Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-01-30
FORTY.EIFTH CONGRESS.
WEDNESDAY. January 20

SENAIE.-Ihefe was the usual number of
memorials and. petitions presented during the
/ morning hour.
| Mr.. Edmunds presented 4 memorial from
| citizens of Wyoming, calling attention to Ger
tain acts of the legislature OF that territory re-
| latlng to the transfer of Judge VIM. Ware
| Peck. and alleging he was assigned to two un-
Sesned counties, because of the hostility of he
| gamblers and liquor dealers; as against the
interest of the people and the better class of
| citizens. Referred to com mittee on judiciary
siI,oi Hr; Idmunds m nd also also presented memorial
SIGned by Is out of 81 members of the Bar
| association of the District of Columbia, asking
| immediate action upon the bill To reoraaniZr
| the ludIclary OF the District OF Columbia. Re
! Ierrcd.
! Mr. Dawes had read letter from the Pen
| sion Office in relation to delay in action upon
| a claim for pension by citizen Of MaSSa-
| Ghusetts, stating thai the claim was received
| December L. 1871, and. in the regular order oi
| business, final action might be expected about
March lSt, 1879.
| He also had read a letter acknowledging
| receipt OF Pension Office circular giving
similar lnfOrmatiOn with Il remark by the ;p-
| picant that if he was to have the amount due
him he would like it before he died; but this
did not seem likely.
Mr.. Hoar said that in obtaining pension
thele was one necessary step which caused
| delay OF sixteen months, on account of an in
Sufflclent clerical force i'll the Office of the Sur
geon General. There was, he said. nothing
| connected with the government more dis
| graceful than the penury which refused the
necessary clerical force for this purpose
! There was 4 general expression of cOndeuna-
| tiOn of the delay. and a desire to have prnyi
SION made for sufficient clerical force to bring
| ZIP tie work.
| MI Davis tW. Va read extracts from tes-
| llmony taken by the House pension commit
| tee of the Forty fourth Congress. stating that
4 clerk named Stiles, borne on the pay-rOlS of
We Pension bureau, had, with two other clerks
of that bureau, been employed in the political
| headquarters for five months. while drawing
| pay from the Pension Office. He also said the
testimony showed that every summer from
| one TO five clerks were sent out nOminaIiy to
oCDS of from Il ha,t
sure fNcurSlOfS. OF course, the detail was for
the republican party, for no other would make
Mr.. EdmundS retorted that the gentleman
| was right: No other than the republican party
would make such detail. History shows that
| II the democratic party had been in power
have made politics the principal work of the
Office. The Senator proposed to excuse the
| sweeping REDUCTION of the clerical force. by
clt1llS NE detail OF one or more clerks for the
! purpose named He did not know whether if
was was true or not Ii true, the House Of Repre-
IehiatIyes ought to have impeached the Secre
| tary or bureau officer making such detail. The
! 1act tina! such particularly patriotic body did
| not SO lmpeach the officers threw diScredit
upon Pen the ne statement made in the report quoted
! MI Paddock: :t!tt tEetJa resolution providing
/ lof an lnQuTy"f '"'fHl. mission on the rth-
moVal OF the Natn...., observatory. into the
| pIopilety ol establishing Il second Obserya-
| tory Referred. 50.
MI. ChriStiancy then resumed the debate oh
| the silver bill, offersn & an amendment in the
nature ofa substitute, providing for the coin
! age OF a silver dollar of 434 grains. One-tenth
| fine, to be legal tender for all debts except
where Otherwise provided by law or contract
Ihe Secretary of the Treasury to be author
| lied to purchase not less than womill0nS nor
! more thap four millions bullion per month, at
| prices to be fixed from time to time, the gain
| to be paid into the Treasury. This act 10 re-
mann III force but one year, less revived by
| Congress
liOl SE.-Mr. Hayes introduced bill TO
prohibit any further destruction of legal ten
ders and to make the same payable for duties
| Referred.
MI Aldrich presented memorial of the
| grOcers of Chicago i'll favor of a uniform duty
! on sugar without reference to color. Referred.
| WOMAN AND WHISKY.
! Mf Frye asked and received unanimous
| that the judiciary committee had for
! two hours this morning listened TO a most
Interesting argument by Mrs. Isabella
! E. Hooker in advocacy OF giving women the
! right to vote. One of the reasons most strong
! ~ urged was that in the matter of temperance
the women would always be found voting
| right. AS an earnest and determination OF
| their faith he had been hOnOred with the re-
quest land he claimed it rs an honor II o present
apetltlOn which was response to Mrs: Hook
el's assertion. 1t was the petition of thirty
| thousand women OF America asking Congress
| 10 leglSlate for their protection in the terri
tories of the United States. and in the District
| OF Columbia against the free sale of intOXcat-
| ing liquors. he presented the petition on be-
half of the Womans Temperance Union,
| WHICH Hdu III organization IN nearly every
! state. The petition was over one thousand
feet long, and was signed by 10000 women. as
stated above. The immense petition which
had been elegantly bound up with red, white
and blue ribbons, and Which had been repos
| ing on pedestal decorated with the Ameri-
can flag, in front of the desk of the official re
porters, was then handed up to the reading
| clerks desk and read.
Mr.. Eyre moved its reference to the com
| mittee OF Judiciary.
! MI Buckner thought it should 90 TO the
ways and means, as it would largely affect the
revenue.
The reference was made to the judiciary
| committee.
| A Personal EXPLANATION.
MI Hewitt tN.i) rose to a personal eX-
He was Feported in some Of the
voted for the Matthews silver resolution in
| the House on Friday. He voted against the
measure, and he ayailed himself of the oppor
! tunity now to make another remark. The gen
| tleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Butler) said
| yesterday that he voted fer the resolution be
cause the condition of the workingmen could
not be made worse than at present by any
change. He (Hewitt) had voted against il be-
cause he believed it would iniure the laboring
| boring men would be paid in a currency worth
but so cents on the dollar. They would lose 10
per cent, and to quote Scripture. as Mr.. But
| Ter had done, he would say that he believedthe
| laDorer was worthy of his hire.
Inc House then went into committee of the
whole ON the bill for the withdrawal of spirits
! in bOnds-Mr. Carlisle in the chair.
| The subject was under discussion when our
! report closed.
VIRGINIA's PUBLIC DEBT. - The finance
| committee OF the Virginia house of delegates
! reports the debt of that state (West Virginas
! portion OH, to be, principal and accrued in
! tereSt, should this interest be capitalized
! SAL 20, ,752 16 the total annual interest upon
| which aggregates S., 2,45s, ,7164l The total net
revenue Tor the year 1877, on basis of 50 cents
on the $780, was s., 449 90: current expenses
| OF government and amount due free school
fund $l,5! ,6691s leaving net revenue appli-
! cable TO the payment Of interest 1887 SIS As.
showing on the present basis of taxation there
would be a deficiency of $1,57l 170.95 in the
payment OF interest Oh the state debt and cap
italized interest. The report is indOrsed by
both the state auditors
WHAT an impractlcable fellow that Schurz
IS! The idea OF SecretaryS going out to in
Spect an institution on his own hook, without
giving any notice of his coming ng.-[SpriagfeId
Republican.
LERDOIsT RAID FROM TEXAS INTO MEXICO
A Galveston dispatch states that an ncursion
has been made into Mexico by the Lerdoists,
under Col. e. Salinas. The towns of Cordelia
SaVinaS and Hidalgo in Tamaulipas, were
captured and the principal men seized, who
were forced to pay 5000 for their release.
Ihe ~ raid was planned on the Texas side of the