The Dolores star., 1902-02-14
LATE WASHINGTON NEWS AND
CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS

Admiral Sampson was placed on the
retired list on the 7th. having reached
the age limit.
The Senate committee on foreign re.
lations ordered favorable report on
the treaty TO acquire the Danish West
Indies. No amendment was made to
the treaty In committee.
Secretary Root has called the atten.
ton OF Congress to the need Of pro
viding for the fifty compa MES OF Phil
ippine scouts. comprising about 5000
men. deficiency appropriation is re-
quired OF $4,000.
The Senate has confirmed the nomi-
nation of Medical Inspector Presley NJ.
liixey, U. S. ~. to he chief of the
bureau of medicine and surgery in the
navy, with the rank of rear admiral.
Also other naval promotions.
The proposition to dispose of the
United States transports and to depend
upon private steamship corporations
for the transportation of troops in the
future does not meet with very general
approval in Congress.
Secretary Long has detached Rear
Admiral Wildes from his present duty
us commandant of the Pensacola navy
yard and ordered him to relieve Rear
Admiral Louis Kcmpff, the junior
squadron commander on the Asiatic
station.
The House committee on labor has
reported favorably the bill of Repre-
sentative Bartholdt of Missouri to pre-
vent the United States Marine band
and other army and navy bands from
competing with civilian bands or indi-
viduals.
The House committee on coinage has
acted favorably on the bill appropriat-
ing S2OO.OOO for establishing branch
mint at Tacoma. Washington. The
general purpose of this new branch is
to give added mint facilities for the
gold and silver coming from Alaska.
The comparative statement of the
government receipts and expenses
show that during January. 1902. the
total receipts We're S46.5S2. 143, and the
expenditures S3S. .54S,277. leaving a sur
plus for the month of SS.O33.S66 The
surplus for the corresponding month
last year was SI,4OO,OOO.
Representative Boreing of Kentucky
has reintroduced hill providing for
the establishment Of a pension court
of appeals. The bill provides for the
appointment of seven judges whose
duty II shall be to hear arguments for
the granting or the increase of special
pensions, instead of the petitioners
coming to Congress for relief.
The friends of the oleomargarine bill
have no doubt of its passage. They re-
gard the vote on the adoption of the
,t.,l Il,
n test vote. The bill is practically the
Grout bill, imposing n tax of 10 cents
n pound on products colored in imita-
ton of butter and to make retail deal
ers who color oleomargarine subject to
the same penalties as the manufacture
ers.
There is a growing disposition among
senators and members who keep close
watch upon legislative conditions to
believe that there will be no bill for
a canal across the isthmus between the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the
present session of Congress. The
truth is that nine out of every ten men
one meets in Congress or out of It is
disposed to see scheme in this sud-
den desire of the Frenchmen to sell
ont their rights.
Senator Hoar, from the committee on
the judiciary. has reported favorably
the bill to limit the meaning of the
word conspiracy" and the use of "re-
straining orders and injunctions' in
certain cases. The bill provides that II
combination to do an act or not to do
1t shall not be punished more severely
than the act itself. and that combi-
nations of this character between EN-
ployers and employees engaged in inter
state commerce shall not be considered
in restraint of trade or commerce. The
bill is intended to aid in adjusting la
Dor disputes on railroads.
The House on the 7th passed the
legislative, executive and judicial ap-
preparation bill, the second of the reg
ular supply bills. AS passed it carries
SO, III 1863, which is SJO3. T21 in excess
of the current law. Only two amend
ments of Importance We're adopted.
One provides for a commission to re-
district the legislative districts of
Oklahoma, and the other authorizes
the President, in his discretion. to coy
er into the civil service the temporary
clerical force employed on account of
the war with Spain. There are about
1,25O of these clerks still in the service.
By the terms of the amendment the
President must place all or none of
them under the civil service.
The House committee on coinage.
weights and measures on Friday heard
representatives OF leading manufact-
urers and business houses of the ad-
visibility of adopting the metric sys-
TEN of weights and measures. Among
those heard We're Prof. Elihu Thomp-
son, of the General Electric Company
Henry Troemer, an extensive manu-
facturer; DIR. A. e. Kimmerley, con,
sulting engineer of Philadelphia, and
Professor W. w. Crosby of the Lowell
School of Theology. The sentiment was
entirely favorable to the adoption of
the metric system. The committee
heretofore has secured the Judgment of
scientists OF this subject and is now
seeking to learn whether the practical
business world will approve a change.
Secretary Hitchcock has ordered
withdrawn from public entry town.
CHING 40 Il.