Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-10
WASHINGTON NEWS.

| WASHINGTON NEWS. | Work of Ordinance Omcers-Reform of Public Service in the Navy Yards Second Session of the Congress oi InventOrs-Death of pr. stanton Meeting of the Sub.Committees oi
 the Pan-American Congress. WASHINGTON, April 9.-The ordnance officers of the war department have been
 hard at work for weeks past preparing to
 give effect to some of the more important
 provisions of the Notifications act, which
 will go into operation after June 30. To
 avoid loss of time most of the advertise
 ments for proposals to supply material
 have been prepared and will be issued in
 advace of the beginning of the new fiscal
 year. Those ready for issue are as follows:
 For % sets of foIgings for steel field guns
 of 3.2 inches calibre; for 16 sets of forg-
 ings for steel field mortars of 3.6 calibre,
 and for 16 steel carriages for the same; for steel forgings for large 8, 10 and 12 inch rihed coast defence guns; for 5, 10 and 12 inch armor-piercing projectiles; for excavations and iron-work at the new south wing of the Watervliet gun factory.
 For the large coast defense guns above referred to congress appropriated $500, ,OOO for the procurement of the necessary forg ings, and the material will be assembled at the Watervliet factory and the finished guns turned out. The 3:6 inch mortars mark new departure in military field operations. They are intended to replace the small cohorns which are used in trenches for sheIling an enemy behind earthworks or like defences and out of the direct fire of field guns. Their range is nearly three times as great as the cohorn smooth-bore mortars, the projectile is more than twice as heavy and great accu- piece is about 525 pounds, so that it can be easily transported in 8 wagon or moved about by men in the trenches.
 The armor- piercing projectiles are to be made by domestic concern, but upon specifications that will secure the use of some one of the modern European patent ed processes. For their procurement an appropriation of S100,0O0 will be avail
 Secretary Tracys new plan for the re- form of the public service in the navy yards will probably be put into effect soon. Assistant Secretary Soley is at work pre- pairing set of rules and regulations that will furnish the machinery for the system and these are expected to be ready for pro- mitigation shortly. MT. Soley is we'll qualified for this work of preparation, as by the direction of the secretary he re- gently visited Boston, where he made an exhaustive study of the system of employ ing labor on municipal works. He said this afternoon:
 ''The City of Boston is the only one in the country that has eliminated politics 1oha Ea1I fha general ideas and methods of this system are to be taken as the foundation upon which Secretary Tracy hopes to build his reform. It is not anticipated that the in auguration of the new system will at once alter many existing conditions at the na- val establishments in the various parts of the country, but that the growth of the new plan will be gradual, finally extending, as the registration lists grow, to include every man in the employ of the depart ment as laborer. The force of a navy yard is largely shifting one, and it is not to be expected that there will be any wholesale discharges at present. It must be borne in mind that the element Of poli- tics is to be absolutely eliminated from the employment of labor. There will be the least inquiry into the political faith of applicants"
 In the absence of Hon. Frederick Fraley of Philadelphia the second session of the congress of inventors and manufacturers of patented inventions was presided over by MT. Oberlin Smith of Bridgeton, N. J., who introduced Hon. A. R. Spofford, the librarian of congress. The theme of MT. Spofford's paper was "The Copyright Sys- tenn of the United States: Its Origin and It's Growth" A paper was read by Octave Chanute of Illinois, president of the Amer ican Society of Civil Engineers, on ''The Effect of Invention Upon the Railroad and Other Means of Intercommunication'; by Professor Thomas Gray of the Rose Poly technic institute, Terre Haute, Ind, on ''The Inventors of the Telegraph and Tele- phone," and by Colonel F. A. Seeley, prin- cipal examiner of the United States patent office, on International Protection of In- dustrial Property"
 Dr. Joshua Otis Stanton, one of the best known physicians of this city. died suddenly this afternoon of pneumonia, by the grip, aged ffty-three. Dr. Stanton was a native of New Hamp- shire and graduated in medicine from Bowdoin college. He came to Washington in 1861 and served throughout the war, rising to the rank of major.
 The United States steamer Galena, wrecked on Gay Head, and subsequently, foated, will be docked at the Portsmouth, N. H., navy yard and examined immedi- ately by board of survey to ascertain the extent of her injuries.
 The various subcommittee on the plan and scope of the PanAmerican congress of 1893 held meetings at the Arlington ho- tel and considered the report prepared by the general committee in New York last December. This report will be submitted tomorrow to the full committee for ac- ceptance. Many of the members of the general committee arrived to-day, and it is expected that fully 100 will be in at tendance tomorrow when the first meet ing will be held.