Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-01-22
WASHINGTON.
Gossip and News From the Ma
tienal Capital.
sLooUM's STRONG POINT.
The Reason Assigned For His Seem
ingly Curious Stand on the
Grant Bin.
A SLY DIG At PRESIDENT ARTHUR.
Special 70 ne Register.

Special 70 ne R>giRer.
WASHINGTON. d. c., January 2l.-Gen-
ersl Henry W. SlOcum is being rOundly at
tackled BY the New York papers for follow
ing a course in regard to the Grant relief
bin which be felt was due to consistency on
his o~u part as friend Of General Fitz
John Porter and as a Democrat twill
not be forgotten that both Houses Of Con-
gress passed bill to reappoint Porter to
his old rank in the army with fut pay. The
name of the appointed was mentioned in
the bill. The President held the matter
under consideration Tor a long time and no
body knew what course he intended
to take. Il was said at the time that Robt.
7. Lincoln, the Secretary Of War, and the
only Cabinet officer whom Arthur retained
from the Garfield Cabinet, had taken hand
in the fight against Porter, and had private
ly intimated that he would resign his posi-
ton rather than sign the papers for POrters
appointment, because he believed the action
Of Congress to be deliberate slap at the
administration Of army affairs BY President
Lincoln, under whom General Porter was
cashiered. However that may be, it is GER
tain that President Arthur decided to veto
the bill, and gave as his rea-
son the opinion that 1t was
unconstitutional in that Congress had
usurped one Of the proper prerogatives of
the Executive by naming an appointee
when the power is distinctly given to the
President.
Not n Fact.
New Gen Slocum denies that this was
the fact and proposes, if possible, to try the
consistency Of President Arthur BY having
q bill laid before him, of which Gen. Grant
will be the beneficiary, drawn up in the
same way that the Porter bill was. He
holds that no precedent was violated By the
naming Of an army apPointee, and
says he has a list Of some
forty cases when the same thing has been
done in the past without any exhibition OF
pioue on the part Of the President While
Republican members of Congress may
think it unjust to Gen. Grant to thus chal
lenge President Arthur to the use of the
veto power, it is easy for any one to see the
logical consistency Of the position held by
Gen. SloCum and Gen. Rosecrans Of the
House Committee on Military Affairs. II
is hard to say at present what the outcome
OF the whole affair will be, but 1t IS not be-
heyed possible that the bill to relieve Gen.
Grant will tail to become law in some
form at the present session.
The Indian Question.
Yesterdays session of the House was
taken up very largely With a general dis
cussion of the indian land question as II
touches upon the Oklahoma affairs. The
general feeling is somewhat adverse to the
pse of harsh measures against prospective
white settlers, but only on the ground that
the actual possession of the lands IN ques-
tton rests not between the settlers and the
Indians, but between the settlers and wealthy
stock raisers, who have swindled the In.
dians into leasing them l0,000,O0O acres OF
land at 900 a year, and was freely CLAIMED
that four or five times tnat
rental could have been obtained II the
privilege had been put up at public auction.
| There is a strong feeling among Democrats
| that the whole system of treating with the
! Indians as citizens of foreign nations Is
radically wrong and that they should be
given lands in seyeralty and then treated on
fbe same basis as other citizens.
Wesley Mollohan, Of Charleston, has been
here for two days pressing his claims for th'
rosi,;on of United States District Attorney
under Cleveland, -. =. :.
Hon Ben Wilson, of West Virginia, IS a
,ba National 10 day. J. A.