Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1897 — WASHINGTON. [ARTICLE]

WASHINGTON.

Admiral Sicard, commanding the North Atlantic Squadron, has arrived at Washington to receive instructions as to the policy to be pursued while the battleships are maneuvering in tne vicinity of Havana. The President’s order sending the bulk of our navy toward Cuba is believed to have special significance. Com l ing as it does at the opening of Congress, it is understood to be a move to forestall the demand from Cuban sympathizers that adequate protection be accorded to American interests at Havana. It is the custom for the squadron to winter iu the Gulf, nud friends of the administration point to the move as a demonstration that the custom may now be resumed without fear that such action may be construed as a menace. From tbe State Department it is learned that the entire Squadron is to be used in the suppression of filibustering. This is part of the President’s pacificatory policy. Commissioner of Immigration Fitchie at New York has been notified by Commissioner General Powderly that the State Department at Washington has been informed by the United States ambassador at Rome that a wholesale traffic in fraudulent naturalization papers is being carried on in Italy. The object of these fraudulent methods, Mr. Powderly said, is to effect the entry into the United States, under cloak of American citizenship, of aliens who otherwise would be subject to exclusion. In view of these facts Commissioner Fitchie is ordered to particularly investigate all naturalization papers of immigrants, and especially those from Italy. Commissioner Fitchie said the task was an extremely difficult one. From the large number of immigrants recently landed he believed there were agents in Europe who, in furtherance of this fraudulent scheme, had secured steerage passengers under the threat that unless they came at once they would not be admitted at all, as Congress was about to pass a restricting law.

Secretary Alger lias made public the order reprimanding Capt. Lovering oDthe F’ourth infantry at Fort Sheridan, who was recently court martialed for his alleged ill-treatment of Private Hammond. It reads as follows: “By order of the President the proceedings, findings and sentence in the case of Capt. Leonard A. Lovering, F’ourth infantry, are approved. It is, however, disappointing that an offense so grave and as an example so far-reach-ing ns this should have been visited with so light a penalty. There is no question but that Private Hammond deserved punishment for his conduct, but he should have received it iu a lawful way. The military laws governing the army are explicit. They prescribe the duties of officers and enlisted men, with the penalties for their violation. Under them both have rights and obligations. When, therefore, an officer, with the intelligence and experience with which Capt. Lovering is credited not only violates these laws, but exhibits such a lack of humanity as is shown in this case, he should receive a more severe sentence than a mere reprimand. Committing such acts degrades the officer more than the soldier he punishes and shows unfitness for the care and command of men. Under excitement men frequently do things which in cooler moments they recall with sorrow and regret, but this ense is aggravated by the fact that after weeks of deliberation this officer evinces no regret for his wrongful acts.” ,