San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1886-02-04
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.


ED. FREE PREss: A good many oI
the delegates to tho Mississippi River
Improvement Convention which met
at the Ebbit Thursday afternoon
were at the Capitol that day. They
talked freely of their hopes and pro
jects, and of the large appropriations
for the river improvement which they
expect from congress. The tenor OF
their talk indicated that there is not
entire harmony of thought among
them. The delegates from the Up
per Mississippi and the Missouri COM
plain that the bulk of the appropria'
tions has hitherto been given to the
Lower Mississippi, and say they do
not intend to submit to this any
longer. Some of them declare that
they intend to demand equal shares
with the lower river, and that if this
is refused, they will fight against any
appropriation. The River and Har-
Dor Committee will probably meet to-
night to hear the views of the dele
gates to this convention.
A hasty canvass of both houses Of
congress indicates that no measure
designed to interrupt the coinage of
silver dollars can pass either chamber.
The attitude of the democrats, as o
party, was we'll defined in the senate
by Mr.. Pugh, who in good-natured
and temperate reference to the ad-
ministration's silver policy, said, that
on this matter both parties allowed
differences of opinion within the
ranks, and that he had no disposition
to quarrel with tho president for hold
ing views at variance with his own.
After this explanation, he pitched in
TO the gold-bugs and the banks with
out mercy.
Col. Srowden, who was superin-
tendent of the Philadelphia mint for
many years, and who is recognized
authority on coinage, says that ex-
Congressman Hoar's declaration that
there are50, 100000 counterfeit dollars
in circulation, is ridiculous. He says
that it would be impossible for out
side parties to coin and circulate i'm
itation dollars in any considerable
amount without detection. The dol
lars could not be minted without
costly machinery of special patterns.
The old-fashioned method of mould
ing is very slow one, and coins SO
made would be palpably inferior to
those minted by machinery. Then,
that the coin could be made
of standard metal, and in perfect inn
itation of that manufactured by the
government, how, asks Col. Snowden,
could it be made to circulate freely
With all it's appliances, the govern
ment has been able to float only fifty
million silver dollars in seven years.
Evidently, counterfeiters could not
duplicate this issue secretly, and by
paid agents. Again, where and when
was the necessary bullion purchased!
Col. Snowden concludes that there
are very few counterfeit dollars in
fewer, he thinks, than at
any previous time in the history of
the government. 1t looks, in short,
Us if Mr.. Hoar was indulging himself
4 little in that propensity for joking
for which the rotund ex member
from Michigan is so famous.
The Ordnance Committee find that
The country can manufacture it's own
cannon, if it is given time and money
enough, and they urge that this be
lone. The necessary expenditures
would be rather large, but there is no
good reason why the government
should not make it's cannon as well
Is its small arms, or at least extend
such guarantee to private concerns as
would justify them in providing the
necessary plant. Even if we ordered
;annon from abroad, we should have
% wait some time before we could
get them. And considerations Of ma.
ional safety urge the manufacture of
guns on our own soil.
General Sherman is already tired
# the whim thet made him leave
and choose st. Louis as
place to live in, and is talking of
eaving that place. l..