Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-15
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
CULTURE OF RICE IN JAPAN.
The Coming Great Issue-A Romance
SpOiIed-K eifeF's Blunder-TFIekV
MIR. RObesOn-A Kick Against the
CamerOns.

MIR. RobesOn-A Kick Against the
CamerOns.
WASHINGTON, April 1S.-Thos B. Van Buren,.
United States Consul General at Kanagawa,
Japan, has sent to the Department Of State a
report upon rice culture in that country The
great bulk of rice grown there is on the low
lands but great deal is grown on the uplands
He says; "The upland rice is grown on high
dry ground, and in ordinary climates requires
no irrigation. The dry soil is easily and cheaply
prepared for the seed and needs no expensive
system of irrigating bitches and embankments.
The seed is sown in drills about eighteen or
twenty inches apart. In the drills before the
seed is sown compost of decomposed straw.
closet manure and ashes is strewn,
upon which the seed is dropped one to
one and quarter bushels per acre The soil
is dug up between the drills three or four times
to keep it loose and to destroy weeds. Two or
three times during the growth of the plant
small quantities of liquid fertilizers are poured
on the ground at its root. The process of
hulling is the same as that used for lowland
rice. | have been led to give the above
facts with view of recommending the intro
duction of the culture of upland rice in Ameri-
ca. 1t could be grown on all the wheat soils of
the great Northwest, and also on the rolling
uplands of the South. 1t can be sown broad
coast cut by an ordinary harvester and thresh-
ed by any threshing machine. l can see
no reason from the soil and climate why this
most valuable food plant should not be pro-
duced with us and believe its introduction
would be of great benefit to our agricultural
interest.
THE TARIFF PoLITICAL ISSUE.
1t is becoming more evident every day that
the question of the tariff is to be the great
political one in the near future. 1t will be the
one important point upon which there will be
a division of parties. The lines will be drawn
between those in favor Of the present system
of legalized robbery and those in favor of a
fair and decent tariff The Republican party
will be on the one side and the Democratic
narty on the other. There will be acceSsions to
the Republicans from the Democratic ranks
but they will not be as great as the accessions
to the Democratic party from Republican
ranks 1t will be some time before this
division is fully apparent but the
They were planted in good ground and
the plant which has sprung up thrives and
thrives well The Republicans are not willing
that the tariff should be the great ISSUE but in
the absence of anything more important that
can be trotted out they will be forced to accept
the inevitable. The Democrats are perfectly
willing to accept the issue Shrewd politicians
on both sides see and predict the coming great
dividing question. 1t is only question of tin E
when it will be brought to public attention sc
irresistibly that its overshadowiDg importance
must be recognized by all.
AN ILLUSION.
There has been for some time good deal OF
talk about BETTY and the Baby" Betty is the
wife of Mason and the baby is the offspring of
the man who shot at Guiteau in violation of
all military law, and himself q non-commis-
stoned officer of the army. The talk about
Betty and the Baby" has been all gush.
Mason has never been a good husband to Betty
nor good father to the baby He never gave
them anything. He allowed them to shift for
themselves. The talk of Betty and the Baby
being deprived of support on account Of the
incarceration of Mason in Albany
jail is all nonsense. l am something
Of a disillusionist. I have seen Mrs
l have seen Betty and the Baby" as the gush
ers putt it. The baby is a little tow-heade1
youngster from the backwoods Of Virginia
His type is multiplied indefinitely in the back
woods of the State of Georgia. His mother,
Betty, is from the same level of life She is
coarse and common. There is not the slight
est quality about her to induce sentimentality.
She is neither pretty nor prepossessing. she
is very common woman from the lowest so
cial walk of life in Virginia Before her hus-
band received the heavy sentence from the
court martial which tried him she had never
at one time seen go much as $50 in her life.
Now that about $4,000 in subscriptions for
betty and the Baby" are hers, she is simply
amazed. She don't know what to make of it.
It is more money than she thought there
was in the whole world. She does not how
ever fam OUT az the expression goes. She
lives just as she did before, and hugs her money
to her breast AS If it were ar rother "baby." 1t
IS in reality another baby 10 her and one that
she thinks more OF than either she or husband
ever did of the natural youngster. This IS all I
have to say on the subject; and say it in order
to remove from the minds Of the many readers
of the NEWS any gush that may have found
a lodging there for Betty and the Baby -
Gush, ct its hest, is nauseatiug but when it is
run to the extent that it has been pushed over
Mrs. Mason and her tow-headed youngster, it
hnn ~ nc ffnN afafa to hao H.
KEIFER's BLUNDER.
When Grant was here he induced Sneaker
keifer to remove Hayes, an official stenogra-
pher Of the House. and put in his place man
named Dawson. The latter was with Grant
when he made the grand tour of Mexico
Hayes was a good man, and his removal to
simply make place for q Grant pet caused
considerable talk at the time Dawson has
been tried and found wanting He is incapable
of doing his work The Shipherd in
vestigatiDg committee had to adjourn because
Dawson had not reported the testimony as
taken He was a week behind and only sub
mitted to the committee p printed slip from
the Government Printing Office containing the
he entered upon his work. The printed matter
was all mixed up. 1t was abominable
Every member Of the committee ana Ship
herd repudiated it. Dawson acknowledged
that he could not take testimony. The com
mittee requested Hayes to go on with the work,
but he refused to do so. The committee then
had to adjourn. There was something of a
lively scene over all this The committee will
report the facts to the Speaker and ask for
DawSon'S removal and the reappointmeut of
Hayes This will probably be done and Mr.
kelrer Will be taught the lesson that something
more than being Grant pet is necessary for a
man appointed to fill responsible position.
RoREsoN's TRICK.
The other day Pig-iron Kelley made per
sonal explanation in the House. In that ex-
planation he said that he would sink all mat
ters OF principle at the dictum of his party
To-day in acknowledgment of his effort there
was placed on the Honorable Kelley's desk a
handsome bouquet of flowers. Shortly after
Kelley came into the House he moved from his
seat and Robeson sat down in it. Robeson
stald there for full hour. He sat beaming
behind that big bouquet. Everybody in the
galleries thought that Robeson had been pre-
sented with the flowers He certainly looked
as IL he had. He acted out the part very we'll
He was scooping all the comments of the gal
leries on the big bouquet. There was some
wonder as to why Robson should be given a
bucket or hoWers, but except a very few
really believed that he and not kelley was the
recipient. Beyond being rotund and rosy,
Robson is devilish sly.
A PENNSYLVANIA ROW.
There is a row in Pennsylvania politics. orig
mating here in Washington. Senator Mitchell
Don Cameron's colleague, openly de-
cleres that since his election to a seat in the
Senate he has been wholly ignored by the Pres
ident and the Cameron dynasty in all Senate
RAJ PrerogatlYaS and that he is getting tired Of
it In other words, he is sick of the Cameron
rule, and will kick against it, This is the most
important detection from ring rule that has
ever occurred in Pennsylvania politics Mitch
ell is in earnest, and in his kick has struck an
opportune moment. There are plenty
OF Republicans in Pennsylvania who are
sick and tired of Cameron bossism, but who do
not dare to enter a protest. They have only
been waiting for a leader. Senator Mitchell
furnishes in his person that needed quantity
He is irrevocable in his hostility to the
Cameron ring. Don Cameron has tried by all
the persuasion at his command to make
Mitchell come once more to the Cameron ban
ner, but he has so far refused. He says he win
never again put himself under that flag There
have been defections from the Cameron ranks
and kickiDgs heretofore but the Camerons
have ever been able to subdue them They
have never fought as in the present instance 10
concilIate man. They have always set out to
crush him. There never was, before Mitchell's
arrowed warfare any real prospect of the de-
mise of the clan Cameron in Pennsylvania hut
now there is. II Mitchell holds out he will NOT
only defeat Cameron. but become himself a boss
in a certain way. but by no means with the
power that has been held BY the Camerons