The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1884-04-26

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horse power and cost not less than one
and quarter million dollars. No regis
try shall be granted until the company
has at least FIVE such ships ready for use,
nor unless the owners agree that in case
of national necessity the Government
of the United States may purchase any
or all Of the vessels, the price to be de.
termined by arbitration.
Here is a bill by which the Govern
ment and the people cannot lose any
thing and may gain great deel; indeed,
it offers great encouragement to every
one who is in any way interested in
American shipping. In the first place,
il makes possible an American line of
steamers with out the subsidy which, un-
i'll now, has always been considered the
first requisite to the establishment of a
company to compete with foreigners
whose ships now do all the carrying bo-
tween the United States and Europe. 1t
enables our Government, in the always
possible event of sudden war, TO lay its
hands on ships of enormous capacity for
transporting men and stores, and for do
ing it quickly.
Mr. WALSH HEARD FROM.
Mr.. John A. Walsh has written let
ter TO the President expressing a will
ingness to turn over to the Government
all the documents in his possession re-
lating to the Star Route cases provided
he will not be required to appear per.
sonally in the prosecution, The matter
has been referred to the Attorney Cen
eral.
WORSE THAN THE RIVER AND HARBoR STEAL
The combination in the House of Rep
resentatives to pass multitude Of bills
for public buildings was powerful enough
tc suspend the rules, and thus to get q
hearing for jobs which, had they been
presented individually, would have died
of inauition on the calendar.
The bills thus far reported favorably
in the house, and those which have al
ready passed the Senate and are now on
the Speakers table, concern thirty.tvo
States. Some Of these States get as many
as four buildings. That number repre-
sents Pennsylvania's share. Texas is al
lowed three, New York two, Iowa two,
Indiana two, and Maine two. The other
States in the Ring are content with one
building apiece,
The bills OF the House appropriate in
the aggregate, Sc 0GS, 600. Those of the
Senate appropriate S2,S7l 600. There
are several duplicates among the bills;
if allowance is made for these, the total
amount involved in the steal is about S.
600 900.
Bad as has been the history of the
River and Harbor bills, they had at least
n pretext for legislation in the estimates
and reports from the Engineer Bureau.
Those estimates were prepared at the
instance of members of Congress inter-
ested in the jobs, and, of course, were
the basis of the demand for approprla-
tions. But in the csse of these public
building bills there is not even the form
of preliminary inquiry, and no sane
tion of the Executive Department to rest
upon. The scheme is plainly one Of
general plunder, suggested by the exis-
tence of hugh surplus in the Treasury.
THE ATTACK ON GENERAL SWAIN.
The attack made upon Judge Advocate
General Swain appears to be wrong TO
him. As the matter has been brought to
the attention of the Secretary of War,
General Swain declines to furnish much
beyond general denial that he is in any
which have been mis-epresented to the
country. His friends say that his deal
ings with Mr.. Bateman in regard to the
S. 900 was this:-"He loaned Bateman
that sum and took a promisoTy note
which was negotiable. This was indie
pendent of his running account at the
bank. Later he negotiated this. When
the parties holding it presented it for
payment Bateman refused and insisted
that there were certain offsets that should
be considered. Swain offered to sub
NIT them to arbitration. Tais Bateman
refused. The holders of the note then
sued the bank and Bateman, evidently
to stop this, wrote n letter to the Secre-
tary OF War aud gave it to the public.
He then accepted the former offer from
Swain to submit the amount in dispute
to arbitration. Meantime the suit has
been withdrawn.
WILL MR.. AETHUR WITHDRAW?
In view of the divisions in New York,
the intimate friends of the President
now advise him to withdraw his name
from the list of candida tes for the nomi-
nation at Chicago.
Two reasons are given for this change
of policy, First, if there should be, rs
now appears probable, large majority
against him. Gen. Arthur would be sav-