The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-01-08

me by allowing the circulation of such rumors m
answered. feel it my duty to address the House
through You; as its presiding officer; on the
and searching inquiry in the premises, and
earnestly urge that the House taxi such order as
will enable any charges supposed to exist, to be
brought forward by these any other persons. and
vigorously investigate the same Respectfully, your
obedient servant. II. w. BLODGETT.
A numerously signed petition also laid before
the House stating that certain grave rumors have
been widely circulated in Chicago and elsewhere.
affecting the honor and dignity Of Judge Blodgett.
and requesting an investigation OF the same.
THE METRIC sYsTEM-REPoRr OF THE COM
UREs.
The report made by Representative Marsh to-day.
from the Committee Coinage. Weights and Meas
ures. presents condensed history Of the metric sys
tenn, and that the first essential thing for the
civilized world establish at this time fixed aud
determined unit of international linear measure
ment. The metric system has received,
they say the support Of statesmen and the earnest
sanction Of scientists. both in the and the old
world, for the past half century more; and the
committee remark that they cannot. therefore.
longer treat with indifference the appeals
that are being made to. Congress from to time by
the scientific and business men of the country
urging the adoption of the system in such depart
ments Of the at least have the largest
relations with those countries and nations which
have already adopted it, in whole in part.
earnest Of purpose adopt it entirely all gov
ornamental transactions as the people OF the
United States shall be educated up to that point in
its when they will prefer the to the existing
system.
At the last session Of Congress upward Of $4,000
was appropriated for rent Of buildings for the safe
keeping and preservation Of finished weights meas
ures balances and metric standards, and to meet
treaty obligations arising from convention for the
establishment and maintenance Of en- International
Bureau of Weights and Measures At or Paris,
France; and further to utilize the STANDARD metric
weights and furnished the several States by
act of Congress, and which must prove entirely
less to them unless the system made obligatory in
some form and to certain extent such Of the
government departments having constant or daily
relations with the States and their peoples,
that they may DO brought into daily use
TO secure this desirable end the committee
earnestly recommend the early passage Of the House
BILL introduced at the last session Congress-
tabsh the metric system in the post offices and GUS
tom houses Of the United States 1t provides that
on and after July l. 1880. for all postal purposes,
fifteen grams shall be substituted for half
an ounce. and in progression; and
that the Postmaster General shall furnish all
mated in grams of the metric system. and at
pense not exceeding $5OOOO and and after July l.
1880. the metric system of weights and measures as
legalized in section 1860 of the Revised Statutes
shall be obligatory In tho assessment OF duties
imported commodities in the custom houses of the
United States.
The metric system has already been adopted volun-
tary by the Bureau of Statistics, the Medical Pur-
veyors Office and the Coast Survey. and in some of
tho. bureaus of the Treasury Department. Computa
tons made according to thissystem.
TAXATION OF UNITED STATES NoTEs-BILL OF
SENATOR M DoNALD.
The bill introduced by Senator Mcdonald to author.
ize the local taxation Of United States notes pro-
posed to that from and after it's pasasgc any
State Territory of the United States may provide
for including in the valuation of the personal
property of the owner holder OF any
legal tender notes of the United States denominatcd
lawful money. owned held by any person corpo-
ration assessing taxes imposed by the authority
such State Territory. and may impose thereon
provided that said shall not be greater rate
than assessed upon United States gold or silver
coin in the hands Of individual citizens of such State
or Territory"
THE SHANGHAI CONSULATE INVESTIGATION.
The testimony taken to-day in the Seward inves-
tigation was confined to a comparison between
the fees entered the "blotter' of the
Shanghai Consulate with those entered on the
'fee book" and credited to the government.
The comparison for the year 1871 only. and
showed discrepancies aggregat!ng about $3.50. This
difference wholly made up of the omission from
the book of class OF items that appeared ON
the blotter and that the fees charg bills of
SALE in connection with vessels.
ARMY REORGANIZATION.
A meeting of the Joint Committee the Rcorgan-
cation of the Army held at the residence
of General Burnside this evening. general
interchange of views OF the members pres
ent occurred, and the details of the bill
as reported discussed, but material changes
were decided. prominent member Of the CON-
mittee said tonight that although he should not
state fact he did not anticipate the recommen
dation of any material changes in the original bill Of
the joint committee.