The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-02-17
WASHINGTON BRIEFS.

WASHlNGlON bhlEfSs
THE order retiring General Ord was issued
few days ago.
The Capitol and grounds are to be lighted
with electricity.
THE House has passed the Senate concurrent
resolution for the counting Of the electoral
vote. There were but seyenty-seven votes
against it.
THE Senate Finance Committee has indef-
initely postponed further consideration Of the
House bill, which provides for imposing .
specific duty on malt Of twenty-five cents per
bushel.
SOMEBODY In Nashville, Tenn. ia honest. The
Secretary of the Treasury last week received q
letter from there inclosing $60, with the re-
quest that it be placed to the credit of the con-
science fund.
CoNeREss is getting intoxicated with the idea
of Yorktown Centennial. In addition to the
S120, 900 for . grand blowout, the Senate has
appropriated s20, 900 to pay the expenses of
French officers who may attend
THE Senate Finance Committee has agreed to
amend the House funding bih by making the
interest 81 per cent, the bonds to be redeem
able in five years and payable in twenty. The
Carlisle amendment is stricken out. g.
BOARD OF NAVAL MEDICAL OFFICERS will
convene at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital
March l next, for the examination of candi-
dates for admission into the medical corps Of
the navy, in which there are now eleven
vacancies. -a - -.---.- EN-
THE River and Harbor Appropriation Bill is
an eye-opener. As reported back from the
House Committee on Commerce, it appropriates,
in aggregate, $40, 1S9, 800. 1t seems that every
river, harbor, reservoir, etc., in the land needs
doctoring. And it will always be thus.
The Commissioner of Patents in obedience
to an order from the Secretary of the Interior
has issued an order annulling all interference
of proceedings in the Trade Mark cases and di-
Iii
Trade Marks to be granted in the order in which
they are filed. i ?,
THE President Of the Union League of Amer
lea has called a meeting of the National Com
mittee to take place in Washington March 2.
A public meeting of the entire League will take
place the next day. The League will also par
ticipate in the Inauguration ceremonies Of
General Garfield.
WHAT will become of the Apportionment Bill
or when and how that matter will be settled, is
only matter for conjecture. Appointments
are partisan, have always been, and will always
be- The trouble now seems to be whether to
adjust the districts according to the uote of the
country, or the census. There seems to be q
difference from some cause.
NoTwIrHsTANDrNa the favorable action of
the House Committee ON the Inter-Oceanic
Canal, indorsing the scheme of sEads to borrow
fifty million dollars on Government credit to
build his ship railroad, there is no prospect
that it will pass the House. If by any possibil-
ity it passes the House, the scheme will proba-
bly, meet its death in the Senate.
By direction Of the President the limits of
the Department of Arkansas are extended to
embrace the post of Fort Elliott, Texas, thereto
fore included in the Department of Missouri
and the post in Virginia occupied as School
Of Instruction for the Signal Service, be here
after known as Fort Myer instead of Fort
Whipple. The latter change was made in
honor Of the late General Myer.
The following is the text of the resolution
which has passed the Senate concerning the
right of the President Of the Senate to make
the Electoral count: ResOtued, by the Senate
Che House of Representatives concurring),
that the President Of the Senate is not invested
by the Constitution of the United States with
the right to count the votes Of Electors for
President and Vice President of the United
States SO as to determine what votes shall be
received and counted or what votes shall be re-
jected, and that it is the duty of Congress,
without delay, to institute measures to secure
due and orderly performance Of said duty in
the future.
The absence of members and Sc majors from
their post of duty has been 80 notoriou' this
season that Dibbrell, of Tennessee, ATTEMPTED
to have measures taken for its correction. He
moved an amendment to the Legislative Appro-
priation Bill, providing that no member shall
be paid his monthly salary until he shall have
certified that he has not been absent from the
sittings of the House except on account Of
sickness, and that all absences otherwise than
from sickness, shall be deducted from the menu
bers' monthly pay. This is the law at present,
but it is dead letter, and Dibbrells amend
ment looked to its enforcement The amend
ment was attacked with vigor, and of course
voted down.
A PRELIMINARY report of the Agricultural
Bureau has been received at the Capitol, and in
| it Commissioner LIE Due, who receives o. 500 a
year, makes an eloquent appeal for more salary
He adds with charming simplicity. SIT is well
known that men Of scientific attainments are
not usually money making men, that their hab-
its of thought and close attention to the in
investigation of special subjects in q measure
lead them away from the acquisition of wealth.
Working often from pure love of science and
an ardent desire to benefit his fellow-man, and
without opportunity of pecuniary self-advance-
ment, the scientist should always receive from
his country substantial marks Of gratitude for
the good he has conferred upon its citizens"
In the Senate, Mr.. Butler, of South Corolina,
! in taking notice Of Mr. Conkling's New York
| speeches during the campaign, spoke of the
| allusion to the census Of South Carolina as
charges and insinuations as malignant in their
purposes against the South as the heart that
| inspired them, and that Mr.. Conkling had never
had the honesty to correct this perversion Of
| facts when the truth concerning his inaccurate
| utterances had been made known. Mr. Conk-
ling, in turn, characterized the remarks of Sem
| ator Butler as vaporings with which he (Conk-
| ling) had no concern. Mr.. Butler retorted by
characterizing Mr.. Conkling's utterances as
''the staggering insolence of the Senator from
New York" This constrained Mr.. Conkling to
| give notice that Mr.. Butler was q person with
| whom he (Conkling) could not afford to handy
epithets, either in the Senate or out Of it. The
| Senate did not seem much disturbed by this
| manifestation of Senatorial politeness, and i'm
/ mediately resumed its humdrum proceedings.