The Portland daily press., 1888-03-30
the NATIONAL CAPITAL.
Pending Measures to Promote Amer
lean Shipping interests.
some Principal Items Of the River
and HarboF Bill.
Man-of-War Lancaster Falls to
Reach Her Port.


great Importance to American shipping. one
providing for its development by the pay
ment Of government bounty. and the other
known as the "Free Ship" bill, will have final
consideration before the House committee.on
merchant marine tomorrow. The outcome
of that meeting is likely to determine the
fate Of one or both of the measures. The
bounty bill is the one approved by the New
York Chamber of Commerce and the Ma
tional Shipping League, and is substantially
copy of the French law which has done so
much to strengthen the French merchant
marine. 1t gives bounty of 36 cents ton
for every 1000 miles travelled by an Ameri-
can ship in foreign trade. The "Free Ship
bill is diametriealy opposed to the former
measure. and provides for the admission of
all foreign built ships free of duty.
When the merchant marine committee was
appointed it was thought to be packed in
favor of the Free Ship" idea Of its chair
man, Mr.. Dunn. and against the bounty bill
Yet the strong representations made by the
shipping interests have led to a hope that
the, Free Ship" bill would be promptly
shelved by the committee. The hope, how.
ever is not altogether justified. No vote
has yet been taken in the committee which
would indicate the outcome Of its delibera-
tions. AT present 1t seems that there will be
tie when the committee Is ready to vote.
Clark and Cummings-all Republicans ex-
cept Cummings-are regarded as favorable
to the bounty bill, while Messrs. Dunn, Nc
MILAN, Springes. Hatch, w. G. z. Breckin-
ridge and MacDonald-all Democrats=-are
regarded as opposed to it. This does not in
ed any of the committee meetings, the rea-
son alleged being that he is dissatisfied with
his committee assignments. At any rate,
members of the committee doubt whether he
will attend the meeting at which these meas
ures are to be disposed Of
Owing to the great Importance of the boun
ty bill to shipping interests, q suggestion has
been made which meets. with some favor.
This is, that the bills be reported to the
House without recommendation, and thus pc
given an opportunity to be considered by the
whole House on their merits. That meas
ures of this Importance should be held In
committee by tie vote appears somewhat
unreasonable, and it Is on these grounds that
a report without recommendation is hoped
for on Friday.
Rivers and Harbors.
The river and harbor bill was reported to
the House today. 1t aggregates $1s.4S2,7s3
and is the largest bill of the kind ever intro
ducei. This is due to the fact that no bill
for river and harbor improvements passed
at the last session. The bill will undoubted-
lybe further increased In the Senate when 1t
reaches that body, although some of the
House items may be reduced somewhat The
appropriations for Maine rivers and harbors
are substantially the same as those con-
tanned in the bill Of last session, which
failed to receive the Presidents signature.
The other large items in the bill are $685.
900 for the Mississippi river; 81 100000 for
the Sault Ste. Marie river, which connects
the great lakes, Michigan ana superior, ana
is the waterway through which the immense
wheat crops of the Northwest pass; .$645, 900
for the Ohio river, and S625, 900 for the Mis-
souri,. The latter Appropriation will proba-
bly, he cut down In the Senate, as 1t has been
shown that the shipping upon that river has
by the numerous lines Of competing rail-
roads. On the lower river between st. Louis
and Kansas City, only one steamboat re-
mains out of a large fleet plying between
these points but a few years ago. and the
freighting by barges is fast disappearing.
The upper river has always been unprofita-
BILE for navigation. The policy of Congress
toward river and harbor improvements has
changed very much Of late, and it Will be
hard to find anything but legitimate I'M
been perfected by both branches OF Con-
gress.
Fears for the Lancaster.
The fact that the man-of-war Lancaster
has not been heard from for some time is be-
ginning to attract attention in naval circles
in Washington. The Lancaster left Monte
video January II last for Gibraltar, where
she was to join the Mediterranean squadron.
1t was expected that the voyage would take
fifty days, though reasonable time beyond
that period would not have been remarkable.
Yesterday was the 10th day since she started
Provisions were taken for 80 days SO that
only 20 days provisions remain on board.
Prior to leaving Montevideo the Lancaster's
boilers were in such a bad condition that
they could not be used. She may have
stopped at st. Helena which IL cut of from
all cable or telegraphic communication.
Blue Book on Lard.
The last thing in the fight against Squire
& Co. in the pure lard contest is little blue
pamphlet, with which the city was thorough
ly strewn this afternoon. The title page
bears the inscription, Services of Hon. w.
III. Hatch in behalf of the prime steam lard
of the Chicago and Boston hog packers" 1t
is a compendium of all the newspaper
articles which have been aimed at the bill,
including extracts from the Goldsboro Argus,
Fort Smith Journal and others.
Portions of the testimony given before the
committee are also given, evidently with
view Of showing that Judge Hatch has been
doing all he could to help the bill and in,
sinuating that he is against the cotton seed
oil interests of the South. Among the quota
tions is an extract from the remarks Of Ed
ward Atkinson at dinner Of the solid
Southerners at the Hotel Brunswick, New
York city, presided ever by Mayor Hewitt,
Feb. %, 1885.
Too Many Magazines.
1t begins to look as though Third Assist
ant Postmaster General Harris would float
down into history as the most gorgeous mis-
take of the Cleveland administration. In
passing on and denying the application of
the New York Gazette, of fiIve-cent story
magazine fame, I'll. r. Harris has seen fit to
make this remarkable statement: "a paper
or magazine already granted the privileges
of secOnd-class rates is hard to deal with,
but new publication is entirely within the
power of the department. There's too much
reading matter; too many magazines al
ready"
Notes.