The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-05-18
She Ottawa fire g.raaer,
Current Events.

are hill on "Wednesday auu On ihul 80,
nassed II 10 n third reading by vote OF ~
~ 10. from which Chicago friends OF Ihe
hill expect that on Tuesday next, Wheh the
biiI shall come up for final action, II wiz
90 through all right and get back 10 lle
house In time 20 have the senate alhenu'
,nents anproyed and the bill sent 10 the
Govarnnr Several amendments nave neeh
Sacted an In the senate, chiefly as regards
che manner of conducting the work ue-
stoned by the bill. One by Rhelnhaft oil
thIs county provides that after the WORK
masses out of the drainage district created
law the bill, further work shall De done uh'
der the direction of the canal commission.
ers--a change In the order OF things on
doubtful merit. Another provides that the
right of tue State g. compel the commits
siOners at any time 10 pay TO the ou'te u
portion of the funds received rom Wh"ii
and dock privileges shall not be abridged
Another provides that only Americans, ma
tive or nsturalized, shall be employed on
the work, and that In this work eight hours
shall constitute days labor. sun an0tner
amendment provides as follows; ANA me
canal commissioners, II they shall ma az
nny time that an additional supply OF water
has been added 20 either Of said rivers by
any drainage district or districts, to main
tain depth of not more than six feet from
sny dam owned by the State 10 and Into
the first lock Of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal at La Sale without the aid OF such
dam al low water, then II shall be the duty
of such canal commissioners to cause such
dam or dams TO be removed" There Is
rumor afloat that the Governor himself Is
not as friendly 10 the bill as Its friend
would like; this inference being drawn
from the fact that his closest friends In the
legislature are and have been fighting II.
A bill to keep alive the appropriation OF
$50 700 to build monument to Gen John
A. Logan, passed by the last legislature, on
condition that the people of the State raise
$4,000 more, was passed by a bare majority
In The house,
The militia bill as passed by the house
appropriates only $4,000. The "melish'
are apt 20 $50 broke" the coming two years ;
but no one has yet heard OF bill abolish.
ing the Pinkerton militia. IL Is just barely
possible this republican house cannot see
the necessity of two kinds of soldiers and
prefers that when their services may be
needed, the job shall be turned over TO the
Pinkertons, and thus save the State the eX.
pense of maintaining Its own |. N. e.
Pinkerton certainly has not been heard to
object 10 the arrangement.
The Senate has concluded Its investlga.
ton of the Executive Mansion household
expenses under Oglesby and adopted a re
port indicating Uncle Dicks expendi'
lures. The State Grange may, therefore,
take notice, and adjourn It's Investigation
since by this report shaving soap, table
linens and bedding, floral decorations and
travelling expenses to New York to buy
English china, French glassware, and
British carpets, have been shown, by this
report, TO be legitimate charges against the
state. Gov. Filter will please make An in
voice of the mansions stock on had and 70
be accumulated during his occupancy, bar
ring soaps, flowers and tooth brushes,
which are expected to wear out-in the
course of time-and need not be surrender
cd 10 his successor in office.
The State Board Of Health apprOpria
ton has been cut down 20 $4,000 for IA sec.
rotary and $4,000 as contingent fund.-
which Is probably ample, considering the
character of the Board and the brilliancy of
its exploits up to this time.
The bill reducing the legal rate of inter
est In this from TO 7 per cent passed
the house on Thursday having received 1913
votes, and was sent TO the senate.
The tax levy bill AS agreed upon on
Thursday night will call for 50, 100000.
The school laws have been codied by
Supt, Edwards and three lawyers of the
State, and the cOdiication will undoubtedly
become a law. 1t will he great conyen
fence to school officers.
The silver men are in state of grave
excitement over the refusal Of the Secre-
tary Of the Treasury to buy any more sill.
yer bullion for coinage into daddy dollars,
the Information having leaked out that
purchases VIII cease, at least until congress
meets again. The silver men, on the In.
&uguration Of the nsw administration, ex-
pected TO force largely increased purchas-
es OF metal, but now find that the new
Secretary Is even harder on them than his
predecessors. 1t Is enough to note, by the
way, that, except, perhaps In the line of
tariff decisions, the new administration Is
doing little more than to follow out the
financial policy of Secretary Fairchild,
though Fairchild never exhibited any
thing like 30 radical an opposition to the
silver dollar. The purchases of bonds con
tinue on the same basis rs under Secretary
Fairchild; and II must cause Mr.. Allison
oil Iowa untold annoyance that bonds do
not come In faster to confirm his statements
OF last summer that II the Secretary were
willing to buy he could retire all the bonds
he desired TO, and at a less cost than Fair
child was paying. But Mr.. Allison was
making buncomb speeches then, and the
secretary Is buying now, just as his prede-
cessor ala, all he could get at fair price.
The Agricultural Department has for
some time had under consideration the
question, what shall take the place of
wheat on farms when II can no longer be
raised at a proft' The question would, a
Few years ago, have been laughed al by
gentlemen homesteaders and timber cul-
turists of Illinois located In Minnesota and
Dakota, but we believe of late years, after
having squandered heap of money in the
endeaVor to raise wheat year after year
on the same land without rotation of crops
or tertillzing, they have come to reconsider
the matter, and the question may now be
not without interest even to them. Ii has
not yet been solved, however, even by the
heayy weights of Gov. Rusk's official
household, though Prof. Willets, the AssIs-
tsnt Secretary, has recently had a letter
from Ireland, which may offer solution
NJ tho prohlam The - ga. .--.....z A =.