Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1897-04-09
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Dingley Tariff Bill Passed the
House.
The shipping Interests - Retroactive Ell
feet of Dingiey Bin.-The Presi-
dents Appointments, Etc.

Washington, April 5.-The Ding
ley tariff bill having last week passe
the House, receiving every Republi
can vote, five Democratic votes an,
one Populist vote, is now in tn
hands of the Senate Committee o.
Finance. Every statement made
concerning changes in the bill b,
that Committee is Il guess. Sena
tors Allison, Aldrich and Platt, O
Connecticut, who have been goint
over the bill as a subcommittee
are not the kind of men to announc,
their conclusions, even when they
have definitely arrived at them, tC
the public, before making their re.
port to their colleagues on the Com.
mittee. When the Committee de.
cides upon the amendments to the
bill will be time enough to praise OF
to criticize its work Until then
your guess is as good as anybodys,
If you must have a guess.
The honor of being the first fourth
class postmaster appointed by Presi
dent Mckinley fell to Mr.. John p.
Kelley, of White Cloud, Kansas.
The delay in making appointments
of this class was owing to the
change in the Office of Fourth Assis.
tant Postmaster General. Mr..
Bristow is now occupying that posi-
ton and will proceed as rapidly as
possible to fill the $500 vacancies
which have accumulated since the
new administration came in. There
will probably be an average of about
80 appointments day made until
the work gets up to date.
Senator Elkins has for a long time
been studying the question of how
best to restore the old time prestige
of American shipping. As result
of that study, he made very strong
speech in the Senate in favor of his
bill providing for the imposing of
duties upon imports III d manner
that will discriminate in favor of
American ships.
President Mckinley seldom makes
promises in connection with APP
pointments, but he has made one
that will please. every patriotic
American, that is, to appoint young
Phil Sheridan a cadet to West Point
as soon as he reaches the age of
eligibility, which will be sometime
next year.
Representative Grosvenor, of
Ohio, is a good lawyer, and the fol-
lowing opinion from him on the de-
cision of the Supreme Court which
so many persons, especially d. mo-
Gratis, profess to think is opposed by
the amendment to the tariff bill
making the duties imposed by that
bill go into effect April /, and upon
the right of Congress to pass such
an amendment, is both timely and
interesting. After citing other mis-
understandings, Mr.. Grosvenor says
''Simply and solely what the
Supreme Court did hold was that
the Wilson law, which went into eff
feet on the 2Sth day of August, and
was said to take effect from the
first day of August, did not repeal
the Mckinley law until the day
when it was passed, and how any
body could have had a doubt about
that is a mystery to me, but the
Supreme Court did not hold that
the long line of retrospective legis-
lation in the Wilson law was not
approved. That law bristles with
Retrospective legislation. Whiskey
in bond and not in bond that had
been manufactured and deposited il
the bonded wale house or was OF
that day deposited at a tax of ninety
cents, was Immediately raised tC
S1.1O. New bonds were required
the whole system remodeled, bu
no lawyer in the United States evel
disputed the power of Congress Il
pass just such an enactment. Th'
best evidence of the popular estimatl
of this retroactive amendment il
found in the fact that the vast bod.
) of importers who presumably hav
the very best legal advice at til Ell
command, have all accepted as con
elusive that Congress has tina
: power"
President McKinley's appoint
ments have been uniformly good
q and even his Interest political Of
{ ponents have found it extremel
difficult to criticize any of them, an
his appointment Of Maj. BENZ. Bu
terworth to be Commissioner {
q Patents is commended by ever,
5 body including Democrats and Pop
lists. This is just as it should b
4 for Maj. Butterworth as Commi
sioner of Patents is surely the rig