Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1906 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip of the National Capital. Prom our Special Correspondent: It has been ascertained that the proposed visit of Secretary Root to the Pan American conference at Rio Janerio has more behind it than the mere courtesy of the American Secretary of State in gracing the gathering. There has been a feeling in the government of this country for some time past that it would be a good thing if the Monroe Doctrine were specifically formulated somewhere else on this continent than in the United States. The larger of the South American republics know us and our aims very well, but there is a constant if latent fear among the smaller states that there is more of the Big Stick and less of the protecting hand in the attitude of this country toward South America than appears on the surface. For this reason they are inclined to fear that there may be harm for the future lurking in the Monroe Doctrine in spite of the fact that it is enuciated by this country as much for their protection as for the good of the United States. It has been felt that if the doctrine were publicly espoused by some of the stronger South American states, the smaller republics would feel more secured and there would be less inducement for some European country to skate on thin ice thau is is now the case. It has been well understood for a long time that Germany was only looking for a good opportunity to flout the Monroe Doctrine and if she thought she would have the shadow of moral support in South America while doing so, she would try it at almost any time. Brazil has been picked out by this government as a good leader of the movement to emphasize the Doctrine among the Sonth American states, and it is suggested that the visit of Secretary Root to Rio Janerio has more to do with sounding the Brazilian government on the question of an unwritten alliance than for any other purpose. It is well understood that if it came to the test of force, the United States would have to be the one to uphold the Monroe Doctrine unaided, and there is no thought that we could not do this just as well without South American help as with it. But if Secretary Root arranges an informal though none the less effective, alliance with Brazil, the whole circle of American republics will be drawn more closely together and the atmosphere will be cleared of much doubt and distrust that the smallerttates have heretofore felt of their big northern neighbor. 111 The outlook for the rate bill is more perplexing than ever. Senator Doliver at the White House this week said that he felt confident of the passage of the Hepburn bill practically unamended within a week or ten days. At the same time Senator Tillman said that he was convinced the debate on the bill in the Senate would continue for six weeks longer. From the number of Senators who have announced a desire to speak and the vigor with which Spooner and Rayner have already thrown themselves into the debate, it looks as though Tillman might be right and Doliver wrong. The bill has gotten past all understanding or interest to the layman. The debate up to date has turned on the necessity for court rpview both broad and narrow and cvit on the bias. Senators who confessedly know nothing of the necessities of railroad management, have been free to air their opinions and the whole question now so far as the railroads are concerned is whether or not it will be possible to so muddy the water that after the bill is passed it will take years for the courts to straighten out all its provisions and then leave the situation much as it is at present. Senator Tillman says he is oon- ' hat that the Hepburn bill is

going to be materially amended but be added to this forecast a warning that if the two houses did not enact a measure that came within the President’s meaning and really regulated the roads to the extent of preventing unjust discrimination, there would be such a political upheaval that the next Congress would consist of a majority who would enact the legislation wanted and take less time in talking about it. t t t

Secretary Taft had a talk this week with an interesting individual of lowa> who had just come back from Panama and who while not of the Secretary’s camp, and a close friend of former Chief Engineer Wallace, had quite as much good as ill to say of the Panama enterprise. The gentleman in question was Bart E. Linehan. He has been a business associate of Mr. Wallace for years and frequently has to go to the Isthmus on business. He knows conditions in that part’ of the world fairly well and the fact that with his personal prejudice he still finds something good to say of the canal management ought to be a satisfaction to the government. Mr. Linehan told Secretary Taft that there were some spots on the zone that still needed cleaning up. As a rule the sanitary conditions were good, but the negro laborers, especially those from Jamaica, were lazy and not efficient to the extent of more than a third of their wages. They were naturally dirty and in a good many places were living in a state of filth that would give good food for another outbreak of disease. The work as a whole was in a good state of preparation for actual 'work to begin and while there was a modicum of dissatisfied clerks and employees, the general tone of the force was good. There was some grafting in small things but nothing that the government could not remedy and the arrangements of the Panama Railway for the handling of freight and the docking facilities at both ends of the canal were unusually efficient. This statement coming from a confessed enemy of the present regime and from a man who has seen enough of the work to know what he is talking of, ought to sound very well to the present canal administration.