American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-04-10
CURRENT TOPICS.
WHAT Is GOING ON IN THE WORLD.


gard to the settlement by the Kansas Pacific
Road, which is now part of the Union Pa
| cific, Of its five-psr cent. account under the
Thurman bill, terminated in victory for the
| Government. The Interior Department a
| few days since notified Mr.. Dillon, Presi-
dent of the company. that il the money due
was not Immediately forthcoming, an in
| junction would be issued restraining the
Union Pacific Company from paying its div
idend. This brought President Dillon to
terms, and he at once telegraphed that his
company would settle on the basis demanded
by the Department. Under this settlement
the Kansas Pacific will pay to the Govern
ment a little over $452 900 instead of S359, 900
which the company claimed was the amount
| due.
The Public Lands Committee of the
House have agreed upon bill which cedes
to the Territories of Dakota, Montana, Ari-
IONA, IRaho, and Wyoming seventy two Sec
tions eAch Of Incorporated public lands,
| to be selected and located under direction of
the Secretary of the Interior, the proceeds
of the sale of which shall be applied to the
support of the universities of learning. Not
more than one-tenth of the lands shall be
sold in any one year, and the funds SO OBJ
tanned shall be invested in United States
bonds, the interest on which, when it reaches
the sum Of SOC, 900, shall be available for the
purposes of the bill.
SECRETARY SHERMAN, on the 31st,
made a speech to his old neighbors at Mans
field, o., in which he avowed his candidacy
for the Presidency, but said that ''if the
Republicans of Ohio do not fairly and fully
in their Convention express apreference for
mo ri wit hist NH al
nimity in the National Convention, my name
will not be presented to that Convention
with my consent"
THE Kansas Republican State Con-
vention, held at Topeka on the 31st, nomi-
mated full Blaine delegation to the National
Convention. The resolution for the selec-
ton of the delegates in a body, instead of by
Congressional districts, as formerly, was
carried by 1874 to 100, which
represented the strength, respectively, Of
the Blaine and Grant elements. The Grant
men protested against the action Of the Con-
vention, and the delegates from the Second
and Third Districts subsequently met and
chose contesting delegations to the National
Convention.
THE House Committee on Ways and
Means, on the 30th, took up the Tariff ques
ton and voted, eight to three, to place paper
and paper-making materials upon the free
list. They did not stop here, however, but
added large list Of other articles, with the
purpose, as claimed, of concentrating the
friends Of all protected articles against the
bill and thus insure defeat.
A sUB-coMMIrrEE, consisting of Rep
resentatives Beale. Ross, Deusher, Hender-
U.s<
been appointed to investigate the report
upon the proposed system of reservoirs at
the head waters of the Mississippi.
THE public debt statement of April
shows a decrease in the debt during March
of $14, 1897. Cash in Treasury, $20l ,106,-
$50; gold certificates, 1886, 500; silver GER
tificates, $11 ,2S9, $40; certificates of deposit
outstanding, S., S49, 090; refunding certifi-
Gates, $3.50, 45e; legal tenders outstanding,
$40, 1851 ,O16; fractional currency outstand-
ng, $i5,625,297.
Hon. JOSEPH MEDILL, of the Chicago
Tribune, has written letter to the Ways
and Means Committee on the paper ques-
ton. He says that the sudden rise in the
price of paper has filed the minds of pub
fishers with alarm. The paper makers meet
pour memorials into Congress representing
that the newspaper business is so fiourishing
that it can stand any thing without
being ruined. They mention, how
ever, only the stronger, and not
the ninety and nine publishers who are
driven to the wall by them. Mr. Medill
makes the point that this is case where
two classes of manufacturers ask Congress
to discriminate against third class who
can not throw off the burden of loss on the
public as other dealers can, but must sustain
it all. If they raise their price, they lose
their subscribers. If they reduce the |
size of their sheet, they crowd out
advertisers or make their paper |
unsat isfactory to readers. Publishers are
manufacturers, and they give employment
to ten times as many operatives pulp or
paper manufacturers, and artificial in
crease in the price Of paper must necessa-
rily afft ct the salaries of all their employees.
They have no protection, and only ask to be |
relieved from an unnecessary, remorseless,
burdensome and damaging tax, imposed for
the emolument of paper-makers.
THE reservoir system for controlling
the floods of the Mississippi is attracting
equal attention from Representatives in
Congress from districts bordering on
the Missouri, the Red, the Arkan-
sas, and other great tributaries of
the Mississippi River. Mr.. Plat Walker, Of
St. Paul, recently appeared before the
Committee on Commerce and asked that an |
appropriation be incorporated in the River
and Harbor bill instructing the engineers to |
ascertain whether the reservoir system would |
not be applca5le.to the Missouri and other
tributaries of the Mississippi as a means
of controlling the floods which now
devastate the regions bordering ON the
Lower Mississippi. II is claimed by the |
friends OF the reservoir system that all these
great streams have, at points on their upper
waters, a series Of natural basins, which,
with but little outlay, can be utilized to
hold these floods until the season Of low wa
ter, when their gradual outlet could be ac-
not only without damage, but |
with benefits to commerce. There are al
ready a sufficient number interested in this
to insure 4 liberal appropriation
for reconnaissance at the head waters of |
these waters.
GEN. GRANT arrived at New Orleans |
on the 31st. He was met at Morgan City by |
q reception committee headed by Mayor
Patton. who rendered him cordial welcome
to the Southern metropolis.
THE Western Nail Manufacturers
held another meeting at Pittsburg on the
the suspension of all works for two weeks
longer. A stop of four weeks is equivalent
to a reductionin the supply of not less than