The National tribune., 1903-07-09
as it was given him to see his duty,
whether he followed Grant or Lee.


Having said that and paying the full
est heed to the yalor, the self-devotion,
and steadfastness fof fhe brother in gray,
it yet remains true tist the man in blue
fought in the one contest which our his
tory has seen in which success meant not
merely greatness Cor the Nation. but the
welfare of all mankind in the future. zap
plause.) To you it w3s given to fight in
the one contest wherein failure would
have meant that all our past history was
meaningless. If when Lincoln called. if
when Grant strobe into the field. the peo-
pie of this country had not rallied to up
hold the craftsmanship of one and the
generalship of the other. the Declaration
of Independence would have rung as an
empty platitude because it would have
been another example of failure of free
government
SO much has been said about Represent
ative Jos. g. Cannons attitude on fnan-
cial legislation. that he has given out the
following authorized interview:
1T seems to me that so far as the cur
rcncy is concerned. the country is in very
good condition at this time. In the last
year the increase in the currency has. in
round numbers. amounted to more than
S12G,WO.iUD. of which amount S5I .OO0.OH
has been the increase in national bank
circulation. No country ever had Il better
currency than we now nave. ana we nave
more of it than ever before.
I'm addition to this. ut the present price
of Government = per cent. bonds, there is
in round numbers profit of l per cent. on
national bank circulation: and, without
any legiSla ton. there is no reason why
the volume of currency should not in
crease in the next l. months as much as
if not more than, it has increased in the
last II months if the business of the coun-
try calls for it.
Commercial paper is accommodated at
an interest rate of from ; to 6 per cent.
all over the country. There is no difficulty
in placing loans on farm lands and other
real estate, at from " to . per cent. in
tereSt, and in some instances at Il lower
rate. | must confess that l am not one
of those who see lions in the path in
either the producing, the financial, or the
commercial world
Maj. John +. Weyss. a veteran of the
war of 1S6l65, died at Washington. ID. c.,
June ~. 1903, from the ailments due to
advanced age. He WAS the last of the
"Old Topographers" who connected us
with the early explorers of our domain. In
his youth lie was the friend and companion
of Preuss. Egloffstein, Custer and Schott
and others III similar pursuits. He was
born in Austria So years ago. and came to
this country during the revolution in Ger
many in 1913. After short stay in New
York City he came to Washington and en-
tered the Smithsonian as an expert drafts
man. Under Gen. Emory he joined the
Government expedition for the marking of
the Mexican boundary. He remained in
that survey as Il topographer until its con-
clusion, and in its publications may be
found many examples of his skill in topo
graphical and landscape drawing. After
wards he was similarly engaged in the
making of the Kansas boundary, under
Col. Joseph T.. Johnston. and the New
Mexico and Texas boundary, with John
II. Clark, as Commissioners. The office
work of the latter survey was closed
abruptly by the exciting condition of Ma
tional affairs in 1861. Gen. Johnston
wished him to 20 South with him. saying
that THE Abolitiohistsl will back down as
soon as bold front n made. just as be-
fore. And. it will soon be over Wcyss
did not approve of, such Il course. and told
Johnston that, "If it is not going to last
long, even for no other reason he would
not GO Soon after, under Capt. Nathan
iel Michler. who WAS an officer in the Mex
lean boundary survey, he became Mill
tary Surveyor and Engineer in the United
States forces, and finally became the
Chief Topographer of Gen. kosecrans's
staff.
His most noteworthy exploit was the
making of Il survey by night after the
first days battle Of the lines at Stone
River, Tenn. This plat showed that the
position occupied was good and the condi-
tion of the soldiers SO resolnte that Gen
ROsecrans decided foreman and await
further ATTACKS instead of retiring to Il
new position. The value of even rough
military sketch was never better exempli-
fed.
After, this; one day during n flag of
truce Gen. Bragg as +. S. stated that
he desired to be remembered to Mai
Weyss, and was pleased to see that he still
retained his skill in Typographical draw
ing" This was courteous way of say
ing that he had captured some of Gen
Rosecrans's issues of field maps. When
Gen. Michler was transferred to the Army
of the Potomac, Maj. Weyss, who had
teers, accompanied him and took an ac-
tive part in the historic Wilderness Cam
pa1gn. He was on detached duty, making
survey of the captured works at Fort
Fisher, Charleston, s. c., and Mt Peters,
burg, Va, as well as Il number of the bat
tlefelds.
After period on river and harbor sur
veys, he joined the Office of Surveys West
of the Tooth Meridian, taking an active
part in the usual fieldwork until he was
kept permanently at the office in topo-
graphical drawing, for which he had a
special and unrivaled gift. Through his
own surveys he was great contributor to
our knowledge of the West, and altogether
he delineated, comprising the work of
other topoSraphers, over 100000 square
miles of our territory. This was published
on scale of four and eight miles to an
inch. After the close of that office of Sur
Veys, IN 1888, he was engaged in some
minor surveys, but having comfortable
income, and not content to engage in any
but beautiful drawing, he finally retired
to well-earned ease and the companionship
OF few chosen old friends.
Auditor Petty, of the District, whose
confidential clerk, James Watson, went
wrong to the tune of some 100000 and is
now behind the bars for it, has been asked
by the Commissioners to resign, and has
resigned to take place under the District
government at a smaller salary. 1t has
been discovered since this defalcation
came out, that the District accounts have
not been audited for five years. For
grafters, the District Government would
seem to be an ideal place.
In addition to the above, it was learned
quite accidentally last week that Il. G..
Davis. the Collector of Taxes Of the Dis
trict Of Columbia, who began his work
some 10 years ago, had no bondsmen, al
though he handles over $4,50OOOO a year.
When he began taI collecting IS years
| ago he filed bond for 100000. Five
years ago the very last of these bondsmen