Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-01-16
WASHINGTON.
Matters Social and Political at the
Federal Capital.
Long Delayed Justice-The Tariff-The Pub
lie Printer and His Troubles-what
Should be Done-Apportionment-
The Wheeling War-A Peculiar
Experience,
GANERAL NEWS, NOTES AND GOSSIP.
Special Dispatch 20 the Register.
WAsHINGToS, January Is.
W.s UN..wsuaa Enaa

WASHINGTOS, January Id.
AweSt Virginia Case,
which illustrates how troublesome debtor
this paternal government of ours some
times proves itself, comes to the surface in
the recital Of o man named Allender, who
formerly lived in Monongalia and now re-
sides in Preston county, your State. Allen
der owned mill on the Mononghela river
near the site of the improvement made by
the government on that stream, and when
The improvement began the engineers de-
cided that the mill and dam would have to
be removed to make way for their work
And so condemnation proceedings were in
stituted, jury came and sat on Allender's
property and made its award and the gov
srnment took possession. 1t would be
supposed that Allender took the
Amount of the Award
with Joy or sorrow and went off happier
or sadder man to replace his former pos
sessions with others; but he didn't He
neither got cent for his mill then or after
ward, and in all the years that have elapsed
since he has been engaged in futile efforts
to get the amount of the award. There is
no defence or objection technical or real to
his bills, which have been presented session
after session, but sometimes the bill which
passes in one house fails because it is not
reached in the other, and occasionally it is
Oyerlaid OH the calendars Of both, and thus
il has gone from year To year until now
when another effort is being made to have
the matter disposed OF in a just and salts
factory way. The case illustratesS Sin a
marked manner the necessity of some out
side tribunal which could pass upon cases
OF this character and relieve Congress from
blame and deserving claimants from wrong.
The business before Congress has ou.grown
the ability OF the present machinery to
grind it through.
The Tariff.
The drift of opinion here is apparently
in favor Of the Morrill, Tariff Commission
Bill, as opposed TO the Garland proposition.
The latter, selecting the greater part of the
Commissioners from Congress itself, sug
geStS the idea that the same interests and
pre- ciudiCcs which operate on the floors OF
the two houses would be able TO sway the
Judgment and becloud the reason of the
whereas the Morrill, Bill
at least permits OF the selection Of all the
Commissioners under it from among those
whose training and surroundings would
enable them to gather information and
present their conclusions eXhauStiVely and
impartia!ly. No one doubts, for instance,
thai q tariff investigating commission,
made up of such men rs Francis \. Walk
er. late Superintendent of Census, or Col.
Charles 4. ScatUn, the present head OF
that bureau, would be worth dozen COM
missions composed OF Senators and Repre-
sentativeS like Beck and Randall. Not that
the former would be any more diligent in
seeking Information, but they would APP
prOCCh and conduct the examination in
spirit infinitely more likely to elicit the
absolute facts of the case than men who
have CSpOUsed one side or the other. and
advocated it for SO long time that it has
become sort of second nature. Such q
as the former could hardly be
refused By either side without incurring
the suspicion of sustaining a cause which
would not stand the test OF honest inyeSti-
CATION. Such commission as the latter
would be established by both sides with
of the same fear and trembling
as that which preceded the eight to seven
Commission, and its results would
probably be Just about rs acceptable to the
whole country as the result OF that celebra-
ted political tribunal.
Public Printing Ofiiee.
There is a constant howl kept up here
over the retention of Public Printer De-
frees, part of which comes from other APP
pliCants for the position of public printer
and part from discharged employees. An
office-seeker on the rack and printer on
the case are about rs hard to suit as any
two kinds of humans eNtant, anyhow; and
"a hen il is stated that there are about tif-
teen hundred appointments connected
laEn nj 70 mn n
of 'furloughS' connected with the case,
the cause of the present commOtion can he
better understood. The appointments
consist of positions in the various depart
ments of the public printing office, and
the "furlOughs'' are the unSought leaves OF
absence. without pay, WHICH are extended
To employees when the work grows slack,
as il occasionally does. 1t is charged
that great partiality is shown in issuing
these iurloughs, certain printers being tur-
niShed with nearly, If not quite steady
work. while others are kept on less than
half time under this system OF compulsory
leisure. IL must be that the compulSion
and the alleged discrimination constitute
the objection. Tor the average printer, lett
IN his own devices, will not work more
thon half the time. anyhow, and thinks he
is makirg a hog of himself if he puts IN
six working DAYS straight ahead; but, any
how. a large number OF the attacks on De-
frees in the newspapers here, come from
the Public Printing Oftice, over which he
preSideS IL Is probable that Most of his
unpopularity there grows out of q deter
mined effort ON his part to do exactly Whist
he thinks is right 1t is about parallel
case to your own squabble over
The Suryeyorship
of the port of Wheeling where Gilchrist,
tbrOuosh dOiDg what he imagined
TO bS his duty. and sticking out
for the prOprieties, managed to
get a considerable fraction OF the Custom
House occupants enlisted in an active et-
fort to secure his scalp. Defrees seems TO
be something the same kind of man rs
your Surveyor. Take. for instance, his
decision in the Garfield funeral case.
While the presidential obsequies were IN
progress all the departments were closed
BY order of their respective heads, and the
clerks on the salary rolls got their salaries
the same as though work had gone on
There seemed to be no more right IN paying
clerks than in paying printers Tor holidays,
and under a law allowing the latter pay for
LEGAL HOLIDAYS, they asked compensation
foT the same time. Defress thought
the closing OF ithe Departments IN the
manner described did not bring these days
within the provision OF the act referring to
leral HOLIDAYS, and would not aiieW the
printers claim Ii is true, he was oyer-ruied
6y COMPTROLLER Lawrence, who decided the
printers were entitled to it, but, neyerthe.
less Defrees acted on his conviction OF
right. arrived at after careful Investigation,
and his conclusion was exactly what the
great majority OF Intelligent and disinter-
ested observers would have reached, II
called upon for one. lie may have been