The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1885-12-26
THE SURPLUS MUST GO.
CONGRESSMEN PREPARING TO GIVE
TIA GOOD sENO-OFF.
A Correspondents Resume of the Meas
ures Proposed to Assist in the Good
Work--Claims and Bills Whose
Object Is Cash.

CHICAGO, Dec 26--The Washington City
correspondent of The Times telegraphs that
there appears to be among the statesmen as
sembled at the national capital an ire
sistible yearning to get away with
that treasury fArplus The special
snumerates some Of the bills already into
duced to give pensions to everybody whC
carried gun during the unpleasantness OF
1s5l-5, and also during the Mexican war
and says that enterprising pension claim
agents are coming monoJ out oi
the business, adding that it is probable that
many of 'these projects nominally for ths
benefit of the soldiers will succeed, for fe.v
Republicans have the nerve to vote against
anything Of the kind" He proceeds as fol
lows:
Less than one third of the states have al
ready revived above 800 private ciainii
against the government for sums ranging
from few hundred to hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars. A large portion of these
are war claims, Wormeaten and musty with
age, whose periodical appearance upon the
cleik's list of bills has made their titles as
familiar as household words. Canal
schemes of great and small proportions, in
voiy ing the ezpcI diture Of millions of
the public money, have been pre-
sented, and a representative from a
trans Mississippi state coolly invites the
United States to protect the Interests CT
owners of private property in Missouri by
building a mud wall along the river front
Of three counties to keep back the flood
waters of the Mississippi Twenty four
cities and towns in about ten states ask 10
have their mat srial prosperity enaanced by
the expenditure of several million, of dollars
in public buildings. Aside from pensions
and claims and other schemes, for depicting
the treasury, the congressional mind seems
to have been turned more to questions
affecting the public lands than to any other
subject. Forty bills in relation thereto
have been launched in the house. A few
of them propose to grant the right Of way
to railroads in the territories, but nearly
all of the remainder provide for forfeitures
of lands granted in aid of railroad con
struction. Twelve members offer amend
ments to the internal revenue laws, and
seven bills ameniatory OF the customs laws
are offered by western men. All OF the
tariff bills are in the direction of lower
duties except one, which provides for an
increase of duty upon pearl buttons. By
mistake, this single appeal for more pro
lection was referred to the committee on in
valid pensions.
The gentlemen who have been captured
by Senator Blair's idea of expending about
S10, COG, 900 in aid of coinmon-school educa-
ton have come to the front early with five
bills similar to that of the New Hampshire
senator, aud they express confidence that
this congress will provide liberal aid for
the encouragement of education among the
masses Southern advocates of this under
taking have framed their bills with view
to giving each state complete control over
the application of the portion of the educa-
ton fund that may fall to its share.