Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-09
Continued from third page.

should stand side by side when they par
ticipate in a grateful nations kind re-
membrance; every consideration of fair
ness and Justice to our old soldiers, and
thr protection of the patriotic instincts
of our citizens from PerYersiOn and vio-
lence, points to the adoption of pension
system. broad and comprehensive enough
to cover every contingency, and which
shall make unnecessary an objection vol
ume of special legislation. As long
as we adhere to the principle
of granting pensions for service
and disability as the result of the service,
the allowance of pensions should be re-
str1cted to cases presenting these feat
ures. Every patriotic heart responds to
a tender consideration for those who,
having served their country long and
well, are reduced to restitution and de-
tendency, not as an incident of their
service, but with advancing age or
through sickness or misfortune. We are
all tempted by the contemplation of such
condition to supply relief, and are often
impatient of the limitations of public
duty. Yielding to no one in the de-
sire to indulge this feeling of
consideration, can noU rid
myself of the conviction that if these
ex-soldiers are to be relieved, they and
their cause are entitled to the benefit of
an enactment under which relief may be
claimed as d right, and that such relief
should be granted under the sanction of
law, not in evasion of it, nor should such
worthy objects of care, all equally emit
tied, be RENTED to the unequal operation
of sympathy or the tender mercies of
social and political influence with their
unjust determinations. The discharged
soldiers and sailors of the country are our
fellow citizens and interested with us in
the passage and faithful execution of
wholesome laws. They cannot be severed
from their duty of citizenship by artful
appeals to their spirit of brotherhood,
borne of common peril and suffering,
nor will they exact as a test of devotion
to their welfare willingness to neglect
public duty in their behalf.
PATENT OFFICE.
On the 18th Of March, 1885, the current
business of the patent office, was on an
average, five and one-half months behind.
At the close of the last fiscal year such
current work was but three months in
arrears, and it is asserted and believed
that IN the next two months the delay in
obtaining an examination of an applica-
ton for a patent will be but nominal
during the last fiscal year including reis-
sues, designs, trade marks, and labels,
equals 4O,678, which is considerably in
excess of the number received during the
preceding year. The receipts of the
patent Office during the year, aggregate
$1,250, 1870, enabling the Office to turn
into the treasury over and above all ex-
penditure, of about $188, 701.73.
The number of patents granted during
the last fiscal year including reissues,
trade marks, designs and labels was 25,-
619, number also quite largely in excess
of that of any preceding year. The re-
port of the commissioner shows the Office
to be in a prosperous condition and
constantly increasing in its business.
No increase of force is asked for.
The amount estimated for the fiscal
year ended June so, 1886, was $780,
760; the amount estimated for the
year ended June 80, 1887, was $853,96O;
the amount estimated for the fiscal
year ended June 80, 1886, is $778,770.
THE PACIFIC RAILWAY DEBTS.
The secretary of the interior suggests
change in the plan for the payment of
the indebtedness of the Pacific subsidized
roads to the government. His sugges-
ton has the unanimous endorsement Of
the persons selected by the government
to act as directors of these roads and
to protect the interest of the United
States in the board of direction in con-
sideration of the plan proposed. The sole
matters which should be taken into ac
count, in my opinion are the situation of
Ehe government as a creditor and the
surest way to secure the payment of the
principal interest of its debt.
TRANSPORTATION.
By recent decision of the supreme
court of the United States, it has been
adjudged that the laws of the several
states are imperative to regulate rates of
transportation upon railroads, if such
regulation interferes wi tn the rate of car
riage from one state into another. This
important field of control and regulation
having been thus left entirely unoccupied,
the expediency of federal action upon
the subject is worthy of consideration.
The relations of
LABOR TO CAPITAL,
and of iabOring men to their employers,
are of the utmost concern to every patri-
otto citizen. When these are strained and
distorted urjustifably, they are apt to
be insisted upon by both interested, and
in the controversy which results, the vel
fare of all, and the prosperity of the
country, are jeopardized, and intervention
of the general government within the
limits of its constitutional authority, to
avert such a condition, should be willing
ly accorded. In a special message, trans
mitted to congress at its last session,
suggested the enlargement of our
present labor bureau, and adding
to its present functions the power
of arbitration in cases where differences
arise between employees and employers,
when these differences reach such stage
as to result in the interruption of com
merce between the states. The applica-
ton of this remedy by the general gov
eminent might be regarded as entirely
within its constitutional powers, and |
think we might reasonably hope that such
arbitration, if carefully selected, and If
entitled to the confidence of the parties
to be affected, would voluntarily be called
TO the settlement OF the controversies OF
less extent, and not necessarily within
the domain of federal regulation. | am