Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-16
General l1eps.
MATTERS AT WASHINGTON.

The Chinese treaty, preventing the i'm
migration of Chinese laborers, has been
signed.
The House has passed lot of private
pension bills including one increasing the
pension of the widow of Gen. Robert
Anderson. the hero of Fort Sumter. to
500 per month.
The investigation into the subject of
trusts and their influence upon the price
of commodities was formally begun
by the House committee on manufac-
lures The sugar trust was the first on
looked into
The treasury department estimates that
owing to the heavy receipts of the past
few months. the surplus at the end of
June 1888, will probably reach Sl55, OOO,-
900, an increase of Sl55. 200, 600 over the
estimate submitted to Congress by Sec
rotary Fairchild early in December.
a memorial has been presented to the
Senate signed by the governors of Massa-
chusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire,
and the directors of the Bennington bat
tie monument setting forth the progress
made in the erection of the monument,
and the need of further moderate APP
preparation.
The Senate committee on coast defen-
ces reports recommending the approgria-
ton of Sl26,37S, 900 for sea-coast defenses
at the principal ports of the country. OF
the amount appropriated S2l, 5000 is
for the test and purchase of guns and
carriages and for projectiles, explosives,
etc.; $780, 900 for the purchase of subma-
rine mines, classmates, ETC.; for continu-
ing torpedo service, $500, 900.
The President has sent to the Senate
message on the subject of the Chinese
treaty in which he says: SIT is with
much qualification that l deem myself
justified in expressing to the Senate in
response to its resolution, the hope and
expectation that treaty will soon be
concerning the importation Of
Chinese laborers which will meet the
wants of our people and the appreciation
of the body to which it will be submit
ted for confirmation
The main section of the dependent
pension bill which the Senate has passed
is as follows: All persons who served
three months or more in the military or
naval service of the United States during
tha Of no nd hn hax
been honorably discharged therefrom,
and who are now, or may hereafter be,
suffering from mental or physical disa-
biity, not the result of their own vicious
habits, which totally incapacitates them
for the performance of manual labor, and
who are without other adequate means
of self-support, shall upon making due
proof of the fact, according to such rules
as the secretary of the interior may
provide, be placed upon the list of inval-
id pensioners of the United States, and
be entitled to receive Sl2 per month, and
such pension shall commence from the
date Of the filing of the application in
the pension office, after the passage of
this act, upon proof that the disability
then existed, and shall continue during
the existence of the same: Provided,
that persons who are now receiving pen
sions under existing laws, or whose
claims are pending in the pension office,
may. by application to the commissioner
of pensions, in such form rs he may pre-
scribe, receive the benefits of this act;
and nothing herein contained shall be
construed AS to prevent any pensioner