The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-05-02

Bismark is anxious to be on friendly
terms with the United States.
An impression prevails among Congress
men in Washington that an extra session
will be called in October.
A large vein of silver and one of copper
ore. have been discovered in the Blue
Ridge, a few miles from Harper's Ferry.
1t is stated that Murat Halsted, editor
of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, is
dangerously i'll. and that his wife and four
children, now in Berlin, have been sum-
moned home.
Mrs. Cleveland has recently had made
riding habit adapted to a tricicle. which
she will use. Her example will not be 50
generally followed as would haye been the
case year ago.
Gen. Boulanger has been notified by the
Belgian authorities that it is desired he
shall leave that country. The request is
made that he may leave without coercion.
He will go to London, it is stated.
The whiskey vendors. destined for Okla
homa Territory, have met with snag.
Secretary Window says that whiskey can
not be cotton to Oklahoma without pass
ing over Indian territory, and the law es-
pecialy forbids liquor being so trans
ported.
Thirty or forty postoflices will be es-
tablished in Oklahoma in the next few
he oit Let, r.
lation OF 10000. and land agent for each
purchaser. 1t is not stated whether or
not the life insurance agent is about
in that locality, as yet. Probably he is
waiting for the first six months to pass,
before he takes any risks
Minnesota is threatened with another
grasshOpper plague, A remedy is sug-
gested by blowing under the eggs. There
are about 5000 acres of prairie land which
will have to undergo this process to arrest
the raid of the pest, The best way is for
the farmers there to come to the Valley of
Virginia where neither cyclones, famish-
ing droughts nor grasshoppers take posses
sion of the country.
The Harrisonburg Spirit calls attention
to mistake in the VIRGINlAN, which we
readily recognize. We were misled by
paragraph in one Of our exchanges. We
stated that the appointment of Mr.. Hep
burn, of Iowa. as Solicitor of the Treasury,
was to the position Mr.. Blair of Virginia
desired. The latter is applying for the
Office Of Solicitor General, to which an APP
pointment has not yet been made. Mr..
Blair g chances are said to be favorable.
Christian Ho lzworth was soldier in the
late war and received injuries and endured
hardships which made him insane, He is
now an incurable inmate of an insane asy !.
lum in Lewis county, n. Y, while his
wife has been supporting herself and chill
dren by taking in washing. Recently,
however,, their condition has been changed
Back pension pay to the amount Of S13,-
900. and pension of s75 per month for
life have been allowed the insane man
While his condition will not be changed
that of his family will be.
Henry G.. Pearson, postmaster of New
York. died in that city on Saturday last,
of cancer of the stomach, aged 43 years.
His term having expired the lst of April,
his:successor has been appointed, but be
was holding oyer until Mr.. Van Colt quail
lew. took charge of the Office On the recon-
mendaton of Pearson's securities. The
cause of Mr.. Pearson's death is disap-
pointment to the partizan press, which
was striving to make it appear that it was
the ingratitude of politicians and the
criticims to which he had been subjected,
that precipitated the fatal result. The
disease from which he died was of slow
growth, and could have had no connection
with political complications or conditions.
The declaration of ex Postmaster en-
eral James, made after careful eXamina
tion of the New York postoflice, that the
force in every department is 20 per cent.
beloW what it should be, and that in order
to make it effective the allowance for car
riers and clerks should be increased by
$500 900 per annum. ought to lead to an
improvement. The policy of the legisla-
tive department of the government, .has
been uniformly restrictive and injurious
to the postal service. There is no branch
of the government that is so illberally and
parsimoniously dealt with. The estimates
the several bureaus of the neces sary ex-
penses of the service are annually cut
down by the Post Office Committee, with
out any thought for the efficiency or n
largement of the work There is no force
that is harder worked, or that receive less
compensation in proportion to the work.
Yet the public expect prompt delivery of
the mails and constant attend ance night
and day, when the mails coming in or de-
parting, require it. This is all d. manded
of the post office officials, and yet tEey are
paid less than In any other branch of the
public service. The next Congress will be
Republican, and we trust that more lib
eral and intelligent policy will prevail
than has been the case, since the Demo
Gratis have had control of the popular
branch Of Congress.