The Russellville Democrat., 1891-06-04
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Commissioner of Pensions Raum at Last
 Asked to Resign.
PENSION OFFICE MATTERS
The Attorney-Gene=elo ooas to the Rsscu' of the Secretary Cs the Treasury
 Speakership Contest.

to inform Commissioner of Pensions Raum that he must hand in his res ignation as soon as another man can be found with some political pull who Is willing to take the place. Baum did the grand kick act, and has not yet consented to resign, saying that he prefers being dis missed but he'll change his mind. They all do that way. When Tan ner was asked for his resignation he swore that he would never write it. But he did, all the same. It's easy to talk about being kicked, but when the big hob-nailed boot is raised they all get out of the way, if possible.
 Just as might have been expected, the alleged attempt to begin criminal proceedings against young Raum and his partners in oflice-selling has al- ready practically petered out, and the district attorney, Republican of course, has begun to hint about the difficulty of securing the necessary proof to convict Rsum or any of his pals, and the uselessness of bringing the case before the grand jury. | is always difficult 10 do that W hich we do not wish to do.
 By tie way, speaking of pension office matters, there was quite farce played there this week. A man was tried for borrowing mo oIey, and Com missioner Raum, the man who sc- knowledged, under oath, that he had borrowed SIP, ,G00 from the king of : the pension sharks, was one of the judges. Ye godsl Think of that! It was certainly the acme of absurd ity. Of course the borrower was acquitted, but victim had to be found, so the fellow who got the loan for him from Washington ten per center was found to be too loose in his ideas of the amount of interest that ought to be charged for accom- modation loans, and was accordingly dismissed in disgrace from the gov ernment service. There are piles and piles of crookeiness all over the pension bureau awaiting the argus eye of Democratic congressional in- vestigating committee.
 Secretary Proctor having given the war department several consecutive days of his valuable time, has now unua kaoty 4, Uarn,ont fo ,,,,f i,, about ten days in looking after his private business.
 If it be true, as is generally be- Iieyed here, that the instructions telegraphed the revenue cutters Rush and Bear as to the part they should take in the present sealing season in Behring Sea are practi- caliy the same as those issued to them last season--to pretend to watch, but at the same time to be very careful never to see any illegal sealing. Mr. Blaine must feel very thankful that he was not here when they were issued.
 The attorney general has gone to the rescue of the secretary of the treasury to limited extent by de- ciding that the last named official has authority to issue silver certificates against the S4 100000 seigniorage that has been accumulated by the coinage of bullion. Mir. Foster has also, it is said, arrived at the conclu- sion that he can issue silver certifi- cates against the $20, ,000, ,000 in fractional silver that he has been un- successfully trying to put into circu- lation for several weeks past. These are the methods by which the the ad- ministration hopes to stave off that much dreaded deficit.
 Mir. Harrison must have been re- minded of the Conkling- GaI field trouble this week, when ex Senators Platt and Miller, of New York, each supported by dozen or more friends, invaded the White House to engage in fight over tho appraisership of Of the port of New York. Mir. Har- rison finally succeeded in making Secretary Foster temporary referee of the contest, and he got rid of the gang by promising to come over to New York and look into things be- fore making any decision. When that decision is made, the side that gets left will jump on Mir. Harrison for satisfaction, and he will wish, as many another president has, that there were no federal offices in New York.
 Representative T. J. Campbell, of New York, who Is now here, is au- thority for statement that will have q very important bearing upon the speakership contest if he is not mis ! taken. He says that it has been de- cided that the twenty-three Demo- cratic votes, which New York will have in the next house, will be cast as unit in the vote for speaker. The candidate who is 10 receive these twenty-three votes has not been de. cided llpaa and will not be until a Conference is s--ss,-s-.b,.t, MT. Camp bell is certain that theN delegation will select the winner.
 Hon. Jerry Simpson is going to make free trade speeches in Ohio in opposition to McKinley's high tariff talks.