The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-06-10

mitting them to go far ahead as pickets
for tine approaching fleet.
The smaller cruisers, .gunboats and tor
pedo boats are also available. Some OF
the ships which could be used with the
Indiana, are the Helena, Bancroft. Mari
etta Newport, Wilmington, Castine, Gin
cinnati, Detroit, Montgomery. Annapolis,
vickspurg. Ericsson, Dupont, Cushing
and Foote.
AS stated there is no desire to give
this as an exact list of the convoy squad
ron, but it merely indicates with what
facility the naval authorities can meet
present conditions, without in any way
weakening Admiral SIMPSONS command
off Santiago, or Commodore watson
command off Havan.
Admiral Sampson will still have ten or
more ships, including the formidable
battleships Iowa, Texas. Massachusetts
and Oregon and the armored cruisers New
York and Brooklyn. The bloekading
squadron will continue to have twelve or
more ships, including the four big moni-
tors Puritan, Terror, Amphitrite and
Miantonomoh.
Besides the fleet of sixteen convoy yes
sells, there will be from thirty to fifty
transport ships, making in all remark
able f1otilla of transports and naval con-
voys.
The War Department today gave out
an official hist of the transport ships thus
far hired, in order to clear up erroneous
reports The list shows fifty ships char
tered along the Atlantic and ten on the
Pacific Those along the Atlantic will
be used in the main for embarking troops
from Florida and those on the Pacific for
the troops going to Manila
Postmaster General Emory Smith re-
quests The Associated Press to state that
all reports indicating that postoffice in
spectors or other officials have been de-
tailed or authorized to open letters with
in the mails are untrue and misleading
The privacy of the mails at no time.
under any condition of circumstances,
anywhere will be invaded during the war.
All mail properly addressed, and upon
which sufficient postage is paid, will be
delivered to the addressee as expeditiously
and scrupulously as it ever has been.
The postoffice inspectors detailed for
duty at Key West and Tampa and the
various military camps, are simply per-
forming duty in connection with the es-
tablishment and perfection of the postal
service. All postofice inspectors SO de-
tailed are under the direction of the chief
inspectors, Postoffice Department.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is now
busily engaged in preparations for the en-
forcement of the War Revenue bill which
it is expected will become law today IN
the same form as passed by the House
last night. Nearly the entire work in
volved will fall upon the internal Rev
enue Service, the exceptions being the
bond issue and the coinage of the silver
in the treasury.
The increased tax upon beer that has
been removed from the brewery premises
and stored will be collected by assess
ment, as will also the additional tax cf
three cents per pound imposed on stocks
of tobacco. outside of factory premises
and the additional tax on cigstrs and
cigarettes where such stocks of tobacco,
snuff, cigars and cigarettes are in excess
of the exempted quantities. that is TO
say. one thousand pounds of manufac-
tured tobacco and snuff and twenty
thousand cigars and cigarettes. While
the collection of the above taxes by as
sessment instead of the affixing of adj
ditional stamps will greatly simplify the
work in this connection, yet there are
many blanks to be prepared, prinred anil
distributed within the thirty days al
lowed in which those interested are re-
quired to make sworn returns of their
stocks on hand.
The hardest problem presented to the
commissioner, however, is the prepara-
ton of designs and the printing of the
vast quantity of stamps which will be re-
quired for the Schedules A and B, under
which stamps are required for almost
every character of commercial transac-
tion, from the ordinary bank check to
the first mortgage bond of a trunk line
railway.
Another problem will be devising of
methods and regulation for the taxing
and supervising of what is known in the
bill as mixed -four. I"