Mower County transcript., 1891-12-16

right discka-ge Of their duties and perfect
LOYALTY to their officers. who declare that
they would take them into action with
confluence.
The great work done in the record and
pension division of the war department. by
Mao. Ainsworth, of the medi cal corps,
and the clerks under him, is entitled to
hoaoraDle mention. Taking up the work
with nearly 81 900 cases behind, he closed
the last fiscal ye1r without single case
left over, though the new cases had in
creased SO per cent. in number over the
previous year by reason of the legislation
of the last congress.
Chinese Exclusion.
The enforcement by the treasury depart
ment of the law prohibiting the coming
OF Chinese to the United States has been
effective as to such as seek to land from
vessels entering our ports. The result has
been to divert the travel to vessels enter
ing the ports of British Columbia, whence
passage into the United States at obscure
points along the Dominion boundary is
easy. A very considerable number OF
Chinese laborers have. during the past
year, entered the United States from
Canada and Mexico.
The officers of the treasury department.
and of the department of justice have
used every means at their command to in
tercept this immigration. The depart
ment of justice has construed the l;4ws to
require the return of any Chinaman found
to be unlawfully in this country to China
as the country from which he came, not
withstanding the fact that he came by tn ,
way Of Canada: but several of the district
courts have, in cases brought before them,
ovcrruled this view of the law
and decided that such per-
socs must be returned to Canada,
This construction robs toe law of all
effectiveness, even if the DEGREES could Oe
executed, for the men returned can the
next day re-cross the border. Bnt the
only appropriation made is for sending
them back to China, and the Canadian
officials refuse to allow them to re-enter
Canada without the payment of the $50
head tax. recommend such legislation
as will remedy these defects in the law.
To Extend Federal Jurisdiction.
In previous messages have called the
attention of congress to the necessity of so
extending the jurisdiction of the United
States courts as to make triable therein
any felony committed while in the act of
violating a law of the United States
These courts cannot have that independ-
ence and effectiveness which the constitu-
tlon contemplates so long as the felonious
killing of high court officers, jurors, and
witnesses in the discharge or their duties,
or by reason of their acts as such, is only
cogniZable in the state courts.
l concur in the recommendation of the
attorney general that the right in felony
cases to d review by the supreme court be
limited. 1t would seem that personal lib
erty would have safe guaranty if the
right of review in cases involving only
fine and imprisonment were limited to the
circuit court of appeals, unless constitu-
tional question should in some way be
involved
The Nicaragua Canal.
: The annual report of the Maritime
Canal company of Nicaragua shows that
much costly and necessary preparatory
work has been done during the year in
the construction of shops, railroad tracks
and harbor piers and breakwaters, and
that the work of canal construction has
made some progress.
deem it to be a matter Of the highest
concern to the United States that this
canal, connecting the waters Of the Allan
tic and Pacific oceans and giving to us a
short water communication between our
ports upon those two great seas, should
be speedily constructed and at the small
est practical limit of cost. The gain in
freights to the people and the direct saw
ing to the government of the United
States in the use of its canal vessels would
pay the entire cost of this work within a
short series of years. The report of the
secretary of the navy shows the saving in
our naval expenditures which would re-
suit.
If this work is to be promoted by the
usual financial methods, and without the
aid of this government, the expenditures,
in its interest-bearing securities and
stocks, will probably be twice the actual
, cost. This will necessitate higher tolls
and constitute heavy and altogether
needless burden upon our commerce and
that of the world. Every dollar of the
bonds and stock of the company should
represent dollar expended in the legiti-
mate and economical prosecution of the
work. This is only possible by giving to
the bonds the guarantee of the United
States government. lam quite willing to
recommend government promotion in the
prosecution of a work which, if no other
means offered for securing it's completion,
is of such transcendant interest that the
government should, in my opinion, secure
it by direct appropriation from it's treas
ury.
A guaranty of the bonds of the Canal
company to an amount necessary to the
completion of the canal could, think. be
so given as not to involve any serious risk
of ultimate loss. I most sincerely hone
that neither party nor sectional lines will
be drawn upon this great American pro
ject, so full of interest to the people Of all
our states and so influential in it's effects
upon the prestige and prosperity of our
common country.
Mr. Rusk's Bureau.
If the establishment of the department
of agriculture was regarded by anv one
as a mere concession to the unenightened
demand of a worth class of people. that
impression has been most effectuallv
re moved by the great results already
attained. Its home influence has been
very great in disseminating agricultural
and horticultural information. in stimn-
lating and directing a further diyersi-
fication Of crops; in detecting and eradi-
eating diseases of domestic animals
and, more than all, in the close and in,