The morning call., 1891-12-20
NOTES FROM
WASHINGTON.
The Reform Ware That Washed So
Many UnknOWnS Into Congress.
Talk About the Upper End of the Pacific
Coast-A Week Of Perfect Weather-The
California Representatives.
2ecial fer THE SUNDAY CALI

WASHINGTON, Dec. 49, 1S91.-The reform
Congress starts as slowly to its work as
Democratic Congresses usually do. Speaker
Reed distanced even other Republican
Speakers by announcing his committees
upon the first day of the session, and that
famous billon-dollar Congress actually ac-
complished some work before the HOLIDAYS
Speaker Crisp, it is said. will not announce
his committees until after the HOLIDAYS, so
that the legislators might just as we'll have
remained at their homes until January, and
adiourning from day to day after six-minute
sessions, the Representatives find time heavy
on their hands. What the Alliance men
think OF this way of earning their stipend
GUS salaries is not told. The farmer knows
how to see much aud say little.
The reform wave that washed so many
unknowns into Congress bore several mill
ionaires along with the plain sons of the
people, and here still come new Congress-
men who lease expensive houses. bring their
horses and carriages aud retinues of ser
wants with them. Shall such sit in the Cap
itol and talk Of economy, cut down the sal
aries Of mail carriers and not allow enough
to pay the gas bills in federal buildings
away from the capital? The army OF
claimants, attorneys, promoters, boomers
and beggars bent on securing Congressional
aid this winter are more detected than ever
at the certainty of Representative Homan's
being given the Craftsmanship of the Com
mlttee on Appropriations. Those who 90
in for the old flag and an appropriation
may get the tattered ensign, but the other
prize will be too difficult. Were Represen-
tatlve Holman's home farther away from
Chicago the Worlds Fair Board might as
well stay on the lake shore as come here
and even offer interest for the ive-million
loan. and those who 90 to argue for such
help will probably draw cuts to decide who
shall be pushed forward to utter the auda-
cious word 'appropriation"
IN THIS CONNECTION.
That upper end of the Pacific Coast,
Alaska, seems to be having Its innings this
year. The President devoted good para
graph of his annual message to It's needs.
asking Congress to devise some simple form
OF municipal government for its towns and
to look to other wants. The National Geo
graphical Society will make this an Alaskan
winter, to judge from the lecture list already
announced. DIR. L. c. Mendenhal, Super
inteDdent Of the Coast and Geodetic Sur
vey, will relate his summer cruise along the
Alaska coast on the survey steamer Patter-
son, and his fellow Behring Sea Commits
sioner, DIR. Merriam, will add mis- cruise to The
fund. j. Stanley Brown, who spent the
season in special work on the Seal islands,
will lecture on the Pribyloffs and their sum-
mer inhabitants, and Messrs. McGrath and
Turner will tell of their camps and works
along the one hundred and forty-first merid-
ian and the banks Of the Yukon and Purcu-
pine rivers. These are few of the Alaska
lectures That are to come, and this week the
series opened with Mr.. l. c. Russel's report
on the second expedition sent to Mount st.
Elias by the society. Last year Mr. Russell
and Mr.. Mark Kerr started in from Yakutat
Bay and reached point on the southern
slope Of Mount st. Elias 10000 feet above
the sea level. Mr.. Kerr, as topographer,
believed that the height OF the great noun.
tain was only 1880 feet when he lectured
to the Geographic Society in San Francisco
Going over his notes again, he made it out
that the mountain was 1890 feet in height
and so reported il to the National Geographic
Society that had sent out the expedition.
This season Mr.. Russell went in from Icy
Bay, aud going around on the northern
slope of Mount st. Elias made his highest
camp at place 14,50O feet above the sea.
With twacompanions he remained there for
twelve days
WAITING FOR CLEAR WEATHER
To ascend to the heights SO tantalzingly
near. Continued storms and clouds COM
PEELED them to retreat as 1t was impossible
for so small party to carry food and
long in good condition for climbing. For
those long cold days they could only lie in
their thin cotton tent on the snow, waiting
for clear weather. They had climbed an
Ice CHI looo 1eet IN height, cutting steps all
the way, to the saddle between Mount st.
Elias aud Mount Norton, where they made
this highest camp. Above that point there
was only precipitous ice wall some 1000
feet in height between them and the apex
| Of the peak, and after economizing their
| provisions and budding together under
three blankets, they had to descend without
| scaling 1t. They saw in their one clear
| glimpse on the heights that for 200 miles
| northward Of Mount st. Elias there
were only bare mountain peaks rising
! from endless plains of eternal SHOWS.
| the most desOlate polar landscape to
| be found below the Arctic circle Ratprn
| ing to Icy Bay, base line three miles In
length was measured and triangulations
made on the great peak. Mr.. Russell sets
Mount st. Elias up at is, 100 feet. and will
not take OH or allow anything but the 100
feet. The monarch of the continent wears
his crown again. Besides the geography