Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1886-07-29

bill' as it is called, got up before the
House next day again by some straga-
gem, and was hustled through as it
came from the Senate. 1t will now 60
to the President. Thousands of poor
people in all parts of the country, who
for the first period in their lives are
able regularly to anoint their bread
wait with anxiety to see what Mr.
Cleveland thinks of it.
The people Of Washington are COM
planning that the present Congress has
done SO little for the Dist. of Columbia
Washington has no legislative body OF
its own like other cities Of equal pro-
portion. 1t depends upon Congress
for everything; for the annual appro'
priation, for the salaries of its special
servants, or the levy Of an assessment,
down to an imposition Of a police court
penalty.
Congress find this arrangement bur-
densome at times, but so long as it re-
tains its present absolute control, the
District will clamor for attention. Con
gress is about to appropriate five
thousand dollars to gid the Goddess
of Liberty on the dome of the Capitol,
and to provide for another new park
This is thought to be we'll enough, but
the city is full of pretty parks, while it
lacks respectable Post Office building
1t is more practical than Charles Lamb
who was willing to live without the
necessities of life if he could have the
Injuries. Just at present Washington
would forego gilded goddess and a
new park for Post Office.
The fall election promises to make
many changes in the House Of Repre-
sentatives. There are few members
who can come back to Congress as long
as they wish to, and who avail them
selves Of the privilege, but there vii
be general shaking up among the ma
jority. Many have declined renomina
ton, some have failed to be renominat
ed already, many more will yet fail
and many more will be beaten. The
Presidents order that subordinate
Government officials shall not not take
part in political conventions, will. it is
said, seriously affect the chances O.
several members, VIII Sc official friends
have already been chosen for delegates
to conventions.
Within the last two weeks almost
every member of Congress has received
from one to twenty letters asking for
blanks etc, that the writer's may make
application for pensions under the
Mexican Pension Law. The truth is
the Mexican Pension Bill has not yet
become a law and probably will not this
session. The Senate and House have
differed about the bill, and it cannot
reach the President until they agree
Speaking of pensions reminds me that
there are now more men on the Govern
ment pension roll than were ever at
one time in the Confederate army
Pensions are curious things. There
are upon the pension lists over three
thousand survivors of the war of 1872
and over eighteen thousand widows Of
the 1912 soldiers. During that war
the army averaged about thirty-hve
thousand all told, officers and enlisted
men, and the whole number of killed
and wounded only amounted to five
thousand six hundred and fourteen. -
Yet on the first Of July six million dol.
lars appropriated for pensions to sur
vivors, widows, minor children, and
dependent relatives on this 1872 roll
became available. Of revolutionary
pensioners there are few widows and
minor children who .inger still, but
the revolutionary pension roll has near
ly ceased to exist. All pension lists
show in the course of fifty years small
beginning. rapidly increasing and slow
ly decreasing until within century it
is wiped out. If no war occurs in the
next half century, the wealth Of the
United States, relieved of this enor-
nous drain on its Treasury and Of pay
ment upon the National debt, will be
something fabulous.
For the sake Of the people in the
back districts, it is too bad that the bill
to establish agricultural experiment
stations was killed in the Sen
ate almost without chance for discus
sion, I may say. This measure wa,
second only to the oleomargariue bill
in attracting the bucolic fancy
Every Congressman with rural con-
stituency has introduced at least one of
these bills during the session.