UNITED STATES. 



771 



HflTED STATES. The Administration. On Jan- 

 uary 16 the United States Senate, after much 

 discussion and delay, confirmed the nomination, 

 made by the President, in December, of Lu- 

 cius Q. C. Lamar to be a Justice of the United 

 Suites Supreme Court, the vote standing 32 

 for confirmation and 28 against. Three Re- 

 publican Senators (Stanford, Ste\vart, and Rid- 

 dleberger) voted with the majority. The Re- 

 publicans that voted against confirmation, based 

 their objections upon the record of Mr. Lamar 

 in the Confederacy. At the same time, the 

 nominations of William F. Vilas to be Secretary 

 of the Interior and D. M. Dickinson to be Post- 

 master-General were confirmed, and these offi- 

 cers qualified on the following day. On Jan- 

 uary 19 the appointments of the President to 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission, made 

 in the preceding March, were approved. 



The most important change in the Govern- 

 ment during the year was caused by the death 

 of Chief-Justice Morrison R. Waite on March 

 23 (for sketch of Chief-Justice Waite see page 

 836 ; for portrait see the " Annnal Cyclopae- 

 dia " for 1882, page 126). The President made 

 no appointment of his successor till April 30, 

 when the name of Melville W. Fuller, of Chi- 

 cago, was sent to the Senate (see page 359). 

 This appointment was confirmed on July 20, 

 by a vote of 41 to 20; but the new Chief-Jus- 

 tice did not take his seat until the October term 

 of the court. 



Strother M. Stockslager, of Indiana, was 

 nominated on March 20, to be Commissioner of 

 the General Land-Office, rice William J. Sparks, 

 re-L'ned ; and Thomas J. Anderson, of Iowa, 

 to be Assistant Commissioner, a former nomi- 

 nation by the President to the commissioner- 

 ship having been annulled. On May 21, Thom- 

 as J. Smith, of Xew Hampshire, was nominated 

 as Solicitor of Internal Revenue, tice Charles 

 Chesley. The resignation of Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs Atkins, in June, caused a va- 

 cancy, which was filled by the nomination of 

 Civil-Service Commissioner John H. Oberly. 

 Other nominations were : Carroll D. Wright, 

 of Massachusetts, to be Commissioner of Labor 

 for a second term ; William L. Bancroft, of 

 Michigan, to be General Superintendent of the 

 Railway-Mail Service; John S. Bell, of New 

 Jersey, to be Chief of the Secret Service Divis- 

 ion of the Treasury Department; and Charles 

 Cary. of Xew York, to be Soliciter of the Treas- 

 ury Department. All of these nominations 

 were confirmed. The President, on July 17, 

 nominatedas envoys extraordinary and ministers 

 plenipotentiary: Lambert Tree, of Illinois, to 

 Belgium; Robert B. Roosevelt, of Xew York, to 

 the Netherlands; Rufus Magee, of Indiana, to 

 Sweden and Norway ; and Charles L. Scott, of 

 Alabama, to Venezuela ; also John E. Bacon, 

 of South Carolina, to be Minister Resident at 

 Paraguay and Uruguay. The Senate confirmed 

 these nominations on August 14. Soon there- 

 after the resignation of George V. X. Lothrop 

 from the Russian mission was received, and 



the President, on September 11, nominated 

 Lambert Tree, the recently confirmed Belgian 

 minister, to the vacancy. Ten days later he 

 nominated John G. Parkhurst, of Michigan, to 

 the Belgian mission. These nominations, as 

 also that of Perry Belmont, of New York, in 

 December, to be minister to Spain, were con- 

 firmed. Ezekiel E. Smith, of North Carolina, 

 was nominated and confirmed as Minister Resi- 

 dent and Consul- General in Liberia. On Janu- 

 ary 12 Edward S. Bragg, of Wisconsin, was 

 confirmed as minister to Mexico. 



On August 5 Gen. Philip H. Sheridan died, 

 and on August 14 the President promoted Maj.- 

 Gen. John M. Schofieldto the command of the 

 army (see page 737). 



The Army. At the date of the last consoli- 

 dated returns, the army consisted of 2,188 offi- 

 cers and 24,549 enlisted men. The actual ex- 

 penditures of the War Department for the fiscal 

 year ended June 30, 1888, amounted to $41,- 

 165,107.07, of which $9,158,516.63 was ex- 

 pended for public works, including river and 

 harbor improvements, and $23,337,245.11 for 

 the actual support of the army and the Military 

 Academy. The only difficulty with the Indi- 

 ans that occurred was upon the Crow Reserva- 

 tion in Dakota, where a threatened outbreak 

 was promptly suppressed by Gen. Ruger, and 

 the ringleaders arrested and punished. All the 

 States and Territories now have an active mi- 

 litia sufficient under the regulations to entitle 

 them to receive ordnance and quartermaster's 

 stores" from the United States, excepting Ar- 

 kansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. 



Postal Smite. For the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1888, the total revenue was $52,695,- 

 176.79, while the actual and estimated expenses 

 were $56,885,403.84, leaving an estimated de- 

 ficiency of $4,190,227.05. The actual defi- 

 ciency for the fiscal year preceding was $4,- 

 207.238.31, the total expenses $53.134.847.70, 

 and the total revenue $48,837,609.39. 



The number of post-offices on June 30, 1888. 

 was 57,376 ; there were established during the 

 year preceding 3,864 offices, and 1,645 were 

 discontinued. The number of postmasters ap- 

 pointed during the year ended June 30, 1888, 

 was 12,288, of which 6,521 were upon resigna- 

 tions and commissions expired, 1,244 upon re- 

 movals, 659 to fill vacancies by death, and 3,- 

 864 on establishment of new post-offices. The 

 free-delivery service was extended to 169 ad- 

 ditional places, under the act of Jan. 3, 1887, 

 making a total of 358 free-delivery cities. The 

 volume of ordinary mail has largely increased, 

 as shown by the increased revenue of the de- 

 partment from the sale of post age- stamps. The 

 total number of pieces handled has doubled 

 since 1883. 



The number of money-order offices at the 

 close of the year was 8.241, and the number 

 of postal-note offices 311. The domestic or- 

 ders issued numbered 9,959,207, of the aggre- 

 gate amount of $119,649,064.98, while the or- 

 ders paid and repaid were in excess of that 



