The Republican journal., 1903-02-12
Letter from the Capital.
Maine Men and Matters in Washington.
ICorrespondence Of The Journal.

[Correspondence Of The Journal.
WASHINGTON. D. c.. Feb. 9. Recent
y there was printed, by order of the
Senate and at the request of Senator
Frye of Maine, considerable list OF
postmasters of long ago in Maine, to
whom it is claimed sums are still due
for their services. Some persons inter-
ested in the matter have secured the
of such lists for over dozen
States, and before the session OF Con-
gress ends, or some time in the future, !,
an effort will be made to have the mon !!
ey appropriated for the payment OF
these balances. Or the matter may
have to 20 to the Court of Claims and
be adjusted there. The money due,
if it is due, covers a period prior to
1883, when Congress by act ordered the
payment of such salaries in part. There
are several balances due to ex-post-
masters in every county of Maine, but
some of those postmasters are already
dead. In-such cases the money, If it is
paid at all, will go to the heirs. The
list for Waldo county is not large. J.
s. Huxford, as postmaster of Brooks,
Me-, for the period between 1868 and
1870, claims that S27 is due him, and he
made claim for that amount OF the
Postmaster General in 1888. n. E.
Murray, as postmaster OF Burnham
from 1864 to 1866 claims that S67 are
due him, according to claim preferred
in 1884 AS postmaster OF Freedom
from 1872 to 1874 B. II. Nose claims
that $40 are due him. He pressed
his claim unsuccessfully upon the post
master general in 1884. William Aver,
as postmaster of Liberty, Me-, claims
$50 for services in 1S72-'74. His claim
was presented to the postmaster gen
eral in 1890. Otis Black in 1888, pre-
sented claim of S254 as restated sal
ary due him as postmaster at Searsport,
Me-, for the years 1864 '66. For the term
1S72'74 E. B. Sheldon, as postmaster OF
the same office, claims that there is $40
in restated salary due him. His claim
was also presented in.lss3. IN 1884 0. j.
Farwell claimed of the postmaster gen.
eral that $50 was still due him in restated
salary fer the term 1S70-'74. His claim
was presented in 1874. Some of the
amounts of restated salary claimed are
much larger than any amounts forWaldo
county. Over in Pittsfeld formerpost-
master Jesse c. Conner filed three
claims in 1885 for terms Of two years
extending from 1884 to 1870, the amount
of his claims being respectively S139,
so and S190.
Gov. Burleigh in the last few weeks
has approved of applications for several
considerable consignments of little fish
es from the United States Fish Com
mission in this city to be distributed
among the lakes and ponds and streams
of Hancock county. The Fish Com
mission is enlarging it's operations this
wear and Gov. Burleigh is securing just
as large quota as possible for dlstrl-
button throughout the third Maine
district. ''The stocking of the lakes
and streams of Maine" said Gov.
Burleigh recently, sis to my mind one
of the most important matters to be
attended to by our people, who are we'll
aware of the vast amount of money
which sportsmen bring into the Pine
Tree State. Our own State officials are
constantly doing a splendid work In
that direction, but ever since | came to
Congress | have been trying to supple
ment their work as much as possible by
the consignments of different kinds of
fish, chiefly trout, from the Fish Com
mission here The Commissioner, Hon.
Geo. M. Bowers, has cooperated with me
in this direction admirably He has made
several trips into Maine, is aware what
a fisherman's paradise it is, and is un-
usually anxious that the good work of
the Commission shall be prosecuted
there as vigorously as possible, consis-
tent with the facilities in possession of
the government
The session of Congress is now very
neara close, but there is no expectation
among members who are on the inside
of things that there will be All extra
session. 'Only the defeat of some of
the important appropriation bills can
bring on an extra session of Congress-,
says Gov. Burleigh, "and there is no
reason to expect that any of the ap-
preparation bills will be lost by reason
of the statehood deadlock, for which
Senator Quay is responsible at that end
of the Capitol. Even should he succeed
in getting his statehood rider upon one
of the appropriation bills, and it could
not be defeated without losing the bill,
I am confident that Congress would let
the appropriation bill die, and by reso-
luton, which could be put through in
half an hour just before the close of
the session, continue the appropriations
of the previous year.
.But | do not anticipate any such
contingency. Senator Hale, easily one
of the foremost managers, if not the
foremost manager. in the Senate, has