Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1907 — WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON LETTER.

Political and General Gossip Of the National Capital. Special Correspondence to The Democrat. There is a report in circulation of serious friction between the management of the Jamestown Exposition and the authorities at Washington. This story has not come out on the surface yet, but it is said that everyone on both sides is tired ana angry and that it would need little to bring about an open rupture. It is claimed that the whole trouble is jealousy on the part of federal officials of Jamestown of a Southern enterprise. Admiral Robley Evans, the “Fighting Bob” of the navy, is credited with fomenting the disturbance. He was in command of the American fleet at Jamestown and the complaint is that be has handicapped the displays there by failing to send detachments of sailors on shore for the various ceremonies when they were wanted, and chasing the foreign fleets out es the harbor before they were ready to go. It is said that on the opening day of the Exposition he was not going to send any sailors ashore to take part in the display and was only brought to time by a sharp telegram from the Secretary of the Navy. Afterward< it is said that he urged the departure of the foreign fleets which were expected to remain and be u part of the display so long as the exposition lasted. Admiral Evans laughs at the report and says that be has done everything to make a success of the Exposition, and that if there is any trouble it is because of the incompetent local management of the Exposition. The Navy department of course enters an official denial to the whole story, but the fact remains that the British squadron pulled up anchor and left just before Jamestown Day, which they were supposed to help celebrate, and the action of the War Department in calling off a luncheon that had been arranged in honor of Gen. Kuroki all indicate that the official attitude of some of the high officials in Washington has not -been so friendly as might have been expected.

111 A curious search Has just been concluded by an English lawyer in Washington that ended in the cemetery of the government insane asylum at Saint Elizabeth’s across the Eastern Branch of the Potomac. The lawyer was here trying to locate the heir to a fortune of $6,000,000 left by a wealthy manufacttrer in England. The legal heir would have been one John Cook, a nephew of the dead man. A long search in this, country indicated that he had come to Washington and the lawyer fully expected to find him here. After considerable trouble he found that Cook had gone down in the world and finally after being arrested as a vagrant of the street, had been committed to the government asylum as an insane pauper. No one knew anything about him, and after lingering at the asylum for a while he died and was buried at public expense in the little cemetery attached to the institution. At this very time the fortune of $6,000,000 was awaiting him in England. There was no record of any other heirs to the money excepba sister of the dead man who is now a permanent inmate of an asylum in Norfolk, Va. Some of the money was set aside to pay her expenses in that institution and the remaiderof the immense sum will revert to the British crown for lack of an owner.

111 One of the ablest addresses delivered at the Lake Mohonk Peace Conference last week was by the millionaire Ambassador from Mexico, Senor Creel, who has been one of the noted figures in diplomatic life here since his appointment to succeed the late Senor Aspiroz. Senor Creel spoke in favor of what is known as the Drago Doctrine which is a sort of supplement to the Monroe Doctrine and declares against the right of a foreign power to collect debts by force of arms from any of the American republics. The doctrine has been named after the Secretary of State of Brazil by whom it was elucidated and warmly supported, hut Senor Creel gave the credit for its inception to Elihu Root, the American Secretary of State. He declared that it met with the hearty approval not only of Mexico, but all the Central and South American republics, and it seems likely that it will be adopted by the countries of this hemisphere as a fitting corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It is not likely that it will ever be formally recognized by the powers of Europe any mdre than the Monroe is now, butifitisas thoroughly respected as the Mom roe Doctrine always has been, that will be suf-

ficient for all practical purposes, t t t One of the subjects that has been brought up every once in a while by the Postoffice Department is the adoption of stamp selling machines. There was a trial of such machines about a year ago, and while there were some that worked, they were all crude and none were adopted, Now there is to be another test of machines that will sell one cent and five cent stamps and postal cards. It is understood that some of the machines have been improved to the point where they will be acceptable to the department. Their adoption would be a conveniece for many places in the city, and it is known that they would be largely installed by hotels and drug stores and many places where there are not now branch postoffices. But the most valuable locations for them will be in country railway stations and other places where there is frequently a great demand for stamps and no way of supplying it. A stamp is one of the cheapest things, but if it is wanted and not to be had, it assumes a value far beyond its intrinsic worth. It is very much like wanting a match when a man has a pipe full of tobacco and no way of lighting it. If the Department can get a satisfactory penny in the slot machine for selling stamps, it will be one of the greatest boons in the postal line that has been granted to the country population since the establishment of the Rural Free Delivery tern. t t t It is announced that the strike of the steam shovel workers on the Isthmus of Panama has been called off and that all of the men affected have gone back to work. This ends the only labor trouble on the Isthmus between the 5,000 white employes. The shovels are making about 75 per cent, of the record that they were making in the dry season and as the rains are now on, this is considered a very good showing.