Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-08-17
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence of the Bulletin.
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WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug. 10, II.
The President, early in the coming
week, and all the members Of his Cabi-
net, except Secretaries Thompson, Sher-
man and Schurz, are going on trip for
the good of their health, and also for
the purpose of becoming better acquaint-
ed with the dear people Mr. Hayes
has since his return from Boston been
quietly spending his time at the Sol
diers Home, and it seems fitting that he
should again take little outing" We
became used to this wholesale absence
of the Executive during the warm
months when Grant was President, and
do not therefore object to Hayes going
out among the people $ to see and to be
seen. Notwithstanding the formality
attending his receptions in the various
cities to which he goes, yet good must
result from seeing the country and
meeting the people, though not so much
of course as were he, Dom Pedro like,
to refuse public receptions and travel
like any common citizen, seeing things
as they are without the obsequious at
tentions of time servers, who now haunt
him wherever he may go
THE INDIANS.
The authorities here have determined
to enforce the law prohibiting the sale
of arms and ammunition to hostile In
dams. The recently avowed intention
of Sitting Bull to recross the frontier
with 300 braves has had something to
do with the issuing of this order. The
Secretary of War knows that if the In
dams are given plenty Of guns and the
good stuff to put in them" that they
4 are capable of making things very lively
for our little Corporal's guard of soldiers
on duty on the Northern frontier But
few anticipate any goo1 result from this
order, owing to entire inability of the
government to enforce it against I'M
scrupulous traders and smugglers. Dur
ing the War of the Rebellion no order
or espionage could prevent the soldiers
from getting whisky. Women have been
arrested with as high as twenty canteens
full of whisky suspended from their
waists, under their skirts. Every de-
vice which human ingenuity could in
vent was resorted to in order to snug
gle liquor through the guards And so
now on the frontier, it is thronged
with traders as INSCRIPTIONS for money
as an Indian is for an enemy's scalp,
and who will sell Sitting Bull or any
other savage whatever he may want in
arms and ammunition without the slight
est conjunction of conscience Now,
as when the country was first settled, it
seems a question of determination, this
pacifcation Of some tribes of Indians
and the government will never have
peace until the positive warfare of the
early New England settlers shall have
broken the entire strength of the bellig-
erents and hanged the hundreds of illicit
traders who incite the Indians to bloody
deeds.
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
Gen. LIE Due has determined to intro
duce new system in his Bureau. He
will institute inquiries into the physical
characteristics of the various sections of
the country with view to ascertain
their suitability for growing tea, coffee,
or other articles Of import which we do
not now produce, hoping thereby to in
duce production by our farmers and
eventually render us Independent of
foreign countries for our supplies. Cal
ifornia is our most promising State for
experiments. Its raisins are fast crowd
ing out the Spanish crop. Cheap Chi
nese labor will soon remove the only bar
to tea and coffee growing and no doubt
will enable us, when the Southern Pa
cifc road is completed, to grow many of
the tropical luxuries and necessities for
which we rely solely upon other South
ern countries. 1t is far better to arouse
public sentiment by judicious inquiries
and investigations than to flood the mails
with cheap seeds of no use to anybody,
and knowing Commissioner lie Due
great executive ability we feel assured
he will leave no stone unturned IN order
to make his Department a success in
every respect. He has an immense field
befare him: The enemies to our cereals
and our fruits demand yigilant and intel
ligent watchfulness, and in so far as his
means will permit we know he will not
only seek to provide now agricultural
industries but will endeavor to counter
act and remove their enemies, thus ma
king his Bureau a necessity instead of
an ornament.
NOTHING AND NEXT TO NOTHING.
Quite contest has recently been car
ried on at the Treasury Department be-
tween the American Photo-type Co.
and the Graphic Co. as to which of them
shall have the contract for printing bank
checks, the bid of the Graphic Co. being
to do the work for nothing and that of
the Prototype Co. was one hundredth
of one mill per thousand stamps. The
Prototype Co. claim that the bid of the
Graphic Co. was not such as contem-
plated by law or by the advertisement
inviting bids, and asserts that an offer to
do the work for nothing is not bid to
do it at so much per thousand, The
case has been brought before Assistant
Secretary French and argument made by
counsel in favor of the Prototype Co..
1t is not believed however that the
Secretary of the Treasury will take the
same view of the matter as the Photo
type Co., but will allow the contract to
ROMAN with the Graphic Co, who have