The silver lance., 1899-08-04
WASHINGTON NEWS.


The thirty-fourth annual report Of
the secret-service division, submitted
to Secretary Gage by Chief Wilkie.
shows that during the fiscal year end
ed June 80 1899, there were arrested
for making or passing counterfeit mon
| ey and kindred crimes, $40 persons. OF
these 21S were convicted and 293 are
awaiting action Of the courts. or
seventy nine cases undetermined at the
close of the previous year, sfxty-foui
were convicted.
The conversion of coupon bonds OF
the 8 per cent Spanish war loan int
registered bonds continues to go for
ward rapidly. When the loan was first
issued there were $50, ,S14 600 registere,
bonds issued on original applications
Since that time there have been ex
changed $67 ,646, $40 coupon bonds TO.
registered, so that the total amount OF
registered bonds of this issue outstand
ing for the payment of the dividend
due August 1st is $9S, ,46O.54O.
Secretary Hitchcock has finally dis
posed of the Cass Lake (Minn) con
troversy. He announced that the gov
ernment would sell In parcels the north
half of section u. which comprises
nearly the whole town of Cass Lake
The 500 or more intruders are located
chiefly on this halfsection and on the
northeastern part of section 16. They
will have to remove from section 1G
as soon as possible. The decision of
Secretary Hitchcock closes the contro-
versy over the proposed ejectment of
the intruders from the Cass Lake In
dian reservations lands.
The United States will not be bound
by the reported decision of The Hague
conference prohibiting the use of the
dum-dum bullet in warfare. So far we
have not been obliged to resort to the
use of this bullet, but the ordnance Of
ficers have been making experiments
to secure increased stopping" effect
for the small calibre ball used in the
Krag-Jorgensen and these experiments
have proceeded somewhat on the lines
of the dum-dum ball. The specific rea-
son why Captain Crozier and the re-
mainder of the American delegates
voted against the proposal to prohibit
the dum-dum was because their gen
eral instructions forbade them to
pledge this government to any line of
action that would retard the develop
ment of inventive genius in war. Adj
hesion to the protocols Is voluntary.
Great Britain also refuses to prohibit
the use of the dum-dum bullet.
Mr.. Root, the new secretary of war,
has already been requested by the
President to give General Miles rec
concentrations and views careful con-
sideration. On his part, General Miles
will be expected to aid the secretary
In administering the affairs of the de-
partment and dealing with the mill
tary situation in the Philippines. Gen
eral Miles does not expect anything
but harmony, nor does Mr.. Root. Mr..
Mckinley insists upon it. AT the con-
ference between the President and
General Miles, the day before Alger re-
signed, the desire for more pleasant re-
lations between the major general CON-
manding and the head of the War De
partment was emphasized and assur-
ances were given that General Miles
would receive better treatment in the
future. There is no doubt that one of
the causes which led the President to
seek Alger's resignation was the petty
jealousy shown by the latter toward
General Miles.
Their are now pending in the general
land offices in this city applications by
persons interested for the establish
ment Of nine additional forest reserves
in the state of Colorado. They are des-
lgnated as Wet Mountain, Clear Greek,
MonteZuma, North Fork, Cochetapaha,
Medicine Bow, UncOmpahgre, Head
waters of the Arkansas, and an exten-
sion of the Mattlement Mesa reserves.
Land Commissioner Hermann says
that not all of these applications will
be favorably acted upon, and possibly
not one of them will amount to any
thing in the way the applicants intend.
He declined to make public the names
of the applicants or the description of
the tracts to be reserved. He says,
however: 1.-The people of Colorado need
have no fear that there will be an in
crease of the number of reserves in
the state unless it is found that forests
actually exist in the places mentioned
and their reservation will serve use
full purpose, as the protection Of
water supply.
Great Britain, at the instance of
Canada, has declined to permit the
United States cruiser Frolic to enter
the great lakes for use by the Hin
Ois naval militia as a training vessel
1t has been known for some time that
the navy department reconsidered its
promise to furnish the Illinois boys a
ship but the action was semi-officially
attributed to dissension between the
old and the new naval-militia orga-
nizations. To-day the true status
Of the affair was learned. Of
ficials are not willing to talk Oh
the subject, but this is considered
merely another instance of Canada's
stubborn and preposterous resistance
to a simple demand of the United
States. Although the Alaskan bound
ary has been the principal point of
contention between the government
and Canada, other matters of import
ance are being considered. Among
these is the maintenance of warships
on the great lakes. Canada will not
consider any of the smaller conten-
tions until she is granted free port
in Alaska, which although fairly well
assured has not been actually obtain