Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-02-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.
IFrsn our regular Oosrsspondent.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 1881

WASHINGTON, Feb. 81, 1881.
is now pretty conclusively demon
strated that subsidies do not thrive in a
Democratic Congress. All the schemes
brought forward within the last six years
have utterly failed. and the last one to
come to grief is the Brazilian Mail enter
prise Of Mr.. John Roach. For three
wears there has been a strong lobby at |
work here in the interest of this scheme,
and its advocates confidently expected to |
succeed this winter; but the Senate has |
! Just pressed the thing out of all shape by |
vigorously sitting down on it, There
wasfno party politics in it, for some
members of both parties were for the
measure; hut the majority of adverse
votes cameS from the. Democratic side.
Mr.. Blaine has been the leading advocate
and attorney for Mr.. Roach and the Demo
cratic newspaper here backed him, for a
considerations, it is .understood; but it
takes mightier and more influential
1 journal than the Post tolpersuaie Demo-
cratic Representatives that they ought
to stulify themselves by voting for
schemes which the party in Congress
and in all its platforms has con-
sistenty condemned The day of sub
sides has passed. The experience of the
United States in granting them has not
been such as to warrant entering on that
line again under the delusive idea of in
creasing our foreign commerce.
Since the defeat of Commissioner Bent
ley in the effort to attach his travelling
pension-c court scheme TO the pension ap-
preparation bill nothing has been heard
from him, and it is generally believed
that his head will be one of the first to
drop into the executioner's basket after
the new administration is inaugurated.
The Pension Bill as it passed'the Senate.
lis now in the House awaiting concur
renee in the amendments. 1t appropri-
ates 1868, 2S2. .306. .6S being the largest pen
sion appropriation bill ever perfected
either by this governments or any other,
, and is more than all the pension appro-
priations of all the governments on earth
combined. This is not entirely owing to
the areas of pensions law, although be-
fore that was enacted the pension expen-
: ditures were annually less than one half
. the amount now about to be appropria-
ted The wholesale pensioning of The
f survivors of the War of 1919 has helped
to swell the aggregate. There are now
Y on the rolls over thirty. five thousand
widows and survivors of that war. II
, is remarked at the Pension Office thai
! no one engaged in that war seems tc
have died in the last half century. The
h effect of this immense swelling OF the
pension roll il to postpone indefinitely
} the pensioning of the survivors of thu
, Mexican War 4 convention OF th'
l survivors is to meet at Louisville on TIN
), ped. and strong memorial will be sen
to Congress asking that the claims of th'
{ Mexican soldiers be considered. TIL
iustness OF these claims is acknow lodged
: but there is general indisposition T.
furthur increase the pension budget. l
VI is estimated that there are only eigi'
: thousand survivors of that war, but frOr
" the way survivors of the War of 1Sl
;, have turned UP, there must be about on
hundred thousand.
is The. removal by death of Fernand
:Wood from the Ways and Means Con
s. mittee has raised the question whetht
that committee would not now be
y favor of tariff reform. But even if thel
!; were time to take up the subject, tt
committee would be opposed to it. Speal
% er Randall is not tariff reformer by an
means. and when he appointed that con
st mittee he lett the free-traders and r
formers a long way in therear. The fa
OI that one or two votes have been clio
-, signifies nothing. A member of Il
lo committee who, with Others, would
IN Glad to have Mr.. Hurd's resolution L
" ported favorably, told me to-day tn
he they were still in a hopeless minorit
=, Another question about which there h
lY lately been some anxiety is the AppC
:: tionment Bill. If no bill is passed ii
ly session, about twenty States will have
~ stand the expense of special legislati
- session for the purpose of re-districtll
ad before the next congressional electlo
This is q strong argument in favor
", passing bill now, and it is said an Il
r derstanding has been arrived at and tl
Ol members of both parties are agreed to
passage Of bill fixing the number
LII Representatives at 301. This is certain
.th not partisan question and there oup
to be no difficulty in adjusting it.
,Se not now think there will be an eX
session, though to avoid ii Congress
'u- have to put in livelywork.
-. Cabinet speculations are still rife.
'S | am tired of them. Senator Logan
,ln Gently returned from Mentor in &C
o--o spirits, and it is stated that Illinois il
a have the Secretary of the Interior in
person of Robert Lincoln. Mr.. Conkli
ld, too, has just made apilgrimage to Oh
and they say he is satisfied, though
ou what it took to satisfy him cannot
4; authoritatively announced. 1t is not
vi known that Mr.. Garfield proposes to G
nd New York the Treasury Departure
Mr.. Blaine will resign in day or
'od to enable the Maine legislature to e.
Mr.. Frye his successor.
nd PHoN(