Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1904 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capitol. Secial Correspondence to The Democrat: Government officials have pretty generally settled down to work again after the hurly-burly of the campaign. The president is writing his message. Or, to state it more accurately, he is getting his subordinates to write it. Not since the studious and meditative days of John Quincy Adams has any president written his annual message. In fact our national affairs are now so comprehensive and complicated that no human brain could master all the details, and a statement of them can only be approximated even with the assistance of all the members of the Cabinet. The Secretary of the Interior, for instance, has more than two hundred bureaus, institutions, commissions and agencies to superintend, and the new Secretary of Commerce and Labor is expected to try to cover about as many. That part of Mr. Roosevelt’s annual proclamation which refers to tariffs, banks and finances will be contributed by Secre r tary Shaw; that part which refers to the Panama swipe and onr foreign affairs, by Mr. Hay, etc. They a re’a 11 now busy dictating and “boiling down.” At the Cabinet meeting Friday the President counted noses and figured on how many it would be desirable cr possible to retain. Secretary Taft called again in the afternoon and talked with the President about the threatened revolt in Panama and what ought to be done about it. Admiral Walker, Chairman of the Canal Commission, met him at the White House and the coincident call is regarded as significant. Being intercepted by a newspaper man on coming out, Secretary Taft smiled in an amused way when the new “revolution” was mentioned to him and disposed of it by saying “I believe the standing army Of Panama consists of about 200 men —half of them boys. As we have over 400 marines on the Isthmus, I do not think there is danger of serious trouble." He left Friday for “the Seat of War” though all seems to be quiet there to-day. t t t The President, having preserved the dignity of his office by keeping off the stump during the campaign, is now ready to “swing rouud the circle” to a certain extent as soon as he can get away from Washington. This will not be till spring, of course, but then he means to make a large sweep including Georgia and other portions of the South. He thinks he may have been misunderstood there to some extent and Georgia newspapers seem very much in need of conciliating and hope he will retract some of the things he has said and not make a social call on Booker Washington. The admission of the negro, Williams Pickens, to the Phi Beta Kappa society at Yale is making some sensation among the Greek letter chapters hereabouts, in consideration of the fact that all members are required to meet on the same social plane. Whether Southern fraternities will recognize “Brother Pickens” or “cut” him and invoke a penalty is the question which they are now up against. In this same line may be mentioned the two remarkable grand Concerts given last week in our largest hall before an audience of three or four thousand, including

members of the Cabinet and at least a thousand of our most prominent white citizens The composer of the production is a negro. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor of London and he held the baton at the performances with great animation and earnestness. The soloists were negroes, the chorus of two hundred were negroes, the solo violinist and pianist, negroes, and the orchestra consisted of fifty-two pieces of the U. S. Marine Band. It must be admitted that the affair wa3 a success unique in America, as being the highest type of negro concert ever given in this country, and therefore in the world and it was vastly creditable to the entertainers. t f t It wasaffirmed by thesoi-distant anti-imperialists that the suppression of newspapers in Manila for constructive treason would be followed by limitations of free speech in America. Now comes the news that W. A. Sutherland, of the War Department, has “vigorously censured” one Miguel Niodao, a young Filipino student at the Illinois State Normal School, for speaking and writing disapprovingly of the friars contract and “the methods of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.” Who is Mr. Sutherland, that he should use the muzzle? Since writing the above question, I have called up the War Department by telephone and connected with Mr. Sutherland. I asked him about reprimanding young Miguel. He replied “I did not reprimand him, but only warned him not to publicly discuss politics or religion while we are sending him to our schools.” “Whose schools do you refer to?” I asked.

“Any school in this country,” He said. “Who is sending—schools?” “We are, the United States government.” “Who pays for his schooling, if you please?” “Why, the Filipinos pay for it.” “As I understand it. then, a Filipino boy whose board and tuition are paid for by the Filipinos themselves, cannot be permitted to discuss the religious or political affairs of the Philippine islands while he is within our borders?” “I did not censure him at allnot the least.” “Ah, you only warned him in the name of this government '" “Who are you? I don’t like to talk over the telephone.” Your correspondent revealed himself to the War Department and added that he presumed he was talking with Mr. Sutherland, of the Insular Bureau and Superintendent of Filipino pupils in the United States. He assented aud added that be had only done his duty. f t t There is tremendous excitement among Catholics here over the authorized announcement that the Marquise Des Monstiers, formerly Miss Mary Gwendolin Caldwell, has definitely renounced the Roman Catholic faith. She writes, closing her letter with. “At last my honest Protestant blood has I asserted itself and now forever re-1 pudiates and casts off the yoke of Rome.” Miss Caldwell gave nearly a million dollars to found and organize the great Catholic University in this city, and the news, coming as it does on top of the loss of $900,000 by the bankruptcy of an agent, is a severe blow to the University. The city itself will feel the termination of the great benefaction, especially since Mrs. Hearst has also ceased to contribute to important enterprises, here which had become associated with her name.