South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1884-04-11
Letter from Washington.
From Our ae93iar- -C~rssposdea,.
Washington, d. C.. Aoril

w bSuiuStOH, ~. ", hQrtl ..
As j. now stands the generating
report Of the special committee ia a
pretty mess for both Keiter and Boyn-
ton, and very touching comming-
ling ofcompliment and equivocation
which the committee allowed itself to
indulge in. Boynton is exonerated
from the charge made against him by
Keller, because Keifer's testimony
docs not come up to the committees
standard or legal prepondcrance, al
though his evidence was confirmed
by two witnesses. Boynton being
the defendant, Is entitled 10 the bene-
tit OF the doubt which the committee
entertained that the whole brood Of
the witnesses on both sides were no.
lying ut each other straight from the
shoulder throughout The committee
nevertheless declares that both of the
| gentlemen are Of unblemishcd char
acter. so far rs the committee is able
to judge from the testimony, aud the
! powerful effort made by each 10 prove
the other q liar, the committee hopes,
may not again find imitators in tho
Republican ranks. 1t may here be
sa:d that Boynton's denial about the
McGarraban claim business is very
like the pleading of the great Sheri-
dan in the borrowed kettle case, in
That lie never knew McGarrahau, and
if be did it was not corruptly, and if
| corruptly, there was no malice pre-
perse about il.
For many years during and since
the war, the general Government has
been called upon to pay more money
in liquidation of the District eXpendi-
tures for improvements, than the
whole tax levy of Chicago with her
more than half million Inhabitants !!
In 1873. these expenditures reached
the enormous sum OF eight million
dollars, wtile in 1873, it was almost
ifnot quite as much, and in no years
since 1875 have the xpend lures been
lces than two million dollars, with no
corresponding public Improvement to
show for il Taking the capitol aud
all the other public buildings and al
ding together their aggregate cost, we
find that it does not amount. to as
much by several millions as has been
laid out for the work upon the streets
alone. With these local expenditures
all the line increasing, and with no
prestige to maintain itself except that
o. being the capital OF u great nation,
it has ,;acomo already serious ques.
ton whether, it wee not better to fix
the capital at some city whose citizens
have had energy enough TO bniid
it up and ge+ along without Govern
mental dependence.
1t liz q good time now for kGHvls
the copital mover, to get in his work
before Washington CITY succeeds in
get ing more public bu idines than
can be handily transferred hey ond the
Mississippi. y late figuring shows
that the Government has incurred an
expenditure of only about one nun
dred millions oil dollars Stree the year
1870, for its share in running the Dis
trict government constr citing lis pub
lie buildings, buying and main tanning
its public parks, andall This is only
about the sum We are paying out in
pensions every year, and we could
hardly mics it from our enormous on
hand surplus. But II c city is getting
more and more extravaganza i'll its out.
lay for public mprovemen;s,a and more
and more audacious in It's demands
upon Congress, which ma, hitherto been
paying one half of the running eX-
penscs of the municipal government,
until the recent demand that the Co
vernment shall pay onc-haif the en-
pcnsc of the construction of three
million-dolllr bridge over the Poto-
mac, has aroused everybody to the in
qniry as to where and when shall this
thing stop?
Those who believe that the public
domain should remain in the actual
possession of Government, to be dis
tribIted TO actual settlers instead OF
going into the hands Of spectators
and land pillagers, will b. pleased to
learn that the Government il cvincing
4 determination TO enforce what law
there is in protecting itself against the
stupendous frauds that have become
bold to actual defiance. The fencing
in of millions upon millions OF acres
of the public lands by herlsmen the
frauds Practiced upon the Govern.
ment in the occupation Of other mil
lions of acres Of land under the home
stead and pre-enption laws, through
forged and rerjurod alfilavts, and
tho appropriation Of immense bodies
Of timber land belonging - the rcser.
vations, have been going on for years
in the face OF the efforts that have
been put forth by the Government to
restrain thcm, which from the made
1uacy of the appropriations for spo
cial agents, have thus far proved fu-
tile. The Interior Department, how
ever, has found sufficient authority to
take this particular bull by the horns
and without rp3poct tO ucrsOus the