Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1899 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

, No more volunteer troops will be called for at present, as President McKinley and hfa advisers have decided to awffit further developments in the Philippines. - The President is strongly opposed £o making another* call tor volunteers, and as Gen. Otis has Within 6,000 of the number of troops needed, the President believes.tiicse can be withdrawn from Cuba, Porto Rico and the garrisons at the United States. While there are now only about 12,000 troops in Cuba, the encouraging reports received from Gen. Wood, the governor of the province of Santiago, lead President McKinley to believe this number can be further reduced. In the event that only about 10,000 troops should be needed there may not be a call, but the President may simply appoint a number of commissioned officers and authorize the recruiting officers to enlist the number of men needed. There is confusion in the Postofflce De-‘ partment on account of the non-unlform-ity observed in the spelling of the names of postofflees. In the bonding division the name of a small postoffice will often be spoiled in one wsy and in the postal guide in another. This ia because the fourth assistant Postmaster General names the fourth-class offices, as they are established, and it Is in this class that nearly all the differences occur, while, the postal guide fa edited in the office of the chief clerk of the department. Between the editor of the guide and clerks of the fourth assistant’s division there is little harmony and hence we have in so many instances two sets of postoffice names. Roberts, the alleged polygamist from Utah, is on the roll of the next House of Representatives in the office of Clerk McDonald. His name cannot be erased by any process known to the law, and he will vote for Speaker just as much as Uncle Joe Cannon or Gen. Henderson himself. Petitions and charges were poured in upon the last House, which had absolutely nothing to do with the matter, but for some reason the protests seem to have been dropped, now that the new House has begun its legal existence, for Roberts is already entitled to pay as a member. There will be no more bodies of American soldiers buried at sea from United States transports. Recently the War Department has received many letters from people who have relatives among the volunteers in the Philippines beseecriing the department not to permit the bodies of their kinsfolk to be interred at sea should death occur in transit. These request# have been heeded, and it has been decided to equip the transports with every facility, including metallic caskets, for the preservation of the dead. There are already over 30,000 applications for the 3,000 clerkships in the census office at Washington. The other day the first lot of twenty-four applicants were given a preliminary examination designed to show their fitness for the work. One of the applicants fainted when the first question was asked, and all the remaining failed to solve a simple problem in arithmetic. The services of the great majority of the 3,000 clerks will not be wanted until after June, 1900.

Statements made in tbe newspapers that the President may call for volunteers have served to deluge the War Department with letters and telegrams from those who are anxious to serve their country in the list of commissioned officers of the volunteer service. It has been necessary to write to each correspondent and explain that no action has yet been taken and the probable decision cannot be anticipated. President McKinley is beginning to consider the means of turning over the Island of Cuba to the natives. This event may not come for some time, but the methods to be employed will require careful consideration. The United States holds the island in trust and purely as a military possession. It can be turned over to the Cubans without consultation with Congress. ' The Industrial commission, which is made up of Congressmen and civilians of all parties, has issued an official request for complaints, statements or general information as to trusts, to be sent to the irecretary of th* commission here in Washington, and the promise is made that all such charges of illegal combinations will be thoroughly investigated. The first definite steps in the work of replacing the present condemned Government printing office building with a new, modern structure were taken last week when the destruction of a score or more of old buildings on the site of the new building was begun. It will be several years before the new building is completed. Russia, it is feared, may rival Japan when manufacturing once gets a good start in the vast kingdom of the Czar. A correspondent of the London Times has compiled the following figures showing the wages paid to different classes of mechanics in Russia, which are somewhat startling: Cotton weavers 20c to flOrDyers 24c to 60c Weavers and spinners ,19c to 72c Papermakers .....25c to file Shoemakers 20c to 46c Brewers ..82c to 42c It is estimated that, without interfering with the development of agriculture, the labor of 15,000,000 people In Russia will be available for manufacturing purposes. Comptroller Dawes in his next annual report to Congress will renew his recommendation for the appointment of a commission of financial experts to investigate the entire subject of the extension of banking facilities of this country to its new dependencies. Before the next Congress concludes its first session Col. Henderson will have reached the three score mark. It is, therefore, difficult to realize that he lost hi. leg in tte war before he wa> 23 year*