The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-01-17
WASHINGTON WORDS.
A Bill to Prohibit Importa-
lions Of Opium. !.
PROPOSED HARBeR BUREAU.
Naval Reserve-CGnfi rmatfons-Wheat
Bounty-A BilI to Pay Soldiers
Gold-Etc. 9 .a.t
Washington Doisg s


WASHINGTON, January l6.-ff5ek See-
rotary of the Treasury has submitted
to Congress the draft Of bill prohibits
ing the importation of opium contain
ing less than per cent. of morphine,
and authorizing the Treasury to seize
and destroy all opium prepared for
smoking. In his letter OF transmission
the Secretary of the Treasury says:
Under the existing law. the department
was unable to prevent the smuggling of
opium by systematic organizations on
the Pacific Coast.f Congress is not
disposed to prohibit or restrict the
Importation of opium for smoking, and
desires to obtain a revenue there
from, the present tax of $40
per pound should be materially
reduced, so that the inducement to
smuggle shall be lesseBed..5 y9g y-s7t5
Among the petitions presented to
the Senate to-day, was one asking fol- a
change in. the postal laws, so that
paper, books, novels and blood, and
thunder stories" shall not be sent
through the mails as second class
matter, paying cent psr pound, while
school, law, scientific and religious
books have to pay 8 cents pound.
Among the bills introduced in the
Senate to-day, were the following: By
Cullom-For the. establishment of a
bure d of harb ors and waterways IN
the War Department to be officer by
corps of nited States civil engineers.
The proposed bureau is to be charged
with the construction, conduct and
preservation of harbors and water ways
It's personnel is to be one chief of
corps four assistant, chiefs, not less
than nine nor more than u eleven
department engineers, and not more
than fifty division engineers !; 100 assist
ant engineers, 200 second assistant and
$50 cadet engineers. The country is
to be divided and subdivided into grand
divisions. departments and divisions,
over which officers provided for VIII
have charge. The chief and half OF the
associate chiefs, department and div
ision engineers may be appointed from
the army engineer corps, with the OPP
ton of resuming their place in the mil.
itary service at any time within two
years. No appropriations for work, the
bill provides, shall be extended. unless ii
is sufficient to complete the work,
or unless provision shall be made for
the funds necessary for It's couple
ton. This provision, however, is
not to apply to dredging or snag-
giDgs operations. or to works OF
a temporary nature, the purpose being
stated to be to prevent the. exercise OF
discretion by engineers when they know
that the amount appropriated is in
sufficient to serve any useful purpose.
A bill was introduced in the House by
Representative Whithorne to create a
naval reserve.
These combinations were made: E.
s. Bragg. minister to Mexico; receivers
of public moneys, Joseph S.Swan, Glen.
wood Springs, Colo. postmaster, E. j.
Farlow, Ashland, Ogn.
The wheat bounty, introduced by
Representative Landers, proposes to re-
duce the surplus by paying bounty OF
% cents per bushel on all wheat eK-
ported to foreign countries. ~.
Representative Hovey, OF Indiana,
to-day introduced a bill to- pay to
soldiers of the late war, an amount
equal to 90 per cent. of the amount OF
their original pay, to make good the
difference between the value of green
backs, in which they were paid, and
gold coin in which greenbacks were
eventually redeemed. -