Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-12-07

The registry system is reported to be in excel
| lent condition. having been remodelled during
the pest four years with good results; Inc
amount of registration fees collected during
the lest fiscal year STi2, $50 ~, an lncreeSe
over the fiscal year ending June ~, 1917, OF
! S345. .443 30. The entire number OF letters and
was $685. ,919. of which 2061 were lost or de-
| stroyed in transit The operations or the
| money order system are multiplying yearly
under the impulse of immigration, or the
| rapid development of the newer States and
| Territories. and the consequent demand Tor
| additional means Of inter-communicat1on ana
exchange. During the past year lbs addl-
| tional money order offices have been establish
! ed making total of 499 In operation at the
date of this report During the year the do
! mestic money orders aggregated in value $lUo,-
| 075,769 80.
cHEAr Err MONEY ORDERS.
modification Of The system is suggested
reducing the fees for money orders not exceed
| Ing five dollars from ten cents TO five cents
| and making the maximum limit 500 in place
Of $50. Legislation for the disposition Of un-
claimed money orders in the possession of the
| Post Office Department is recommended in
view o the fact that their total value now ex
| ceeds $1,000, 900.
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.
The attention of Congress- is again invited to
| the subject of establishing system of savings
repositories in connection with the Post Office
| Department.
INCREASING COST OF ROUTES.
The statistics of mail transportation show
| that during the past year railroad routes have
been increased in length 6,249 miles and In
cost St114 1872. while Steamboat routes have
heen decreased in length 2,1S2 miles and in
cost St94O54 The so-called star routes have
| been decreased in length 3.949 miles and in
cost 1854, IA Nearly all of the more expen
sive routes have been superseded by railroad
| service. The cost of the star service must,
States and Territories. The Postmaster Gene |
raj. however, calls attention to the constantly
increasing cost Of the railroad services as a
serious difficulty in the way OF making the |
| department self sustaining
FOREIGN POSTAL RELATIONS.
Our postal intercourse with foreign countries |
has kept pece with the growth of the domestic |
services: Within the past year several coun-
tn the Postal Union. 1t now includes all those |
| which have an ORGANIZED postal service except 1
Polivia, Costa Rica, New Zealand and the |
British colonies in Australia.
THE STAR RoU PROSECUTIONS.
As has been already stated great reductions |
have recently been made in the expense of the |
star route service The Investigations of the |
Department of Justice and the Post Office De- |
partment have resulted in the pres ntation of |
indictments against persoTs formerly con- |
nected with that service, accusing them of |
Offenses 9gsirst the United States have en- |
joined upon the officials who are charged with |
the conduct Of the cases on the part OF the |
government and upon the emiHent counsel, |
who, before my accession to the Presidency. |
were CdIlPQ TO Inelr assistance. Glo OuJY OF |
prose cutting with the utmost vigor of the law |
all persons who may be found chargeable with |
frauds upon the postal service
JUDICIAL REFORM
| The Acting Attorney General calls attention |
to the necessity of modifying the present sys- |
tenn of the courts of the United States, ne |
cesSity due TO the large increase of business, |
especially in the Supreme Court. ltiga ion |
| in our Federal tribunals being greatly expand |
ed after the clO' e of the late war. So long as |
| that expansion might be attributable to the alb |
normal condition in which the community /
| found itself Immediately after the return Of |
| peace, prudence required that no change |
be made in the constitution Of judicial tri- |
bur ais But it has now become apparent that |
an immense increase Of litigation has directly |
resulted from the wonderful growth and de- |
vrlopment of the country. There is no ground |
| for the belief that the business of |
the United States courts will ever |
| be less in volume than at present Indeed. |
that If is likely to be much greater is general
recognized by the bench and bar In view of |
the fact that Congress has already given much |
consideration to this subject, make no sug
gestion g. to details, but express the hope that |
your deliberations may result in such Iegisla- |
tion as will give early relief to our overbur- |
denCd courts.
OUTRAGEs IN ARIZONA.
The Acting Attorney General also calls at |
tentiOn to the disturbance Of the public tran |
guilty during the past year in the Territory Of |
Arizona, where band of armed desperadoes |
known as Cow boys" probably numbering |
gagged for m nths in committing acts of law |
lessness and brutality which the local authori- |
ties have been unable to repress. The depre- |
dations Of these Cow boys" have been also |
extended into Mexico. which the rnarauders |
reach from the Arizona frontier. With every ois-
position to meet The exigencies of the case |
am embarrassed by lack Cf authority /
to deal with them etfectualIy. The punishment |
of crime committed within ARIZONA should Or
dinaTily. of course. be left to the Terr toria
authorities, but it is worthy of consideration
whether acts which necessarily tend to M
the United States with neighboring govern
ments should not be declared crimes against
the United States Some or the incursons al
luded to may, perhaps, be within the scope Of !
the lawful Revised Statutes, section 1885, for |
bidding military expeditions enterprises |
against friendly States, but in view of the /
speedy assembling of your body I have |
preferred to await such legalization as in your
wisdom the occasion may seem to demand
1t may perhaps be thought proper to provide |
that the setting on foot within our own terri
tory of brigandsge and armed marauding ex-
petitions against friendly nations and their
citizens, shall be punishable an offense
against the United States. l will add that in
the event Of request from the Territorial /
Government for protection by the United States
against domestic violence This government
wOul1 be DOwerleSs to render assistance The |
act Of 1875. chapter &c. passed at a time when |
Territorial governments received little atten-
ton from Congress, enforced this duty of the |
ments, but the act OF 1877, chapter 49, applied
also to territories This law seems to |
have remained in force until the revision of the |
statutes when the provision for the territories |
was dropped. am not advised whether this
alteration was Intentional or accidental but as
it seems to me that the territories should be
offered the protection which is accorded to
the States by the Constitution, suggest legis-
lation to that end 1t seems to me that what
ever views may prevail to the policy of re-
cent legislation by which the army has ceased
to be part of the posse cOnlitdtus an excep-
ton might well be made for permitting the
military to assist the civil Territorial authori-
ties in enforcing the laws of the United states. !
This use or the army would not seem to be /
within the range Of the alleged evil against |
which that Legislation was aimed. From the !
sparseness of population ard other circum-
stances it is often quite impracticable to sum
mon a civil posse in places where affairs of
justice require assistance and where military |
force is within easy reach.
THE INTERIOR BEPARIMRNT
The report Of the Secretary of the Interior,
with accompany ng documents, presents an
eabort te account of the business of that de-
partment. summary of it would be too ~
tended for this place. l ask vSilr careful at.
tentlon to the renHrrtS iitsef. Prominent among
the matters which challenge the attention Of |
Congress at its present session, Is the manape- |
ment of our Indian affairs.
lille this question has been cause Of trouble
and embarrassment from the infancy of the
government. it is but recently that any effort
has been made for it's solution at once bv
serious determined, consistent and promising
success. It has cen easier to resort to con-
venient- -make-Shifts for tdng over Temporary
Difficult les than to grapple with the great
permanent problem, and accordingly the
eSsIef course has almost Invariably |
been pursued. lt was natural at
a time when the national territory
seemed almost ilmit Able and contaired many |
millions OF acres far outside the bounds of |
civilized settlements, that a policy should have
been initiated, which more than aug ht else has |
been the fruitful source of our Indian compi-
cations. l refer, of course, to the policy OF
dealing with the various Indian tribes as sepa-
rate nationaties, of relegating them by treaty
stipulation to the occupancy of immense re-
servations in the West, of encouraging them |
to live savage life undsturbed |
by any earnest and well directed
efforts TO bring them under the influence of |
civilization. The unsatisfactory Re suits which |
have sprung from this policy are becoming ap-
parent to ali. AS the white settlements have
crowded the borders Of the reservations the |
Indians sometimes contentedy and some- ,
times against their WILL have been transferred |
to other hunting grounds, from which they
have again been dislodged whenever their new
found homes have been desired by the adven-
turous settlers. These removals. and the frontier
collisions by which they have ofTen been pre-
ceded, have led TO frequent and disastrous con-
ficts between the races. It is profitlaeS to dis
c15ss here which Of them has been chiefly re- / ,
sponsible Tor the disturbances whose recital |
occupies so large a space upon the pages of
our his orY. have to deal with the appall ,
ing fact that though thous 4nds of lives have ,
been sacrificed, and hu dreds of millions of :
dollars expended on the attempt to solve he !
Indian problem, it has until within the past !
few years seemed scarcely nearer a so :
luton than it was half century ago.
But the government has of late been cautious !
hut steadily feeling itS Wav to the adontion