The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-07-24

that whenever the surplus in the Treas
ury shall exceed Sl00,0OO,000, it shall
be the duty of the Secretary of the
Treasury to apply such excess towards
the payment of interest upon the public
debt. The bill has gone to the Senate,
and there are many conjectures as to It's
chances of passing that body. The pre-
vailing opinion seems TO be that it will
not pass the Senate, and even its most
ardent advocates do not venture TO pre-
dict that It would receive the approval
of the President. AS very large per-
centage of the U. S. bonds are held by
National Banks as security for their
circulation, and a withdrawal of these
bonds would necessarily involve the re-
tirement of the currency issued upon
them, and result in contraction of the
currency to that extent.
The Mexican Pension Bill which
passed the House on the 5th Of April,
was passed by the Senate on Wednes-
day, and now awaits the signature of
the President. The bill provides pen
sion of eight dollars per month to all
surviving officers, soldiers and sailors
who served term Of at least sixty days
in the war with Mexico. .. tt.
The twelfth annual convention of the
representatives of southern railways was
held here during the week. Among the
eighty delegates present were included
the presidents and general executive
officers of every railroad system from
the Potomac to the Gulf, and from the
Atlantic coast to the Mississippi river.
General B. f. Butler has been spend
ing considerable portion of his time of
late in calling upon the various mem
bers of the committee on public build
ings and grounds, with the view of sell
ing his mansion on Capitol Hill to the
government His price is S275, 600.
Some of the members of the committee
have declared themselves in favor of the
purchasing of the building for the use
of the various scientific bureaus, which
at present occupy rented buildings.
The Mexican government is about to
commence the erection of handsome
legation building in this city. The plans
were prepared by an architect here, and
have been sent to Mexico for approval.
/ The numerous wars of words which
, have characterized the proceedings Of
, the present House Yesterday, for the
| first time, led to personal physical en-.
: counter. The participants were two
members of the House-Mr. Cobb, oi
Indiana, probably the largest and
weightiest man in the House, and Mr.
. Laird, of Nebraska, a man of athletic
build and unusual height. After O
. somewhat exciting colloquy in the
r House during which the "lie'' was
, passed, the two members started for the
/ basement OF the Capitol, where they
| purposed to fight it out. One of them
t however, (Mr. Cobb was overtaken by
= Jealous peacemaker, who, with his
, hand on his friends collar, escorted him
r back to the House. Unfortunately the
r second beligerent came up with them
before they had reached the chamber
and hot words passing again, Mr.. Laird
struck Mr.. Cobb a heavy blow on the
mouth, which caused the blood to flow.
The combatants were promptly separat-
ed and order restored. 1t is not an EN-
tirely proper thing for one Congressman
TO whip another at the Capitol. Some
other place should be selected. In a
remote spot, where the public would not
be annoyed it would be entirely satis-
factory to the country at large to have
them thump each other to their heart s
content There is great deal of poeti-
cal Justice in having one Congressman
whip another. There can be no chance
of a mistake in such case.
The dismissal of Edward S. Peck,
Chief of Division in the office of the
comptroller of the currency and Chas.
B. Hinckley and Julius Z. DeSauley,
second-class clerks in the same office,
will be applauded by all honest men I'M
der the circumstances. The chief is
charged with clandestinely furnishing
examination papers to the clerks in all.
vance in order that they might "stuff'
for promotion. 1t is this class of work
that will now throw the civil service in
disrepute throughout the country, and
the sooner it is summarily suppressed
the better 1t will be for the system and
, the hard-working clerk seeking promo.
tion in fair manner. II