The Springfield herald., 1904-04-08

as commissioner for this government,
and Chief Astronomer w. f. King OF
the Ottawa government, the British
| commissioner, have been in confer
ence in this city over the work OF
marking the boundary line OF south
| eastern Alaska, in accordance with the
award of the tribunal at London. They
have decided to begin the work at
the head of the Chilcat river and Its
tributaries. and at the crossing of the
| Stikine river There are about 600
| miles of the line to be marked, and
| the work will begin early next sum-
mer.
At the opening of the debate on the
| postofflce appropriation bill in the Sen
ate, Mr. German spoke for almost two
| hours in criticism of the course of the
Republican party in the Senate in re
| fusing inquiry and at the same time
charging the postofiice committee with
undue haste in reporting the bill, as he
did the Republican party with desire
to adjourn Congress at an exception
ally early date in order to meet the
wishes of the President. I'VE are now
told" he continued, that having ap-
proved the plans of the executive. we
must adjourn and go home because OF
the fear of damaging disclosures. There
are matters which 1t is almost criminal
not to give attention to. Yet we are not
to be allowed to stay"
At least two of the Colorado mem
bers will join majority of the public
| land laws committee. Congressman
| Hogg appeared before the committee
and protested against the passage OF
the Hansbrough bill, providing for the
repeal of the timber and stone act Con-
gressman Brooks is scheduled to fol-
low with similar argument at the
next meeting of the committee. Mr..
Hogg averred that there was little or
no fraud in connection with the opera
tion Of the land laws in Colorado. and
he demurred especially against the re-
| peal of the timber law. because it would
make lumber expensive for the settler.
! The timber he said should not be sold
at public auction, as proposed by the
! Hansbrough bill. but should be sold at
a regular price per acre, so that the
poor man would have an equal show
with the rich.
Mr. Bartlett of Georgia. in the House.
briefly replied to the statements of Mr..
| Gillett of Massachusetts on the negro
question. He said that the Massachu-
sets member had lectured the South
for disregard of violations of the law,
whereas. in the city of Marion. Massa-
chusetts, persons who had tarred and
feathered a man and woman had been
acquitted and were paraded through
the streets as heroes. He believed that
the people of the South are entitled to
work out the Negro problem 'as God
shall will it." He added those people
would work it out. with the help of
our brothers of the North IL we can
have 1t, but If not. we will work 1t out
without their help" Mr.. Gillett, reply
Ing, said he believed that the Caucas-
ian race as whole is vastly superior
to the colored race. but he said he did
not believe 1t followed that every white
man is superior to every colored man.
The Senate committee on finance
endorsed an amendment to the sundry
| civil bill providing for the removal OF
the limitations as to the coinage OF
subsidiary silver. The amendment
provides that all limitations as to the
amount of subsidiary silver coinage
tnat may be outstanding are hereby
removed" Several acts of Congress
for the purpose of regulating the coin
age of subsidiary silver have tended
to confuse the general understanding
as to what the law is as it now stands.
1t is held by the Treasury Depart
ment that the outstanding subsidiary
silver is limited by the act of 1900 to
$1OO 900 900, with the exception of the
bullion purchased under the Sherman
law of 1890. This silver is about ex-
hausted, so that the limit for all prac-
teal purposes is $100,000,000. The
amendment is offered at the request OF
Secretary Shaw, who sent to the fin
ance committee letter stating the
necessity for an act to clear away ex-
isting confusion.
Al interesting question has arisen
IN connection with bill introduced by
Senator Burton of Kansas, appropria-
ting $1.5OO,000 for Strengthening the
Kaw river, with view to averting
the usual spring floods of that state.
The bill was referred to the War De
partment for report, and it has been
returned with a report made by Gen.
| eral Mackenzie, chief of engineers. to
the effect that several years ago the
Legislature of the state declared the
kaw river unnavigable, and authorized
the construction of bridges across 1t
at various points, effectually closing 1t
to navigation The point Is made that
after the stream is declared unnavi-
gable it is not under the Jurisdiction
OF the United States, and consequently
any appropriation made for Its
|
for the benefit of the state and Its
citizens, and not for the benefit of the
general government, or the people at
large 1t is stated that the proposed
legislation will be opposed on that
ground.
During the discussion of the sundry
civil appropriation bill in the House.
Chairman Heminway summed up the
fiscal condition for the next fiscal
year, showing that after all legitimate
expenses had been paid there would
be $22 100000 surplus for the year.
Mr.. Heminway estimated the annual
expenditures for 1905 to be $597 ,S02,-
324. To this sum must be added the
interest on the public debt, estimated
at sS4,971 500 The revenues for the
year. he said. We're estimated at 1904
472, ,O60. The total estimates of the
departments for the expenses of the
government for 1905 aggregates s747.-
317,922, or an excess of $42,S45,S62