UNITED STATES. 



81* 



officers must not be interfered with in the dis- 

 charge of their duties. On April '28 the United 

 States Supreme Court declared the Iowa law for 



23. George R. Davis was soh-eted as Director- 



' 



SnSftrtL'rstitSrplo^TorVe! --'.' tHeWo rW \ ,:,:, ;,Vs;,V. 



dom of commerce between the States. The 

 dressed-beef law of Minnesota was declared un- 

 constitutional on May 19. Secretary Tracy con- 

 firmed on that date the suspension of Com- 

 mander McCalla from the navy for three years. 

 On May 28 a national convention of State rail- 

 road commissioners met in Washington. The 

 bill to admit Idaho was signed by the President 

 on July 3, the Wyoming bill on July 10. 



A board of officers of the army to reorganize 

 the Signal Service met in Washington on Nov. 

 11, the day on which the annual report of the 

 Chief of the Signal Service Bureau was pub- 

 lished. A conference of officials of the Nav 



HENRY BILLINGS BROWN. 



Department and of ship builders and steel manu- 

 facturers was held in Washington in October 

 with reference to the building of vessels for the 

 United States navy. Mayor Grant's demand for 

 a re-enumeration of the population of New York 

 city was refused by the Census Bureau on Oct. 

 17, and on Nov. % 6 Secretary Noble refused a 

 second request of the mayor of the city. On 

 Oct. 31 Judge Caldwell, in the Circuit Court, de- 

 cided against the right to sell liquor in original 

 packages under the new act of Congress signed 

 by the President on Aug. 8. In Philadelphia, 

 Judge Reed decided that the law passed by the 

 Legislature of Pennsylvania to forbid the sale of 

 oleomargarine was unconstitutional in so far as 

 it applied to merchandise brought from other 

 States and sold without breaking the original 

 packages. A formal announcement of the 

 World's Columbian Exposition, to be held in 

 Chicago in 1893, was made in a proclamation 

 issued by President Harrison on Dec. 24. 



On Feb. 12 the Senate confirmed the appoint- 

 ment of Gen. Thomas J. Morgan as Indian Com- 

 missioner. As Commissioner of Fisheries in the 

 place of R. W. Sherman, who resigned, Presi- 



Henry Billings Brown, the successor to JuMticc Miller 

 was born in Lee, Mass., March 2, 1836. lie i,* 

 graduated at Yale in 1856, studied law, w,-nt to De- 

 troit, Mich, became a conspicuous men.U-r .,| th.- 

 bar, and alter a while was appointed distr. 

 torney. In 1868 he became circuit judge of \\ 

 County. This office he held until he was api.oint,,! 

 judge of the United States Court lor the extern ,li,- 

 tnt-t ot the Sixth Circuit by President Grant on March 

 19, 1875. At the district court in Detroit fie had to 

 adjudicate on a great number of admiralty cane* and 

 he has come to be recognized an one ot *the highest 

 authorities in this branch of the law. 



Foreign Relations. The tripartite tn-atv 

 between the United States, Germany, and < - 

 Britain respecting Samoa was rat'ifi.-d l,\ the 

 Senate on Feb. 4. On Feb. 12 the 1 1. MIX- of |;,.,,. 

 resentatives passed a resolution to congratulate 

 the new republic of Brazil. The new treaty of 

 extradition with England was ratified on Feb. 



18. The lease of the Russian seal islands to the 

 Alaska Commercial Company was ivn.\\.d on 

 Feb. 1.8 by the St. Petersburg government au- 

 thorities. The views of the Russian Government 

 on the Bering Sea question were communicated 

 to the State Department at Washington on Feb. 

 25. The representatives of ten American repub- 

 lics signed the international arbitration treaty 

 at the Pan-American Congress in Washington oh 

 April 28. On the 29th the bill to extend the 

 modus vivendi with the United States passed the 

 Dominion Parliament. The treaty with the Sa- 

 rnoan Government was signed at Apia on April 



19. On May 19 Secretary Elaine sent a letter to 

 Congress recommending an inter-continental 

 railway. A commission of inquiry was appointed 

 to visit the Alaska seal fisheries during the sum- 

 mer. The scheme of an international American 

 bank discussed by the Pan-American Corn; 

 was presented on May 27 to both houses of Con- 

 gress in a message of the President, and the re- 

 port on a customs union of the republics was 

 transmitted on June 19. On July 2 a message 

 to Congress from President Harrison urged the 

 adoption of measures to facilitate postal and 

 cable communications with Central and South 

 America, and on the 12th he approved the report 

 of the Pan-American Congress on monetary 

 union. In mediately after the adjournment of 

 the International American Conference the del- 

 egates of eleven of the nations represented by 

 virtue of their plenipotentiary powers formally 

 accepted in the name of their respective govern- 

 ments the proposed plan for submitting all dis- 

 putes between them to arbitration before resort- 

 ing to arms. The remaining governments have 

 till April 21, 1891, to signify their accession and 

 to sign the treaty, which will then be submitted 

 to the United States Senate for ratification. 

 These governments are the Argentine Republic, 

 Chili, Hayti, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru. In 

 conformity with the desire of the conference. 

 President Harrison transmitted to the European 

 governments the recommendations concerning 



dent Harrison named Lawrence D. Huntington, the adoption of arbitration for the settlement of 



of New York. The death of Justice Samuel F. international disputes. The recommendatio 



Miller created a vacancy in the bench of the respecting the survey of a route for an inter 



Supreme Court, which the President filled by tinental railroad were adopted by Congress, whi 



