pulse, that the Hon. Alexander H. Ste- of the whole subject of official salaries, phens, a Representative from Georgia in but it is undoubtedly one that ought to this Congress, should have the choice of have a full and deliberate consideration. seats in consideration of his physical in- It should be put in charge of the apfirmities and his long public career. It propriate committees-a careful inwas an affecting compliment heartily quiry should be instituted. The facts rendered to the distinguished gentleman, and will be approved by the whole country.

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.

bearing upon the whole subject should be rigidly ascertained and placed before the country in a form to be comprehended, and we have little doubt that if A select committee on the centennial a bill providing for such salaries in all celebration and the proposed national Departments of the Government as are census of 1875 was announced by the reasonable and right should be perSpeaker, and consists of the following fected, it might not only become a law, gentlemen, namely: Messrs. Kelley, but would be generally sanctioned by Hawley of Connecticut, Hoar, Shanks, Woodford, Butler of Tennessee, Smith of Ohio, Fort, Clayton, Wells, Young of Georgia, Harris of Virginia, and Standeford. As the time approaches for this grand national jubilee the preparations should be vigorously carried forward, that the observance of the occasion may be worthy of the memory of the fathers and the present exalted and favored condition of the Republic.

ROUTINE BUSINESS.

Since the reassembling of Congress after the holidays an immense amount of routine business, in the shape of bills, resolutions, petitions, and the like, has been presented and referred to the several committees. This work is growing to be enormous. How it is possible for the members of Congress to give careful attention to the details thus accumulating must be an unsolved problem to the uninitiated. The sequel generally shows that not more than onetenth of the subjects brought to notice during every session of Congress can claim practical attention in either house.

the people. There is no doubt that great inequalities do now exist, and that while a few salaries are already as large as they ought to be, there are many salaries which should be increased.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL.

cally to secure, under severe fines and The object of this measure is practi

penalties, the civil equality of the blacks and whites in all the States. It seeks to enforce this equality in every department of civil life, such as schools and

public accommodations of all kinds. It. has claimed considerable attention in both Houses and been very elaborately discussed, especially in the House of Representatives, where the debate culminated in the speech of the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, and the reply of the Hon. Mr. Elliot, a colored member from South Carolina. The bill in the House was at length, upon motion of General B. F. Butler, recommitted, where it still remains. The bill of Mr. Sumner, in the Senate, on the same subject, has been recommitted, and is now in the hands of the Judiciary Committee. The point of greatest practical difficulty is that which relates to the public This bill, which was so generally ob- school system, particularly in the Southnoxious to the country, has at length, ern States. It is exceedingly doubtful after long discussion, been repealed, so whether, in the present condition of far as the Constitution permits. It was things, the attempt on the part of Conexceedingly unfortunate that it ever be- gress to impose mixed schools would recame a law under the peculiar circum- sult propitiously for either race. It is stances of its original passage. The quite evident that in some localities at temper of the people is not favorable least such an attempt just now would be just at this time to a calm consideration the destruction of the schools them

THE SALARY BILL.

selves. To avoid this calamity Congress | tors and Members on the engrossin must act with the greatest caution.

EDUCATION.

topics connected with our monetary a fairs are so various and often conflictin that the more the subject is debated th more difficult of any satisfactory adjus ment it appears to be. Many elaborat addresses in both Houses have been d

reached. The speech of Senator Bou well, recently made, derives importanc from the fact of his late four years' ex perience as Secretary of the Treasury He reviews the causes of the recen financial disasters and comments on th various propositions brought forward t remedy existing evils. He is opposed t any inflation or contraction of the cur rency, and in favor of a return to th basis of specie payments as speedily a possible. But he distinctly declares tha in his view the only real remedy is taxa

CONFIRMATION OF CHIEF JUSTICE

WAITE.

The subject of popular education has found some place in the consideration of the present Congress, but it has scarcely received the attention which its great and fundamental importance demands. |livered, but no conclusion has bee The speech of the Hon. Mr. Hoar, in the House of Representatives, on this subject reveals some startling facts, which should rouse both Congress and the nation to a new departure on this question. He states that "one quarter of all the voters to-day are unable to read and write,” and that “for the next ten years thirty-two Senators and one hundred and four Representatives will be elected by States one half of whose voting population have not sufficient knowledge of reading and writing to make it available in the transmission of inform-tion in some form. ation!" and this state of things is, in the opinion of those best qualified to judge, growing worse instead of better ! The question as to the successor of That some substantial measure for cur- Chief Justice Chase, recently deceased. ing this evil should be early adopted which has for many months excited so seems too obvious for argument. The much interest throughout the country bill at present proposed would apply one and which has given rise to many com half the proceeds of the sales of the pub-ments relating to distinguished and lic domain to the support of popular prominent gentlemen, was definitely education, this fund to be distributed for the next five years among the several States in proportion to their illiteracy. The sum estimated to be realized from the annual sale of public lands is about two million dollars. One million is to be divided immediately among the States, of which the South would get the far greater proportion, and the other million is to be put at interest as a permanent national educational fund, the interest of the same to be divided among the States annually upon the same basis. Such substantially are the provisions of the bill now pending. It is certainly a movement in the right direction, and should be urged forward with all practi-State, has renewed the controversy cable dispatch.

settled by the nomination and unani mous confirmation of the Hon. Morrison R. Waite, of Ohio. It is certainly & mark of high consideration toward the new Chief Justice that he should have received every vote of the Senators pres ent, both Democrats and Republicans the whole number being sixty-three. H is expected soon to arrive in Washing ton and enter upon his official duties.

LOUISIANA.

The question upon the state of affair in Louisiana has again been opened in Congress. The application of Mr. Pinch back for a seat in the Senate of the United States, as a Senator from tha

Senators Morton and Carpenter hav THE FINANCIAL QUESTION. been the most prominent speakers-th Some progress has been made in the first for leaving the people of Louisiana discussion of the finances of the country, to their own remedies, the second for but the opinions of the honorable Sena- | new election in that State, to be secured

by Federal action. The facts thus far disclosed as to the political condition of Louisiana will certainly form one of the most astonishing chapters in American history. We are inclined to believe that the remedy is ultimately alone with the people of that State, and that Congress should be slow in acting upon this very perplexing case.

A SAVINGS DEPOSITORY FOR THE ARMY ALREADY ESTABLISHED.-The following is an extract from an act of Congress dated May 15, 1872, entitled "An act to establish a system of deposits, to prevent desertion, and elevate the condition of the rank and file of the army:"

"1. That any enlisted man of the army may deposit his savings, in sums of not less than five dollars, with any army paymaster, who shall furnish him a deposit-book, in which shall be entered the name of the paymaster and of the soldier, the amount, date, and place of such deposits. The money so deposited shall be accounted for in the same manner as other public funds, and shall pass to the credit of the appropriation for the pay of the army, and shall not be permitted to be paid until final payment on discharge, or to the heirs or representatives of a deceased soldier, and that such deposit be exempt from liability for such soldier's debts: Provided, That the Government shall be liable for the amount deposited to the person so depositing the same.

"SEC. 2. That for any sums of not less than fifty dollars so deposited for the period of six months, or longer, the soldier, on his final discharge, shall be paid interest at the rate of four per centum per annum."

Thus this system of deposits has been on trial for eighteen months.

"The acts of May 15, 1872, concerning the pay of the enlisted men and estabfishing a system of deposits, have signally ameliorated their condition. But they have not yet reduced the number of desertions as much as we had hoped. Still the number of desertions in the army in the fiscal year ending June 30, .1873, was five hundred less than in the previous year, and one thousand less than in the year ending June 30, 1871.

"It would be difficult to devise legislation better calculated than those acts to encourage re-enlistments, reward faithful service, and diminish desertion. It may require the experience of several years to develop their full effect upon the rank and file of the army. Some of the company commanders represent that have been established at six per cent. inthe interest given for deposits should stead of four per cent. per annum.

"I append to this report a table exhibiting the average amount of deposits per company during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873, in the various military departments. From this it appears that the largest amount of deposits per company was in the department of Arizona, viz: $1,583; next in the department of the Columbia, $717 per company. these departments there was the greatest amount of field operations, the troops being in campaign against the Apaches and Modocs.

In

"This shows, as I expected, that in time of war the most deposits will be made by the enlisted men. During the civil war such a system would have given the Government the handling of many millions for years. During the last years of the war there were at least about 14,000 companies of troops employed. This, at the rate of $1,500 deposited. by each company, would have made $21,000,000 per annum.

"During the year ending August 31, 1873, $246,643 (or an average exceeding $20,000 per month) were deposited, the use of which the Government will have for an average period of about two and one-half years."

Another act was passed on the same day as the above, 15th May, 1872, 66 to Thus the wise legislation of Congress. establish the pay of the enlisted men of has enabled the army to have in full the army," ," which graduates the pay ae-operation a savings depository in adcording to the length of service, rewards vance of the scheme of the Postmaster faithful conduct, and encourages re-en- General for a "National Savings Delistments. pository," as it is styled in the bill introduced by Mr. Maynard in the House on the 18th of December. But there is this difference: The bill would limit the sum total of deposits in any one year to three hundred dollars. The above law

The following is the language of General Benjamin Alvord, Paymaster General, in his last annual report, as to the salutary effect of these laws upon the army:

prescribes no limit to the amount which | seemed to be satisfied that the island be

the soldier could deposit, receiving therefor four per cent. per annum.

The deposits in the army have increased five thousand dollars per month since September, 1873, the date of the commencement of the financial troubles. There can be no question that the system must have a salutary and important effect upon the character of the rank and file of the army.

longed to San Domingo. The consider ation of the case was suspended for several years during the war. When Andrew Johnson became President Mr. Black appealed to him directly, but without success.

Mr. Johnson, like his predecessor, Mr. Lincoln, was content with Mr. Seward's management of the case. It is said, we believe with truth, that Mr. Black was to have been one of Andrew Johnson's counsel in the impeachment trial, but that he withdrew from the case after the President rejected the Alto Velo claim. Such are very briefly the facts of the Alto Velo case. The amount of money involved was very large, and Mr. Black pursued the claim with unusual energy and persistency. His whole soul was in the case, and his disappointment was proportionate.

ALTO VELO, BLACK, GUANO.-A Democratic Congress, in 1856, passed an act providing that any citizen of the United States who may discover a guano island not within the jurisdiction of any known government may take possession of such island and be protected by the naval force of the United States in his right to the same. Under this law some sixty islands were seized at different times by American adventurers. Care seems to have been taken to occupy only those liable to be reclaimed by a weak Gov-torney General and Secretary of State, ernment like Peru, Portugal, or Hayti. England, France, and Russia were avoided.

When a Republican administration came into power under Mr. Lincoln, it was determined that feeble Powers should fare equally with their stronger neighbors. At all events, no discrimination should be made against a Government because it happened to be in the hands of colored men.

A case soon came before the Secretary of State calculated to test the fairness and magnanimity of the new Administration. The Hon. Jeremiah S. Black appeared at the Department of State in 1861 as attorney for Messrs. Patterson & Co., of Baltimore, Md., who had taken possession of the island of Alto Velo, in the Caribbean sea, rich with guano, but who had been driven therefrom by the Government of San Domingo. Mr. Black demanded that the President should send a vessel to Alto Velo and put his clients in possession of the island again. A protracted litigation ensued, Mr. Black vigorously insisting on his demand, while the Secretary of State

Similar cases had been before Mr. Black while he was Mr. Buchanan's At

and he had found little difficulty in deciding them. In the matter of Cayo Verde, seized by an American and reclaimed by the British Government, Attorney General Black gave an opinion favorable to Great Britain.

Mr. Black, in his letters to President Johnson, criticises Mr. Seward's conduct in the matter with great bitterness, es pecially ridiculing Mr. Seward's "tender regard" for the Government of San Domingo. How he would have treated that Government is plain from the following extract from one of his letters to the President: "Negotiations will be out of place until the parties (his clients) are in statu quo. Repossession under such circumstances is not only required by public law and general principle, as the first step to be taken, but it is made the duty of the Government in this case by an express statute."

But this is not the way a Republican Administration chooses to treat other Governments, however feeble. Mr. Black, as an old Democrat and a prominent member of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, was surprised at Mr. Seward's doc

LIMITING DISTRIBUTION OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS TO THEIR SALE. 79

trines and greatly incensed against him. | which is essential to correct judgment

Time seems not to have assuaged his grief. The wound still rankles.

and the guidance of their conduct.

The error in connection with public printing has not been in the direction of too large editions of necessary or valuable documents, but in the mistaken manner in which these have often been distributed, or the publication of documents for purely personal or partisan ends as distinguished from public ends. The sooner these mistakes are corrected the better, but let nothing be done which will in any way diminish the diffusion of accurate knowledge among the people of what their public servants are doing.

LIMITING THE DISTRIBUTION OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS TO THEIR SALE.Here and there we see the idea broached of limiting the circulation of public documents to their sale. This, it is stated, is the practice in foreign countries, and would be a great economy. It would hardly be charged by any one familiar with our pages that we are not in favor of economy, but we have never advocated those principles of economy which of a dark night would shut the gas from the streets of Boston, New York, and of our other large cities, and leave vice and crime to their own un-press are at last discovering certain falchecked revelry. A great difficulty in detecting the frauds of Boss Tweed and his associates arose from the fact that exactly what they had done could not be known by the people, and their villain- | ies had to be unearthed and exposed before they could be corrected or the perpetrators of them punished. Nothing can have a more wholesome effect upon the administration of public affairs than a general diffusion among the people of correct knowledge of what public officers are doing. This is true of town, city, county, commonwealth, and nation. A monarchical government, in some respects, may suggest a similar course for a republic, but whatever a monarchy does that tends to the establishment of the principles of monarchy as against republicanism-that tends to the forming of a caste or class-is to be avoided by American statesmen. It is easy to see that the publication of official information only for the use of officers or of those citizens who are able to pay and will purchase the reports would speedily result in limiting the information of the acts of Government to its own officers and to those who had the money to spare to purchase; or, in other words, to a very small class. The great mass Be it enacted, &c., That so much of the "An act of the American people would be de- act of March 3, 1873, entitled making appropriation for legislative, exprived of that full and accurate informa-ecutive, and judicial expenses of the tion in regard to the public affairs Government for the year ending June

We are not surprised that many of our citizens and a portion of the country

lacies in the movements which resulted in the abolition of the franking privilege. The mistake was, doubtless, that in trying to correct certain abuses which had grown up they fell into the error of total abolition instead of discriminating corrective methods. The metropolitan press had a certain interest in its total abolition-it was to their advantage— but the country newspapers and their readers, and those who received Government documents free, were great losers. A very considerable share of the printed matter which passed free under the old law was the exchanges connected with the country press and the delivery of their own issues to subscribers within their respective counties. There are, undoubtedly, great evils connected with the total abolition of the free transfer of matter through the United States mails. We do not undertake to prescribe a remedy, but we hope that in removing these evils no greater ones will be introduced.

THE SALARY REPEAL BILL.-The

following is the text of the bill passed by both houses of Congress for the repeal of the so-called salary-grab law :