Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-03-20
Washington Letter.
Fron our Regular correspOndentl

W dsLluRtoAs ~. ". nAalSn AOs AOSo'
The President was greatly surprised,
! not to say shocked, at the latest charge
of Frank Hatton against Messrs Roose-
welt and Thompson, the two Civil Ser
( vice Commissioners appointed by Mr..
Harrison. Dir. Hatton charges that the
communications signed by Mr.. W. d.
Foulke, of Indiana, which was published
last week in the New York Times and ia
the St. Louis Republic, and which
charge the President and his cabinet
with having entered into conspiracy
to break down the civil service reform
system and that the Congressional in
vestigation was the result of that con-
spiracy, were inspired by Messrs Roose-
welt and Thompson. if not actually pre-
pared by them. Both of those gentle
men deny the charge, but the fact that
Mr.. Foudke, who has been here for
several weeks, has been a good deal in
their company makes the thing look
very bad. This added to the result of
the investigation is enough to disgust
the President with the whole business.
A big Chicago delegation is here help
ing the House committee to fix up the
bill for the Worlds Fair, and it is prob
able that the bill will be reported to the
House aud passed this week. The
Chicago people say they will not ask to
have the fair postponed until 1898, but
that they would not object to such post
ponement believing that it would re-
suit in making the fair a greater success.
There are still lots of people here who
do not believe any fair will be held
The majority of the Semitic Committee
on elections have decided to report in
favor of the republican Senatorial con-
testants from Montana. This means
practically that the republicans will be
seated.
1t is expected that the bills for the
admission If Wyoming and Idaho will
be taken up by the House this week.
The democrats will offer as a substitute
for the Idaho bill an omnibus bill in
Guiding New Mexico, Arizona and
Idaho.
The Senate committee which has been
trying so hard to find out how the pro-
ceedings of secret sessions get out has
at last got on the right track by sum
monsing Senators to testify before it.
The House committee on Elections
will send a subcommittee of five men,
beers to Arkansas to investigate the
killing of Col. Clayton, and to determine |
whether he or Mr. Breckenridge, who |
now holds the seat, was elected to the |
House from the second Arkansas district. |
The district tax bill, which has already
passed the Senate, has been favorably !
reported TO the House. There is no
doubt of its passing.
Postal telegraphy has taken up a good |
deal of the time of the Congressional on |
post-oflices of late. and everybody that
has been heard, except the representa-
tives of the Western Union telegraph |
company, favor the idea of postal
telegraph system, some of them sup |
porting the Postmaster Generals bill,
which provides for leasing wires, and
others Representative Wade's bill, (which |
provides for the Governments erecting
the wires. 1t seems pretty certain that
the time is not far distant when postal |
telegraph system will be in operation in
this country.
There have been altogether four out |
of the seventeen contested election
cases decided by the House. Three of
the republican contestants have been
seated and one case decided in favor of |
the democratic sitting member. The
election committee is working hard to |
get other cases ready to report, but US !
each case averages about one thousand |
printed pages of testimony it is neces-
sarily very slow work.
Senator Plumb's bill to declare for
feited the lands granted to aid in the
constructions of railroads has been |
favorably reported to the Senate.
That some sort of silver bill will be
passed by the present Congress is GER
tain, but whether it will be the bill re-
ported by the Senate Finance Commit
tee or Secretary WINDOWS bill is a
matter of doubt, although Mr.. Wind
om's bin is ahead so far, but comrara-
tiyeiy few members have as yet CON-
mitted themselves.
Secretary Window has by the pur-
chase of bonds reduced the available
surplus of the treasury to S2S,OO0,000.
He does not propose to reduce it below