The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-02-20
WASHINGTON NEWS
What Congress Is Doing.-Notes From the
White House and the departments.

The Lawton fund, which amounts to
S9SOOO. has been placed in bank here
subject to Mrs. Lawton's order.
Judge Barnard of the United States
! Court of the District of Columbia has
rendered Il decision which has caused
n sensation in Congress and is likely
to be the subject of earnest discussion.
He holds that Congress has no power
to fix the rates to be charged by cor
poration holding public franchise and
using the public thoroughfares. The
case in point is that of the telephone
rates, which Congress cut from $12o to
$50.
1t is reported that the Democrats in
| Congress have decided to cast SOLID
| vote against duties on Puerto Rican
products. They will accept the Presi-
dents recommendations, while the Re
publicans will reject them, with three
or four exceptions in the House, and a
dozen or more in the Senate. If seven
or eight of the Republicans in the
| House vote for free trade with Puerto
Rico it can be carried, but in the Sen
| ate it will require at least fifteen Re
/ publican votes to overturn the commit
! tee.
Although no one would begrudge
! Mrs. .Lawton II penny of the money that
of her husband, there are other wild
ows equally deserving and even more
| destitute of the worlds blessings. Bills
granting pensions to the widows of
| these officers have been introduced in
/ both houses OF Congress and viii no
| doubt be passed. but they will not
carry more than $50 or $40 month,
ard that, as everybody knows, will not
&c far toward the support and educa-
ton of children.
The President has nominated the fol
| lowing as commissioners of the United
States to the international Exposition
Mt Paris: Thomas Il. Walsh of Colo
RADIO, Bertha Honore Palmer of Illi-
nois, Brutus j. Clay of Kentucky,
Charles \. Collier of Georgia, Michael
III. DeYoung of California, William l..
Elllins of Pennsylvania, o. ii. Fethers
of Wisconsin. Peter Jansen of Ne
braska, Calvin Manning of Iowa,
Franklin Murphy of New Jersey.
Henry \. Parr of Maryland, Henry NJ.
| Putney of New Hampshire, Alvin II.
Sanders of Illinois. Louis Stern of
| New York. William G.. Thompson of
Michigan. William NJ. Thornton of Vir-
ginia, Arthur Il. Nalois of New York.
An order has been issued by Second
Assistant Postmaster General Shallen-
mittcd under an advertisement hereaf-
ter issued for carrying the mails on n
star route or on Il screen wagon route
shall be considered unless the bidder
resides or agrees to reside on or con
tiguous TO the route on which the ser
vice is to b. performed, and give his
personal supervision TO the perform
ance of the service. The issuance of
this order was made necessary by the
/ ma f1iI of ,I,t ti,-. tra,.
tors to perform the service required by
their contract. During the five months
ended January 31st. 1900. the number
of failures that required the employ
ment of temporary service amounted TO
S91.
Governor Merriam. director of the
census, has appointed Charles f.
Martin of Denver. and secretary of the
National Live Stock Association. rs
special agent in charge of the taking
of classified census of live stock for
the eleventh census. Headquarters for
this division of the work. which em-
braces all the range country. will be
established in Denver and active work
will be commenced ut once. This will
be the first time in the history of the
country that Il classified census of live
stock will have been taken. The asso-
ciati0n began the agitation of the mat
ter II year ago and through the assist
ance of Hon. l.. q. Powers. Senator
Wolcott, Governor Merriam and 9TH
ers, Congress made the necessary ap-
preparation to carry out the work.
The Senate substitute FOR the House
currency bill was passed by the Senate
Thursday by the decisive majority of
16 to %. Prior to the final passage of
the bill amendments We're considered
under the ten-minute rule. Only two
of these amendments were adopted.
viz: One offered by the finance com
mittee, keeping the door open to inter
national bmetallism. and one by Mr..
Nelson of Minnesota, providing for
national banks with So, 900 capital in
towns of not more than 1000 inhabi-
tants. The vote taken on the various
amendments offered We're practically
along party lines. Mr.. Chandler (Re-
publican, New Hampshire voted for
the bimetallic amendment, but against
the bill. Mr.. Caffery democrat, Louis
lanai and Mr.. Lindsay Democrat.
Kentucky voted against the commit
tee amendment. but for the bill. Mr..
Kyle (South Dakota) was the only sen
ator who did not vote, and was not
paired. The free silver substitute Of
fered by Mr.. Jones, the leader of the
Democratic side, was defeated by Il
majority of 10, the vote being AZ to 2S.
The House committee ON interstate
commerce is trying to decide whether
the government shall build n
cable line to connect our new
possessions in the Pacific. or
whether we shall pay n subsidy
of 100000 Il year to II private corpora
ton which offers to do so on those
terms and send free of cost all mes
sages relating to government business
Surveys have already beenAnade, and
the naval authorities recommend that
n cable be laid from San Francisco to
Honolulu . 100 nautical miles: TO Mid