Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-01-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTEr,
correspondence of the Bulletin.
WASuINGTON u C -

AehiNdioN' -. ". Jan. Is, rs.
SENATOR NJ ,RToN
The eloquent tr,' ,utes o na;d IN tho
Senate yesterday o the memory Of this
deceased states man came al;te from
pc political inev and opponent. All join
ca IN COMM ending his great abilities, his
perseverance and energy,
ana ant, as being one in whose vocabulary
there was no such word as fail And
Wh,le some referred to past political
differences, they eulogized his merit as
a man and friend. The eulogy of his
successor. Mr.. Voorhees,, was short, but
couched in most beautiful language. 1t
was the fitting tribute of an orator
whose genius alone has elevated him to
MIR. Morton's seat, and the worthy effort
OF soldier ready to do honor to a gal
liant foe. The minority report so far as
prepared by Mr.. Morton upon the Chi
nese immigration question has appeared,
and shows him strongly inclined to at
tribute more good than evil to the influx
OF the Chinese on the Pacific coast
The report is, of course, incomplete, as
his last illness seized him in the midst
of his labors. But it goes far enough to
demonstrate to rejecting people that
the Chinese problem has two sides to it,
and that the very good accomplished by
them is the one great reason the hood
lum element is so inimical to them
They work for low wages because frugal
in their expenditures, and their vices
are due to their entire ostracism by the
Americans and the absence of the social
and refining influences of wives and
families. In our intercourse here with
Californians we find great diversity of
opinion as to the merits and dement's of
the Chinese, and we opine that Senator
Mortons report reflects the views of a
large class of intelligent men on the Pa
cific coast.
DR.. G. A. White, the Pateontologist
of Prof. Hayden's Z. S. Geographical
Survey, reports an interesting observa
ton made during the past summer in
the West, in regard to the habits of
frogs and toads He found in the great
plains, at the base of the Rocky Noun
tains, traversed by the South Platte
River and its tributaries, that where If
rigation bitches have been introduced
toads acquire the same habit of diving
and swimming under water which, here
tofore, have distinctively characterized
frogs Formerly the toad would, when
disturbed, merely dive into the water,
and rising Immediately swim to the
shore again But now, like the frog, he
dives, burrows at once into the mud and
there remains until the danger is past
The Doctor regards this as the resump-
ton of an instructive trait common at
one time to both frogs and toads, and
aroused from its dormant state in the
toad by the changed physical conditions
of that country which irrigation has
produced. New and increased insect
life, grasses and vegetation of all kinds
have always followed irrigation in these
hitherto barren plains, but this is the
first instance reported OF a radical
change effected in the habits Of reptiles
through the effect Of water
THE WHITE HOUSE.
The President commenced his series
of public leeves on the night of the 10Th
which being the first of the season, was
attended by all the Cabinet officers and
their families, and many of the foreign
diplomats Etiquette does not require
that these officials should be present at
succeeding levees. The citizens gener-
ally were, as usual, in attendance, and
the East Room was crowded with call
ers. Mrs. Hayes has made some changes
in the custom Of receiving at these le
wees. Gen. Grant stood alone, Mrs.
Grant being somewhat removed from
him, and the visitor was first presented
to the President and afterward to Mrs.
Grant. But now Mr. and Mrs Hayes
receive together, and the reception
seems shorn somewhat of its formality
There can't, of course, be much cordial
ity shown, for hardly one in ten of the
motley throng has ever before seen the
President, or ever will again, and hence
it must be formal and confined to mere
handshaking The Spanish Minister'S
wife was present, and most elegantly
dressed; her costume being richer and
more aristocratic in ornamentation than
any other SEEN She is beautiful wo-
man, and was the object of universal at
tention.
WOMAN 5 SUFFRAGE.
The Woman's Fighters have not ac-
complished much in Congress, though
they have made many friends among
our people, and that, too, in classes OPP
posed to the movement Heretofore
Mrs. Stanton and her sisters have had
standing between them and our people
certain prejudices, or rather, we should
say, certain women whom our ladies
would not acknowledge or recognize I'M
der any circumstances whatever But
during the late convention these dele
gates, like Mrs. Stanton and Hooker,
have been called upon by hundreds of
ladies who heretofore secuted them and
their objects. FELIX.