The SECRETARY read proposition XIV, from the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, as follows:

Whereas, Importers of foreign merchandise are compelled by law to have their invoices certified as being correct by the U. S. Consuls at the port of shipment, involving a considerable expense, and oftentimes vexatious delay; and,

Whereas, The said certificates are not accepted by the Government as evidence of the correctness of invoices, and in consequence thereof are useless to both importers and Government: therefore

Resolved, That said certification of invoices should be abolished.

Mr. WETHERILL, of Philadelphia: I move the adoption of the preamble and resolution. The very statement that there is an expense involved in procuring these consular certificates which have no legal value, I think is sufficient, without my saying a word.

Mr. BUCHANAN, of Trenton: I would like to have a little more light on this subject, Mr. President. I would like to know, in the first place, from some member of the Board, what the purpose of those certifications is. I would also like to know what the expense is. I would like also to know what advantage would be gained by abolishing them.

I may be incorrect in this matter, but it seems to me at the first glance, that this is one of the safeguards which the government has placed upon the correctness of invoices which determine the amount of duty to be paid when the goods are entered; in other words, one of the safeguards that Congress has provided that the proper amount of duty shall be paid. Am I correct?

A long discussion followed, involving the question of the qualification of many of the consular agents of the United States, and the proposition was not agreed to.

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The SECRETARY: Proposition XVI, from the Chicago Board of Trade, Foreign discrimination against American Pork," is next on the programme.

Mr. How, of Chicago: That proposition is one in which the members from Chicago and Cincinnati are very much interested. The hour is now so late that we shall probably not be able to finish it to-day, and therefore I ask that the subject lie over until tomorrow morning, to come up after the first subject in order, which

I understand to be the proposition from the Portland (Oregon) Board of Trade, in regard to the improvement of the Columbia River. I make a motion to that effect.

The motion was agreed to.

At five o'clock and ten minutes, P. M., the Board adjourned until to-morrow, January 30, 1885.

:

THIRD DAY.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1885.

The PRESIDENT called the Board to order at 10.30 o'clock, A. M..

On motion of Mr. How, of Chicago, the reading of the journal of yesterday's proceedings was dispensed

with.

The PRESIDENT: Agreeably to the order made yesterday, I have appointed the following named gentlemen as the Committee on Inter-State Commerce: Mr GANO, of Cincinnati; Mr. THURBER, of New York; Mr. DORE, of Chicago; Mr. FRICK, of Baltimore; and Mr. PARSONS, of Detroit.

The Board, by a special order yesterday, specified as the first business to be taken up this morning, proposition XXI, from the Portland (Oregon) Board of Trade, for the improvement of the Columbia River. Senator DOLPH is present, and we shall be glad to hear from him on that subject.

Mr. DOLPH: Mr. President, and gentlemen of the National Board of Trade: I have prepared a resolution, which I will read and offer for adoption, and upon this motion I shall state briefly such considerations as occur to me, in connection with the resolution:

Resolved, That the interests of commerce demand the speedy removal of obstructions to navigation in the Columbia River, and the improvement of the bar at the mouth of said river; and we recommend to Congress that sufficient appropriations be made to secure the completion of the improvement already commenced upon said river and bar, at the earliest practicable time consistent with the economical expenditure of the appropriations.

I move the adoption of the resolution, if that is in order.

The PRESIDENT: The resolution is now before the Board.

Mr. DOLPH: The topic presented by the Portland Board of Trade, for the consideration and recommendation of this Board, is the necessity for the improvement of the Columbia River. In

view of the fact that, at the last annual meeting of this Board, a resolution was adopted recommending sufficient appropriations for the speedy removal of obstructions to navigation in the Columbia River, it is perhaps only necessary for me to place the matter before the Board, as I have already done, so that it may in some formal way receive the recommendation of the Board. But the fact that there are members present at this meeting who were not present at the last, and who did not then hear the discussion upon this subject, and the further fact that the matter is of vital importance to the commercial interests of the Pacific Northwest, move me to ask the indulgence of the Board while I briefly give some of the reasons which show the necessity for the improvement mentioned.

The Columbia River takes its rise in the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 50° 20' N., and runs northward as far as 52° 10' N., into British Columbia; makes the detour of the great bend of the Columbia; then runs southward across Washington Territory, forces its way through the Cascade Mountains, and rolls on to the sea. It is fourteen hundred miles in length. It is navigable from its mouth for one thousand miles with interruptions, and its navigable waters reach within four hundred and fifty miles of the navigable waters of the Missouri River, and within three hundred and fifty miles of the navigable waters of the Yellowstone. The city

of Portland is situated upon the Willamette River, about twelve miles from the junction of the Willamette with the Columbia, and is about one hundred and twenty-two miles from the Pacific Ocean. It is now a city of, I suppose, about forty thousand inhabitants. On the first of January, 1884, the Oregonian, a leading newspaper of Portland, estimated the population, upon the basis of the previous census, the number of houses and other facts that could be obtained upon which to base the estimate, at thirty-six thousand; and the population of East Portland and Albina, which are situated upon the opposite side of the Willamette River, and which may not improperly be called suburbs of Portland, at nine thousand; making a total population of forty-five thousand. I am, therefore, justified, I think, in estimating the population of Portland at the present time at forty thousand, and of Portland and its suburbs at fifty thousand inhabitants.

The Columbia River, from its mouth to Portland, is a national highway. The ships of all countries may be seen in the harbor of

THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE COLUMBIA.

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Portland; and, with interruptions during the extreme low water stage, any vessel which can now cross the Columbia River bar can reach Portland. From the mouth of the Willamette River, which is about one hundred and ten miles from the mouth of the Columbia, to the Cascades, a distance of about fifty-three miles, the river is navigable for vessels drawing ten feet of water. At the Cascades of the Columbia, which is about one hundred and sixty-three miles from its mouth, there is an interruption of six miles of rapids, where the Columbia River forces itself through the Cascade Mountains. From the Cascades to the Dalles of the Columbia there is another stretch of navigable river, forty-five miles in length, with a depth of eight or ten feet at low water, and then there is another interruption of about fifteen miles. Then from the beginning of navigation above the Dalles Portage for two hundred miles the river is navigable for vessels drawing from four to six feet of water; that is up to Priest's Rapids on the Columbia River. Snake River is also navigable for vessels drawing four and one-half feet, from its junction with the Columbia to its junction with the Clear Water, at Lewiston, in Idaho, a distance from the Dalles of two hundred and sixty-six miles. From Priest's Rapids still northward, the river can be made navigable for one hundred and fifty miles without the construction of locks. From this point, -one hundred and fifty miles above Priest's Rapids,-for a distance of four hundred and fifty miles the river is navigable with two interruptions, making one thousand miles of navigable river.

The works which are now being carried on for the improvement of this river are as follows:

The improvement of the upper Columbia and Snake Rivers from the Dalles Portage to Lewiston, a distance of two hundred and sixty-six miles; which consists in the removal of rocks from the Rapids by blasting and otherwise. The present plan for this improvement was adopted some years since, and to complete it it only requires an appropriation of about forty thousand dollars. But this plan was adopted when the navigation of the Columbia and Snake Rivers was confined to the waters below Lewiston, the point on the Snake River before mentioned. At this time Snake River is being navigated above Lewiston, and the Columbia is being navigated above the mouth of the Snake River to Priest's Rapids, and the interests of commerce required an extended system of navigation of the Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers, which