The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1904-06-09
WASHINGTON
NEWS NOTES
WEEKLY LETTER FROM OUR
CORRESPONDENT.
EDITOR GRANTED BAIL
Bandit Will Get Hung if Predicaris
Dies. Receipts and Expenditures
Statement by Treasury. Precaution
In Target Practice.

In Target Practice.
Postmaster General Payne and his
associates in the management of the
department affairs are having no end
OF trouble in trying to right even the
minor difficulties which were closed
by the investigation. One of these
matters is the few cases brought to
light of alleged excessive payments
Tor rentals of buildings for postof1ices
IN different states. Accepting the re-
port made by the investigators as ac-
curate, and that the rentals in some
instances were too high, the depart
ment has been at work to bring about
reductions. Excessive rent payments,
was alleged, on grounds of undue IA
Vorltlsm. In some of these cases the
rents were reduced at once, and in
others large amount of correspond
ence and further inspection by field
officers has been necessary to deter
mine the equities of the cases. The
government has control in all matters
of this kind, for it makes leases sub
Ject to conditions of notice of can
collation. within very short periods,
and these conditions are enforced in
q mandatory way by the government
by orders being issued that payments
OF office rent will be stopped if the
new conditions desired to be made by
the government are not acceded to.
In most cases the effect of such no.
tices is to bring the owners of build
lngs to prompt agreement. In this
way the government often exacts from
owners of buildings additional facil-
tiles in the way Of furniture and 9TH
er necessaries, which no other renter
of buildings would be able to secure
in the ordinary course of leases in
cities. Many people have found to
their sorrow that Uncle Sam is an ex-
acting tenant Of buildings.
The comparative statement of the
government receipts and expenditures
show that for the month of May, 1904,
the total receipts were $41 ,6SS,050,
and the expenditures $96,41S,472. The
latter amount includes $49,000,OO0
paid on account of the Panama Canal
purchase and 100000 loaned to the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The
receipts from the several sources of
revenue follow: Customs $1S,351 ,421,
decrease as compared with May, 1908.
$1,600,000; internal revenue $1S,687,-
132, decrease $500,000; miscellaneous
$4,179,505, decrease $3O2,OO0. The
expenditures on account of the War
Department amounted to $10,576,929,
an increase of $2,650,000; on account
of the navy $9,405, ,472, an increase Of
S1,S50,000.' Pensions increased from
$12,749,635 to $13,944,S4S.
John Barrett, the newly-appointed
United States minister to Panama,
while minister to Argentina, made
study of cotton growing in that re-
public, the result Of which he has Just
given in report to the Department
of Commerce and Labor. Mr.. Barrett
is convinced, he reports, that there is
a section of Argentina and Paraguay
as large as the combined area of Loui-
siana, Mississippi and, Alabama, Geor
gia and South Carolina equally well
suited in climate and soil for raising
the best qualities of cotton, and will
soon have the transportation facili-
ties to make it great cotton growing
industry, and so become serious
competitor Of the United States in the
cotton markets of the world.
The difficulties that the United
States government has experienced in
the matter of paying salaries and
compensation to its employees bid fair
to be unraveled as a result of pro-
vision contained in the sundry civil
appropriation bill which was passed
at the recent session Of congress. For
years there have been differences of
opinion between treasury officials and
disbursing officers of the government
as to the proper method of calculating
and paying the annual and monthly
salaries drawn by thousands of en-
ployes. Various officials have had diff
ferent ways.
Secretaries Hay and Moody held
conference over the latest advices
from Tangier regarding the Perdicaris
case. Consul General GUNNER has
been called to inform the Moorish gov
ernmcnt, the United States govern
ment would insist that the bandit Raj
suli be held personally responsible for
the safety of Pcrdicaris, and that
il any harm come to the captive our
government will demand the capture
and execution Of RaisuG, ~