Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-01-29
WASHINGTON WHISPERS.
Inside Pointers on Legislative Topics
Given by a ''News' Correspondent.

Inside Pointers on Legislative Topics
Given by ''News' Correspondent.
W WASHINGTON, Jan. 2s.-The House
Foreign Affairs Committee, after thinking
and talking further about the dynamite
question, have about agreed that all that
the House needs to do for the present is
to ask the administration for information.
A bare resolution of inquiry, couched in
cautious terms, will therefore be re-
ported. The members of the committee
seem to think that it would be safer to
postpone resolution of indignation until
after such information is received.
AN ALLEGED JOB.
The Supervising Architect of the Treas
ury recently awarded a contract for stone
for the government wharf at Charleston,
;. g, to A. j. Blaisdell, of Charleston,
the lowest bidder, at S29, 900. He received
communication to-day from MIR. Bais-
dell announcing that he was unable to
perform his contract. Mr.. BlaisdelPs
$1,000 certified check deposited with the
Treasury Department to insure the faith
ful performance of his contract will, of
course, be forfeited. The next lowest
oIdder was Joseph Ross, of Ipswich,
Mass. His bid was $4,000.
Supervising Architect Bell was
asked to-day whether he would give Mr..
Ross the contract. He replied that he
would not. He suspected an arrange
ment between Messrs. Blaisdell and Ross
under which the former was to forfeit his
contract, and with it his $1,000 check
with view to give Mr.. Ross the contract
the two to divide the $4,000 they would
clear. He therefore proposed to readYer-
tlse the contract.
THE MEXICAN TREATY.
IN inf Off
reciprocity treaty NAV be considered in a
hopeless stage. Mr.. Hewitt failed in his
effort to get it up yesterday. He was still
hopeful that he could obtain cOnsidera-
tiOn for it, but the House this afternoon
refused in a formal way, the yeas and
nays being had to consider it, by vote
of 81 yeas to 81 nays. This discouraged
even Mr.. Hewitt. 1t is true that many of
the men who voted against considering
it did so simply because they wanted to
get some other bill up, and would have
voted for its passage had it been before
the House. The conditions, however,
will be the same for the rest of the ses-
sion. The Mexican treaty bill will al
ways be embarrassed by the surrounding
bills, and hence its fate is considered set
tied. The Massachusetts, members pres
ent all voted for the consideration of the
bill. The House spent the rest of the day
trying to get at the bill fOrfeiting the
Northern Pacific land grant. 1t did not
succeed, however, in surmOunting the
distractions of it's enemies, and the fight
went over till tomorrow.
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD BILL.
The terms of the Edmunds bill amend
ing the Thurman act are substantially as
they were predicted in these dispatches.
1t IS satisfactory to the Pacific Railway.
Their representatives here have been
working hard to get it out of committee.
1t was reported during a brief interval in
the executive session about O'Clock.
The news could not be used in the stock
market to-day, but it is to be tomorrow.
The action of the committee is of no
greater Importance for, though the bill
may pass the Senate, 1t cannot pass the
House. The House differs radically with
the Senate on this question.
THE MAJORITY AGAINST SWAIN.
1t is stated authoritatively that the
Swain court martial stands to in ia
Yor of the conviction of Gen. Swain. The
report may not be made for several
weeks.