Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-04-23
IRON WASHINGTON.

! FROM WdSHINGTON
| TRYING TO LEGIsLATE THE TRADE DOLLAR or
OF ExIsTENCE-AN INGENIOUS swINDL1Sc
CAsE-REIMBURsING PHILASTHEoPIC wHA1.
Egs-THE EXODUS INVESTIGATION, AND VA
EIous OTHER MATTERS.
Several bills concerning the trade dollar
! having been referred to the House Commit.
tee on Coinage, a substitute has been report
| ed by that committee directing the Secretary
of the Treasury to cause to be exchanged, at
the Treasury and Sub Treasures, legal tender
| silver dollars for trade dollars, at par to re-
coin the trade dollars into legal-tender dol.
| lars, and TO coin no more trade dollars. The
| committees report shows that trade dollar
| to the amount of. S3j, 9sg $50 have been
coined, of which amount S27 ,Os9, 81 have
| gone to foreign countries Although the
| trade dollar contains seven and a half grains
more of silver than the legal-tender dollar,
! Its currency value is less, because it is not a
legal tender. Reference is made to the diff
fculties attending the circulation Of the trade
dollar in this country, and the committee de
clares that it is an absurdity to have two
kinds of silver dollars in circulation. both
bearing the stamp of the Government-the
one containing 4l2t grains Of silver, worth
81, and the other, containing 42O grains of
silver and worth only 90 cents.
curious case involving some sharp prnc-
tice has recently been discovered by the
Treasury officers. A man obtained the mum
bers Of some United States bonds held by ali
acquaintance of his, and in order to raise
money on them, concocted a story to the ef-
feet that the origna owner of the bonds WAS
dead that previous TO his death he gave the
bonds to a brother who subsequently en-
barked for Europe on vessel, the name of
which is given that the vessel went down
and all on board were lost. The vessel re-
ferred to actually did go down and all on
board were drowned. The person having the
numbers of the bonds applied at the Treas
ury Department as the administrator of the
original owner, alleged 10 be dead for du-
plicate issue Of the bonds said to be lost by
shipwreck, and upon producing whRt appear
ed TO be properly Endorsed letters of admins
tration, his explanation was accepted, and
the bonds were duplicated. reissued, and at
once redeemed Recently the original bonds
have been presented for redemption, and an
investigation has revealed that the presumed
administrator was an impostor that the sig
natures on the papers held by him were for
geries, and that the bonds had never been on
shipboard, having been held by an old gen
tlemAn who did not need the money, and
hence refrained from presenting them for re-
demption. The bonds will. Of course, have
to be redeemed again The question before
the department is, whether or not il will re-
quire special appropriation.
Thirty American whaling vessels became
imprisoned in the ice in the Arctic Ocean in
September, 1871. Seeing that there was no
hope of saving either their vessels or their
property on board, the masters held a meet
ing, aud sent out boat expedition to look
for help In cleRr water below the ice bar
rier, six whaling vessels were seen. To these
the 30 masters sent an appeal, asking them,
in the name of humanity, to abandon their
business and take the beleaguered sailors to
some civilized port, feeling assured that our
Government, so jealous of its philanthropy
will make ample compensation for all your
losses The six masters at once forsook a
very promising enterprise, and carried the
unfortunate whalers TO Honolulu. There
were about l, 200 of these passengers, and the
Government paid for the passage of each So
in gold. Five Of the SIX rescuing vessels
were under American management. To these
S34 OGj were paid as passage money The
five had caught few whales before the ap-
peal came TO them, and the receipts from
what had been caught were about SO 900
Their owners asked the Government to make
good the loss occasioned by the interruption
of their work, and the Treasury Department,
in 1872, turned the case over to Congress for
settlement. Eight years have passed, and the
rescuers have not been paid. In the state
ments submitted by them they have asserted
that judging from other voyages, their los
were over $50, 900 each. The House Com
mittee on Claims has made a long report up
nm thaua h.
of $40, 600 to each vessel Reports in favor
of the claims have been made III previous
Congresses, but have not been acted upon
Judging from the course of business thus far
and the condition of the Gale ndar there can
be little hope that action will be reached in
this Congress. In the case of the one foreign
vessel the recommendation is made that her
owners be paid the sum of s., 500 in addition
to the 81, $50 paid them for carrying 90 sail
ors to Honolulu.
One of the witnesses before the Exodus
Committee last Saturday was BENJAMIN Sin
gleton, colored, of Kansas, who was called
by Mr.. Window. He considers himself the
originator of the whole Kansas exodus move
ment. He had previously founded two col
ored colonies i'll Kansas, and flooded the
country TO use his own expression) with cir
culars inviting emigration TO Kansas He
hoped the exodus would go on until the ne
groes had all left the South. Then a change
might come in the disposition of the South
ern people, If SO, he would advise the ne
groes to 60 back, for the South was their
best home if they could be treated we'll there
The witness then detailed outrages that he
had seen committed on negroes in the South
He wanted the South to be taught lesson
to be obliged to choose between the pleasure
OF bull-dozng and the possession of negro
muscle. Mr. Singleton is a man of peculiar
appearance, and gave his testimony in an
excited manner, swinging his arms and call
ing upon heaven to redress the wrongs of hiG
race.
Gen. H. E. Payne Commissioner of Pat
ents, who recently rendered his resignation,
will retire from office May /, and will be sue
ceeded by Edgar NJ. Marble who has filed
the Office of Assistant Attorney General for
the Interior Department for several years
Mr.. Marble will be succeeded by Joseph X.
McCammon, Of the Attorney Generals office.
Mr.. McCammon has occupied an important
position in the Department of Justice since
1873, and has had special charge of the suits
against the Pacific Railroad Companies. all
of which were successfully prosecuted under
his management The promotion of Messrs.
Marble and McCammon is a proper recoeni-
ton of the public services of those gentle
men.