groans and
expostulations of the threatened employ.
es are to great extent unreasonable.
That class of people take it as a hardship
that they are required to work, or at
least to appear to work, for length of
time daily which would be thought
very moderate demand by an immense
majority of the clerks engaged in private
business concerns. Lately there has come
from some of them moan because on
Saturday they cannot be free from three
o'clock in the afternoon. instead of at
four. True, in many Of our cities it has
become the custom for large business
houses to close at three or earlier on
Saturday, but in nearly all such cases
the employees are for the rest of the week
confined in their Offices until two or three
hours later than is the case with the