Omaha daily bee., 1888-08-09
A Queer Incident in the Lifo Of q
Nebraska Editor.
HIS MILITARY RECORD cLoUoED
He served Calamity Throughout the
War But IL Made to Suffcr
for an Unintentional
Wrong.
A Strange Case.

TaSka, ana involves u WCIl-KnOWn eultOr Ill
that state. Two years ago, Loren w. Hast
ings wrote to Washington for his military re-
cord, believing it to be without blemish, and
was staggered at discovering that ho was on
the rolls as a dcserter. The circumstances
under which Mr.. Hastings was scored as a
deserter are interesting
He enlisted IN company G., Sixth Iowa Vol
untoer Infantry, at Iowa City, March %.
1862. After about two months service in the
infantry arm of the army, he became dissatis-
fed and wanted to enter the navy. A trans
fer was refused him, and when his company
reached Pittsbnrg Landing, Tenn, he
abruptly left it, and imme lately entered the
service of the navy, going on board the
United States ship, Cairo, then living at
Mound City, Ill. He enrolled his name as one
of the crew, he Immediately entered into active
service. He preferred serving in the navy
because he had Il number of years before
been seaman before the mast, and certainly
he was enabled to be OF greater advantage to
his country in the branch he was familiar
with, and which he preferred to serve in
rather than the place distasteful ana strange
to him. He never dreamed that his leaving
one branch of the service and immediate
entering into another would be recorded
against him. and naturally presumed, during
all these years of peace, that the record of
the department showed that he had contin-
ued in the service of the union. 1t was well
known in the company he left that he had
entered the navy, aud he presumed that his
captain would see that his name was prop
erly transferred, since he had made formal
application for IL.
Last February Senator Paddock applied to
| the war department requesting to know
| whether Mr.. Hastings record could not be
corrected under the statute of May, 1856, but
| the department held that Immediate enlist
ment in the navy was not covered by the
1t.als
| the army. A bill was introduced in the SEN
| ate to correct the record, 50 as to make it APP
| pear that instead of being deserter he had
| simply absented himself without leave from
| his company commander; that he had i'm
| mediately entered the navy, served honora-
| bly,, and was discharged from that service
| making his army record a matter with the
navy instead Of the war department.
| Senator COckrell has submitted report
| favorable on the bill from the committee on
| military affairs. and in his statement the SEN
! ator says:
Had the petitioner joined some other
regiment or company in the army, instead of
| enlisting in the navy, the charge of deser-
tion would be removable by the war depart
| ment under the act approved May II, 1885,
| 1t is perfectly manifest that the prisoner did
| not intend to desert the service of the United
| States, in the prosecution of the war for the
maintenance OF the union. In other words
he did not absent himself without leave with
| the intention, the animus, of not returning
| but with the express purpose and intention
| of joining another branch of the service, for
| the same purpose, and which was co-operat-
| ing with the miatary arm in the prosecution
| of the war. And the telegram of the adju-
| tant general to General Haleck December II,
1861, and general orders No. q, issued by
| General lialleck, January 81, 1862, clearly
show that the rumOrS which reached the
| petitioners in regard to the difficulty to pro-
| cure men to man the western fotilla. and or
| ders for the transfer of soldiers to such
service were correct. If the petitioner had
4 made a formal application in writing, or if
his captain had forwarded his name to his
| commanding officer to be transferred, the
| transfer would doubtless have been made.
| The charge there fore, of descrton is not
true one, and should not remain upon the
| records"
| Another special consular bulletin has Just
been issued from the department of state on
| the subject of the cost of manufactured arti-
cleS in England in comparison with those in
| the United States, the object being to submit
| an official argument in favor of reduction
of the duties on imported English goods into
| the United States This report is confined
| to the ingram carpet industry and comes
| from the American consul at Tunstall
| England.
In tine first paragraph of the report it is
| shown that in America the price paid opera
tives for weaving with our improved ma
| chinery, which enables each person to weave
| an average of one hundred and eighty yards
| a week, is 81 cents yard, bringing up the
average earnings for the operative to S9.45
| In England the ingram carpet is woven by
| hand looms, for the reason, the consul says,
| that "hand loom weaving offers to the manu-
facturer the great advantage that he need
| not sink the greater part of his capital into
i fixed charges of costly machinery" the price
of labor being so cheap that improved ma
| chinery is not an inducement to English man
| ufacturers. Owing to the fact that hand
looms are used in England the manufacturer
can deliver the carpet at cost OF 10 cents
yard, which includes the warping, weaving,
| dyeing and finishing and everything else con-
nected with the manufacture. Including
the expense outside of the weaving alone
about the same price Is paid for the weaving
in England that is paid in the United States; {;
| but while an American weaver turns out $50
| yards a week, the English weaver, with the
best hand looms, turns out but 12O yards in
two weeks, which is only about one third as
much as is done by the operator in America.
and the English operator is paid 81 week.
| The highest wages paid for power. loom
weaving in England is . pence, or cents,
and the average wages paid is a little below
So a week in the English carpet factories.
Advices have reached the state department
from Japan, Sweden and Italy of increased
duties on imports. These reports show that
nine etenths of the European, Continental,
Oriental and Occidental countries have in
creased their import duties during the
|
them levy duties ranging from 10 to 80 per
cent above those imposed by the laws of
the United States. This fact is being
/ poiiiiiit.ad out by the tariff protection republic
cans in congress Gs an argument going to
show that there si,c.iia not be decrease in
the duties on manufactures. articles al TINS
| time
~.
An old republican member of the house
from one of the principal silver states, gave
me briefly to-day a history of the bill which
created the "dollar of our daddies,n known
as the BLAND dollar" or the "buzzard dol
lar" For several years Mr.. Bland, who
comes from Missouri has been claiming
prestige and leadership in the house on the
| reputation he earned with this bill, and after
all it developes that no more credit is due
him than is due the man IN the moon, be.
cause he never wrote line of the measure
and never offered the smallest suggestion to
it. The member referred TO gave Inc the
history of this bill, which is now law, in
words like these:
"The bill was introduced by General N. p.
Banks, then member from Massachusetts,
elected by the independents. When the bill
was introduced by Banks it was thought to
be so much of joke that it wasn't dignifed
by its reference to the customary committee
| On hnn and N be nm.