The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-08-31
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
Great efforts have recently been made
to 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 device which
human ingenuity could invent was re-
sorted to in order to smuggle liquor
through the guards, and so now on the
frontier. 1t 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 slightest COM
Function of conscience. Now, as when
the country was first settled, it seems a
question of determination. This paci-
fication of some tribes of Indians is i'm
possible, 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
belligerents, and hanged the hundreds
of Illicit traders who incite the Indians
to bloody deeds.
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
General LIE Due has determined to in
trOduce a 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 induce production by our
farmers, and eventually render US inde-
pendent of foreign countries for our sup
plies. California is our most promising
State for experiments. Its raisins are
fast crOwding out the Spanish crop.
Cheap Chinese labor will soon remove
the only bar to tea and coffee growing,
and no doubt will enable us, when the
Southern Pacific road is completed, to
grow many of the tropical luxuries and
necessaries for which we rely solely
upon other Southern countries. 1t is
far better to amuse public sentiment by
judicious inquiries and Investigations
than to flood the mails with cheap seeds
of no use to anybody, and, knowing
Commissioner lie Dues great executive
ability, we feel assured he will leave no
stone unturned in order to make his de-
partment a success in every respect.
He has an immense field before him.
fruits demand vigilant and intelligent
watchfulness, and, in so far as his means
will permit, we know he will not only
seek to provide new agricultural indus
tries, but will endeavor to counteract
and remove their enemies, thus making
his bureau a necessity instead of an or.
nament.
| NOTHING AND NEXT TO NOTHING.
Quite a contest has recently been car,
ried on at the Treasury Department be,
tween the American Prototype Co
and the Graphic Co. as to which of then
shall have the contract for printing
bank checks, the bid of the Graphic Co
being to do the work for nothing, anC
that of the Prototype Co. was one
hundredth of one mill per thousand sam
Piles. The Prototype Co. claims tina
the bid of the Graphic Co. was not suct
as contemplated by law or by the adver
tisement inviting bids, and asserts tina
an offer to do the work for nothing j!
not bid to do it at so much per thous
and. The case has been brought before
Assistant Secretary French, and argu
ment made by counsel in favor of the
Prototype Co. 1t is not believed, how
ever, that the Secretary of the Treasury
will take the same view of the matte
as the Prototype Co., but will allow
the contract to remain with the Graph,
Co., who have commenced operations
FELIX.
Washington, D. c., August 10, 1877