Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1898 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Ex-Queen Lil did not present a claim before tlhe Hawaiian commission for indemnity or compensation for the hundreds of thousands of acres of choice land in the Hawaiian Islands formerly vested in the royal family and which were Seized by the Dole Government. She refrained from presenting her claim to the commission because she was advised that the ruling would be against her and that a formal decision by the commission might have great weight with the Congress of the United States, to whom she must finally appeal for recognition in any event. The two Hawaiian members of the commission were openly -opposed her pretensions, and Senator Morgan, one of the three American commissioners, is believed to lean the same way. That would constitute a majority of the commission, regardless of the attitude of Senator Cullom and Mr. Hitt, the other two Americans. Believing the cards to be thus stacked against her, she concluded to ignore the commission entirely and lay her claim before Congress direct. The DolS people hold that she has no standing whatever and no rights in the premises which this Government is bound to respect. The thirteenth annual report of Carroll D. Wright, commissioner of labor, will make a book of 1,200 pages, and some months will probably elapse before copies are ready for distribution. It has been the policy of the bureau ever since its establishment to discuss each year some on» topic and to lay before the public such statistical and other information gathered by the bureau during a number of years as relates to the one subject chosen foi investigation. This year the effect of the use of machinery upon labor and cost of production is the topic discussed. Previous reports have covered such subjects as industrial depressions, conviet Jabot and strikes and lockouts. It has been found necessary thus to specialize in ths annual reports in order to bring out facta and figures sufficiently minute to have any statistical value. / The capitol guides meet queer people sometimes. One of them was showing a party of well-dressed gentlemen and ladies around the building, and as they looked’ prosperous a-nd took great interest inn hie explanations of objects of interest he laid himself out to- do a good job and make an impression—for revenue only. After they had completed the tour of the great building the spokesman of the party, evidently a prosperous- business /nan, said to the guide: “You have been very kind to> us. You have shown us the Supreme Court, the rotunda,, statuary hall, the Senate chamber and 1 the hall of the House of Representatives, as well as many other things I never knew about. Now if you will show us where Congress meets we will let you off.” The Chief Justice of Crnad’a is apparently determined to take ne> chances on securing the fee which he earned for acting as arbitrator in the case of Victor McCord, the American citizen, against the Government of Peru. He telegraphed the State- Department that he had formulated' his decision and- placed it in the keeping, of a Canadian bank. The telegram also contained the information that Justice Strong’s fee was $2,000.. The State Department took the hint at once, and halt of that amount, the share of the United' States, was sent to the Chief Justice. The treasury tables show that during the nine months ending Sept. 30 exports from the United States exceeded importsby The total exports for the nine months sue $869,128,000* and ths total' imports The- exports for the period named are larger by nearly $125,000,000 than for the corresponding period of 1897. which up to that time was high-water mark. The imports, on ths contrary, are smaller for the Inst nine momtihs than they have been foe any corresponding nine mouths for fifteen years* The consular bureau issues a bulletin devoted entirely to the use of n-uts as ar article of human food. The bulletin contains reports from consuls and consulat agents in France, Italy, Syria, Coree and other fimit-raising and fruit-eating countries. The bulletin leads up to tlhe moral that we in the United States have all ths variety of the soils and climatic conditions necessary to produce every kind of nut, and that if proper attention were given t« their cultivation the people would ba greatly benefited thereby. Senator Thurston of Nebraska wiN retire from the Senate at the end of hia present term in 1901. He announced formally some time ago that he would not accept a re-election, thereby serving notice to all that there would be a free field for his seat. The chances are that he will become a resident of Chicago and establish a great law firm there. When Judge Day and William McKinley first met they were employed on opposite sides of a cose that involved less than S2O. This was thirty years ago, both gentlemen having just come to Canton, Ohio, to practice law. The ease was tried in a blacksmith shop in the southeast corner of Stark Opunty. a country justice ot the peace presiding. A sta’huneDt recent!/ prepared by experts of the Treasury Department fixes the cost of the war up to Sept. 1 at $l2O, 000.000, ai d estimates that the expense* during the remainder of the calendar yent will aggregate about $115,000,000 additional, or $235,000,000 in all.