People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1894 — FROM WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

FROM WASHINGTON.

An Interesting Bate!i of Xew* From the Capitol. F rom our Regular Correspondent. Washington. Mch. 23, ’94. One thing alone is clearly apparent in the fog of uncerfainty that surrounds the revised tariff bill, which was at last reported to the senate this week. That is the absolute impossibility of its becoming a law in its present shape. It has been revised to an extent that has aroused more opposition than the concessions made have placated. In fact, none of. the senators who opposed the bill as it passed the house appear to have been placated, as it is known that there are a number of clauses in the bill which they propose to try to have amended or struck out, on the floor of the senate. The income tax is believed to be doomed, unless it can secure Republican votes enough to make up for the loss of the eastern Democrats who will' support a motion to strike it out of the bill. When the debate opens on the bill, April 2, it will have been two months from the time the bill was passed by the house, and conservative men estimate that the debate will run at least three months.

Every hour brings out a new story as to what President Cleveland will do with the Bland bill for the coinage of the seigniorage. While he has until the 29th of this month to make up his mind lie may announce his decision any hour. It is believed by fair minded people that the reports of a bargain made by President Cleveland with the silver men is as unjust to the president as it is to the silver men. Great influence, both political and business, is being used both for and against the bill. Both sides claimed to get, encouragement from Mr. Cleveland’s telegram to the committee of the Now York Chamber of Commerce which was appointed to come to Washington to advocate a veto of the bill, advising them not to come. Mr. Bland is of the opinion that the president is wavering and is liable logo either way, but inasmuch as the influences which have heretofore been most potent with Mr. Cleveland are against the bill I look for a veto.

Mr. Wheeler H. Peckham, of New York, the gentleman who was nominated for a place on the Supreme Court and rejected by the senate, was in Washington this week on business connected with the Cherokee Indian bonds, which were purchased by a Now York trust company. Mr. Peckham is the trust company’s attorney and his business was with Secretaries Carlisle and Smith. Before returning to New York he called on President Cleveland and, presumably, thanked him for the high honor he had sought to confer upo... him.

« o o It is intimated by those who i are in positions to know that the] administration, notwithstanding j its pronounced opposition to the ] establishment of a protectorate j over Hawaii by Minister Stevens, may shortly take a step thatj will, in tne eyes of the Hawui- ] iaas and of the rest of the world, J be regarded as practically the j establishment of a protectorate ■ by the United States. Senators and others remember that the. sundry civil act, of August 5, ] 1892, contained a paragraph' placing an appropriation, of £250.000 at the disposal of the president for the pnrp >se of establishing United buuo o /.tiiug stations aoroa h It wts vvoli unde rs to >d at that oi.no t i if a portion of tn it in > »ey was to )e used to fit up a naval aid eo.tiling station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which was ceded to the United States for that purpose by the treaty of but the starting of the project was for various reasons postponed until

the present administration came into power. Now, however, the administration is favorably considering the spending of that money at Pearl Harbor. The day that the American Hag is raised over Pearl Harbor the world will regal'd Hawaii as being under American protection. • • • When a thing is free in Washington it is apt to be crowded, and when it is a government junket it is certain to be crowded. The navy department issued three hundred invitations to witness the .trial of the new thirteen inch cannon, the largest ever made at the gun shop at the navy yard, which took place this week at the government proving grounds, about 30 miles down the Potomac, and the three vessels provided for the guests were as crowded as an excursion steamer on a summer holiday, and it did not require a character expert to see that lots of those who presented tickets wore not the original receivers of the invitations. But everything “goes’’ on a government junket and they all got a ride and something to eat—the champagne and Havanas were monopolized by the select few. Whether those luxuries wore paid for by the naval officials or Uncle Sam is a question that cannot be positively answered just now. The trial of the gun was pronounced a success by the naval officers. • • © The anti-option bill has been considerably changed by the house committee on agriculture. It now imposes a tax upon both the buyer and seller of options; Hour lias been eliminated from the schedule of speculative articles and the special tax on dealers has been reduced from $2-1 to sl2, and the penalty for violation of the bond required reduced to $3,000.