Show I TELEGRAPHIC WASHINGTON Washington 16The failure of Congress to legislate upon the railroad rail-road land grant question is a source I of deep disgust to the officials of the land bureau of the interior depart merit The commissioner of the general land office said today that Congress had by its neglect shifted shift-ed the burden to the interior department de-partment Although the department could do nothing to answer the popular pop-ular demand for the rfeiture of I unearned railroad lands the Supreme Su-preme Court having decided that Congress alone had power to restore these lands to the public domain The question hesaidwas becoming more complicated every day and the department could do nothing Congress he thought should have begun with grants about which there could have been no dispute Where the companies to which they were granted had made no attempt to build their lines then they should have taken up the cases of companies which had only co structed portions of their lines and declined to complete them and following fol-lowing these should have come the more complicated cases of companies compa-nies whose lines had not been completed com-pleted within the specified time but which were pushing the work along with thc infpnrinn nf pntnniArJnir them In this way he though something might have been achieved The department of the interior he said had done its share of the work and had conveyed to Congress all the information asked for in reference to these land grants and that Congress had failed to acton act-on the information I The treasury department has decided de-cided that of 72000 recently appropriated appro-priated for the state of Oregon to reimburse that state for expenses incurred incurred during the Modoc war only 42000 can be paid under the law as there still remains auto au-to the United States from Oregon 30000 in direct taxes The treasury department today I purchased 603000 ounces of silver for delivery at the Philadelphia New Orleans and San Francisco mints ExRepresentative R P Flower of New York returned to the treasury treas-ury 5850 the amount overpaid him on account of salary and mileage mile-age as a member of theFortysevent congress The provisions in the las army bill excluding from circulation apart a-part of the regular retired list prescribed pre-scribed by the law not to exceed 400 all officers retired under the last year because of having reached 64 yearsor having served over forty years relieves the regtlar retired list to the extent of thirteen vacancies vacan-cies which will be filled at once by the retirement of disabled officers |