The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-10
GENERAL NOTES.
The Blunder of the State Department In
Sending Delegates to Brussels.

The Blunder of the State Department In
Sending Delegates to Brussels.
Washington Special.
One of the latest blunders Of the State De-
partment was the appointment Of John A. Kas-
son and Gen. w. S. Sanford delegates to the
African Conference, held in Berlinsfor the pur-
pose of erecting and maintaining new State in
the basin of the River Congo, the continent
of Africa. 1t will embarrass the President to
satisfactorily answer the resolution of inquiry
which the House committee has addressed to
him upon the subject. 1t is the first
time that this government has ever
sought to take part in a European
conference where the subject of which
has not related to affairs on this continent. 1t
has been the lifelong policy and tradition of this
government rot 10 interfere or TO be mixed uD
with the disputes and controversies of the coun-
tries Of the Old World. In the same way it has
always insisted that there should be no European
intervention with affairs on this continent By
sending delegates to this Berlin conference the
administration has established precedent which
will enable foreign countries to interfere in our
affairs 1t is poor rule which does not work
both ways The strong position of this govern
ment has been apparently yielded up for nothing
at all; for we can have interest in the subject
of African colonization
JEFF Davis's Secret Message in the Senate
WASHINGTON. Jan. 8.-The papers called for
by Senator Hawley in the resolution offered by
HIM in the Senate yesterday requesting the
President to communicate to the Senate an his
torical statement concerning the public policy of
the executive department. of the Confederate
States during the late war which has recently
been filed in the War Department by General
w. L. Sherman will probably be sent to the
Senate tomorrow. They consist of an auto
graph letter frem the late Alex H. Stephens, of
Georgia. TO Herschel Y. johnson, which was re-
Gently published, and secret message from
Jefferson Davis to the Confederate Congress,
which was captured at Richmond, together with
a communication from General Sherman in ref
erence TO the documents
A New scheme to Get Money Out of the
Treasury.
Special TO the Indianapolis Journal.
WAsHlNGToN. Jan. 9.-Citjzens of Dakota
appropriation of 800, 900 to aid in the erection
of monument to the national homestead law.
The monument is to cost about 1850, 600, and to
be placed at Mitchell, Dakota. The balance of
the money is to be raised in the prairie States
and Territories and by philanthrop1sts through
out the country. If Congress won't give money,
then township of land from the public domain
is asked. Some strong argument seems to be
made in behalf of the enterprise.
The Secretary Exceeded His Authority.
Washington Special.
There has been much comment amoug mem
bers Of the ways and means committee on the
opinion of the Attorney general submitted to the
Secretaryo of the Treasury on the extension of
the bonded period for whisky, and the extraor-
binary action of the latter in issuing circulars to
collectors in conformity herewith To-day the
subject was informally discussed in committee
but no determination was reached The general
sentiment prevails that the Secretary had no au-
thority to extend the time for the payment of
tax on spirits, and it is not improbable that some
action may be taken to express the views of the
committee against this unwarranted assumption
of power on the part of the executive depart
Inent of the government.
The Second Volume of MIR. Blaine's Hook
Washington Special.
Mr.. Blaine will not have his second volume of
Twenty Years of Congress" completed until
about the 1st of next May. He is at present en-
gagged upon the reconstruction period which fol-
lowed the rebellion. He finds here that great
labor is required to simplify and make clear the
conflicting phases of this stormy period His
next book, it has been said. would be a history
of the war of 1872 This does not give the cor
rect character of the book contemplated. 1t is
to De history of American politics from 1888 to
1915. Mr. Blaine does not intend to treat of
other than the political aspects of that time