Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-07-06
W4SHTNGTON LETTER.

Washington, D. c., June 20, 1891.
The President is working diligently
in order to get the executive business
in such shape that he can spend indie
pendence day with his family at Cape
May will leave here on Friday and
will not return for several weeks.
At the last Cabinet meeting the bus
mess of the Government for several
mouths to come was mapped out.
The last silver act leaves it discretion
ary with the Secretary of the Treasu-
ry whether any part of the silver bull
lion purchased each month shall be
coined into standard silver dollars,
but as the mints will be kept busy for
several months in coming the trade
dollar bullion and the old and defaced
fractional silver currency now in the
! Treasury as provided for by act of
Congress, it was decided to defer the
! question of the continuation of the
coinage of silver dollars until fall It
was also decided that the statement
of the cash in the Treasury should af-
! ter July 1, be made in the form which
was used when Senator Sherman was
Secretary Of the Treasury. This
compliment to Senator Sherman as
well as a return to the common sense
methods which were in vogue when
when he was at the head of the
head Of the Treasury Department, and
it is generally commended.
Secretary Rusk has informed Sena-
tor Paddock, who was here in search
of information, that he has unofficial
information that the governments of
both Germany and France have de-
cided in view of the recent establish
ment by the Agricultural department
of microscopic examination of por-
tions of every carcass to admit free of
all restrictions American dressed pork
and he expects that the official de-
crees will be promulgated in both
countries before the first of next Oc-
tOber.
Everything is in readiness for the
official transfer this week of the wea-
ther bureau from the War department
to the Agricultural department. 1t is
expected that Gen. Greeley, the pres
ent head of the Signal Service, and
several of his scientific assistants will
for time assist in running the bureau.
Much interest is felt by the scientif-
ic staff of the Agricultural department
in the experiments which have been
recently made here to produce rain
by exploding artificial gases in the
air, and they believe that it will prove
a success. 1t is soon to be practically
tested in the arid regions of either
Texas or Kansas and then we shall
see whether science can control the
rainfall.
At the close of business at the Treas
ury department Saturday afternoon
there was cash surplus on hand, ex-
elusive of the twenty odd million dol
lars on deposit with the national |
banks and about the same quantity of
fractional silver in the Treasury, So
500, ,293. By adding these sums to-
$50, 900, 900, which doesn't look much |
like that deficit of which imaginative
democrats having been making a |
for sometime past.
For some time the Ordnance depart
ment of the army has been trying to
find a suitable carriage upon which to
the new twelveinch breech-
loading rifled mOrtars intended for
harbor defense. At last it has succeed
ed, and a contract has been made for
eight carriages of the Russian type
which has stood the recent severe
tests at Sandy Hook, with a Provi-
dence, R. l., firm, which control the
American rights of the patentees.
S11, 800 is to be paid for each of these
carriages for the first eight, but if
seventeen more of them are ordered
within one year they are to be furnish
ed at $1O,7 ,75O each.
Ex-senator Ingalls, delivered a lect-
ure to-day before the Glen Echo Chau-
5auqua now in session just above
on the banks of the Po-
5omac river, and from the large crowd
which went out to hear him it is evil
drawing qualities which have so often
ammed the Senate galleries in days
gone by.
If the informal conference with Can
adian officials on reciprocity which
s thought to be among the probabili
lies, the Canadians will probably dis
cover that they have not helped their
cause any by making public informal
between Secretary
Blaine and Sir Julian Pauncefote on
he subject, which those gentlemen
lad agreed should be considered con-
idential. The Canadians have also
nisrepresented Mr. Blaine in order to
make it appear that proposition for
conference first came from him.