Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1904 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capitol. Secial Correspondence to The Democrat: The President has formulated another message.'. He has been definitely engaged on it for the last’fifonth in the midst of hccumulated business and called his Cabinet together to hear him read it. Having had their approval, he sent it to the Public Printer and got the proof back in time to read and revise it Thursday evening just before hurrying to the train for St. Louis at midnight. The train was a special of three beautifully equipped cars extended to him as a compliment by the railroad lines. He will take a swift coup d’ oeil, release his tongue a couple of times for the benefit of the Purchase Expo., and jump on the train again and hurry back so as to be here on Tuesday. Take him altogether, personally, insularly, isthmusly, and oratorically, he is by all odd 6 the fastest man th« United States ever had in the executive chair.

Before he gets back a majority of the members of Congress will be cooling theit heels iu the scant corridors of the pallid excrescence officially known as the annex to the White House and unanimously wishing he would “stand pat” when distinguished guests are about to arrive. Not only will the old members be here in importunate 6quads demanding things, but most of the 386 members of the next Congress who have just been elected will be on hand holding up their platters for a portion of the official gruel. There will be 101 new members among these whose appetites will not be at all dulled by the circumstance that they have not had their feet in the public trough before. Of the members of the next House 134 only will be Democrats, and blessed are they who who expect nothing, for verily they shall not be disappointed. Fifty or sixty Senators and members have called on the president during the past week. They were met with the cordial salutation “Now, then, look a-here, boys! we’ve got ’em just where we want 'em. We must show ’em that we can do things. We must prove that we know enough to manage the trusts and keep ’em from robbing the American people. We must demonstrate that we can build the Panama Canal, and pass laws to improve the condition of the Filipinos. I’ve read my message to the Cabinet, and they say all right! By the way, let me show you—”At this point he has taken the most conspicuous Senators and members aside and. read to them bits of the document. He is somewhat worried about publishing the figures obtained by Garfield as to the business of corporations. He says he does not want to injure business, and it may be necessary to maintain secrecy regarding the results of investigations. But then, what can be done with the clamorous public, who want to know, you know? The President will advocate building a stronger navy and taking a more prominent part in the International Peace Congress at the Hague. Of course stronger navies are necessary in order to give any excuse for the Peace Congress. He is therefore understood as backing up Secretary Morton in his demand for a $500,000,000 navy. With such a force afloat upon the sea, and an army in proportion it is believed that this country would be able to

meet any peaceable nation at least half way. The message will review the work done during the year by the Panama Canal Commission and will show the condition of the work to date. Of course no dirt has deen shoveled yet, but the figures and diagrams of the chief engineer are interesting, and the President will undertake to conjecture when the real work of excavation will begin. The Congressional Committee on Isthmian Affairs, headed by Hepburn of lowa, is in Panama to-dav being escorted round by General Davis, Minister Barrett and John Findley Wallace, engineer- incharge. This isn’t a bad season to be in Panama, and when they get on the floor of the House again the members of the Committee will probably report everything lovely. Whether an extra session will be called for the new Congress to meet on March 4 at the expiration of the present, is yet an unsolved problem. Governor Cummins, Representative Foss, and forty or fifty others are perfectly sure that the tariff question should be tackled without delay, but the standpatters are believed to outnumber them and at their head is the President himself. It is dollars to doughnuts that, through there may be some effervseent speeches, the question of reciprocity will not be vigorously taken in hand for another year.

t t t Undeterred by the popular manifestation the President’s message will be handled without gloves when it is let loose in the Senate in the presence of such Democrats as Teller, Carmack and Patterson, and in the House by the stormy petrel Cockran and the hasher-up of unconsidered trifles Claude Kitchin. It is said that the President’s conversation borders on profanity when either Kitchin or Carmack is mentioned in his presence; and that he and Carmack do not hesitate to say of each other in the words of Philip van Artevelte “He is a rash, inconstant, vehement man.” t t t

It is likely enough that Congress may appoint a joint commission during the winter to take the whole tariff schedules in hand, including tne Philippine and Porto Rican tariffs, and report a year hence as to any need of modification of existing statutes. Senator Cullum, Fairbanks, Foraker. and Lodge are said to favor this plan. t f t Col, Brownlow who was dismissed by Postmaster-General Wynne and who appealed to the Civil Service Commission has been turned down by that body, which informs him that it has no power to interfere when a dismissal is made “for any cause which will promote the efficiency of the service.” As this is the very same language with which Miss Rebecca Taylor was removed, it shows that General Black is very careless in his use of grammar. It would certainly be idiotic to intentionally remove a public officer fora cause which “would promote the efficiency of the service.” The cause of removal is indolence or immorality, or insubordination. Do these promote the efficiency of the service, General Black? In other words haven’t you said exactly the opposite of what you meant to say? Did you not intend to say that removals can properly be made for any cause which diminishes the efficiency of the service?