Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1886-05-20

Appropriation bills are eaklhg prece-
dence of everything else, as the session
is drawing towards it's close. One al
ter another the House is disposing OF
them. The Army has been provided
for, also our consuls and diplomats, and
now the general Pension bill is under
discussion. The number of persons
added to the pension roll under it is
about $50, 900, and the amount of mon
ey involved will be about $2D'OO0,0OO.
And then they have been trying to
make a new Cabinet Office. Represen-
tative McCreary of Kentucky, came to
the hearty support of the measure for
charging the powers and duties of the
department of Agriculture. He argued
that the United States, the grand Ag-
riculture empire of the world, should
elevate the department of Agriculture
to the dignity of the other executive
departments of the Government. 1t
was time there was a Secretary of Ag-
rculture to look after the great queJ-
tons that might arise for the benefit OF
the farmers of the country.
Mr.. Breckenridge of Kentucky, OPP
posed the bill. Coming from an agri-
cultural state, he would do anything he
could to aid the agricultural interest,
but the more he examined the bill, the
more it appeared to him that it would
do no good. He protested against any
legislation that would place the far
mers in a class by themselves. When
the Secretary of Agriculture came to
sit at the Cabinet table he would cease
to be an agriculturalist and would be-
come a politician. The Secretary OF
War was not a soldier, the Secretary OF
the Navy was not sailor, the Secre-
tary of the Interior was not an inven-
tor or a pensioner, nor a homesteader.
These gentlemen were politicians
They represented states, they repre-
sented influence, and when the Secre-
tary of Agriculture sat at the Cabinet
table he would be a gentleman who
represented certain section, and who
had certain political influence and
weight. 1t was the heavy burden of
taxation which kept the agricultural
industry from moving on. This was
the clog which kept it from advancing.
Agriculture did not need to be crown
ed with Cabinet office. Take Oft this
burden, remove this clog. and agricul-
ture would be crowned by her own ex
ertions, without asking favors from
Presidents or Cabinet officers. All
agriculture wanted was a free, unre-
stricted, unburdened chance in the
great battle of life.
Mrs. Stanford, the wife of the mil
lionaire Senator from California, has
Just completed arrangements for the
erection CT an aged women's home,
which is to be located in Albany near
her old residence in that city. The
structure is to cost about $l50,000. 1t
will be generously endowed by Mrs.
Stanford, and is to be placed under the
care of a religious body. Senator Stan.
ford probably receives more requests
for pecuniary assistance than any man
in Washington. Indeed, he has been
SO much prosecuted by people calling
or him in order to recite to his face
some we'll worn stories of poverty and
misfortune, that he has been compelled
to take some measures to guard his
privacy. There Is now a standing Or
der at the Stanford mansion that no
unknown woman shall be admitted to
an interview with the Senator without
first stating her business to one of his
subordinates. His principal torment
ors have been women alleging to be the
widows Of deceased army and navy Of
fcers.
Old lobbyists in Washington have
been taught a valuable lesson by pref
ty widow who has been here, this win
ter with claim before congress and has
succeeded in getting it through without
the slightest difficulty or embarrassment
Her plan Of procedure has been to
rooms at all the hotels, one after the
other, spending few weeks at each, be-
coming acquainted with the Congress
men residing therein, gaining their
families, and then entrusting her case
to the tender mercies of each one. In
that manner she has had every one of
two hundred members of Congress
thinking that they had exclusive charge
of her case, and every one has tried
his best to get it through. She went
home the other day fully satisfied, as
her bill has passed, and it now only re-
onires q little red tape in the account