New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-05-02
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, d. c., April %. 1

1
/ Washington, d. c., April %. 1883.
| The tariff debate, which was begun
n the House of Representatives last
Tuesday, seems to have had the effect
of putting the members of that body to
work. They have since then passed
the Indian and Pension appropriation
| bills and devoted one day to the con-
sideration of the River and Harbor bill.
Tomorrow the tariff debate is to be re-
s,,med, and it will probably be kept up
with short intermissions for at least two
months. If the Mills bill were to be
voted on at once it would probably be
defeated by very small majority, but
what will happen after two months
of Ginning I am not prepared to
guess.
The Senate is far ahead of the House
in the amount of work SO far performed
during the present session. The Sen
ate has passed 831 bills, while the House
has passed only 425.
Quite a number of republican SEN
ators went to New York to attend the
funeral of ex-senator Conkling.
Mr.. Blaine's idea of Congress of
AmericansN sNations will be fact next
year. The bill providing for it and in
structing the president to request
the Government of the republics
of Mexico, of Central and South Amer
lea and Hayti, and the Empire of Brazil
to send representatives to conference
to meet in this city in Or about April
1889, has been passed by both Houses
Of Congress.
1t is stated here that the President
has fully decided to appoint Mr.. Phelps
of Vermont, our present Minister to
England, Chief Justice of the United
States, but that, the Irish-American
having made snch a vigorous protest
against it, he has promised not to make
the appointment for the present,
The Fisheries treaty will be rejected.
The Senate will. spend a portion of this
week in discussing it behind closed
doors, and its formal rejection will
probably take place before the end of
the week.
Hon. D. B. Henderson of Iowa, DUR
ing the debate in the House on the pen
sion appropriation bill, took occasion
to pay his respects to Commissioner of
Pensions Black and his methods. Mr..
Henderson. in speaking of the admins
tration of the Mexican Pension law by
the Pension Office, said: $50 rapid is
the Pension Bureau in recognizing
claims under this law, thatpensions are
allowed before even a claim is put in,
and certificates are issued when the
beneficiary did not know he was a
claimant. In proof Of this assertion,
he sentto the clerk desk, and had read
an article in a Chicago paper to the ef-
feet, that the Commissioner of Pensions
had ordered a pension certificate sent
to Col. W. r. Morrison, notwithstand.
ing that he was informed that Col.
Morrison's S name was not on the list of
applicants. The certificate was re-
turned to the Chicago pension agent by
Col. Morrison, accompanied by quite a
terse letter. Mr. Henderson, continu.
ing his remarks, said: "Commissioner
Black stands convicted on democratic
authority of violating the terms of the
law. and simply issuing.,a certificate to
a democratic chief, who was too high
and too clean to become a party to the
transaction. This man, who entered
upon the discharge of his duties with
heaVen-erected face, like saint, is
caught in democratic trap. Hes has
got lower down in struggling for poll.
tical influence that any bureau officer
I l,oro o,7o,, 1v,n1ryy,,