Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 111, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1899 — WAS GTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAS GTON GOSSIP

The Dewey who has been welcomed* back to Washington by his fellow townsmen and who is the recipient of a nation’s tribute is the same Dewey as of yore, except that since he left here—within a short two years—he has had hia opportunity and seized it, and his new measure has been taken. Seventeen months ago he emerged from the “wings” and took a place on the stage of marvelous historical achievements. He was 60 years old when he left Washington. In his personal appearance no noticeable change has occurred, except that his eyes are possibly brighter and his bearing rather more soldierly. The man Dewey, howeyer, is the same. His smile is as genial and his bows and gestures of recognition as cordial as in former days before he became the national hero. His head has not been turned by the adulations of millions. If ex-Attorney General MacVeagh trie* to get his client, Captain Carter, out of jail on a writ of habeas corpus he will be going against a stone wall. The thing has been tried before and the highest court* of the .land have passed affirmatively on the competency of military courts in times of peace to deal with those In the military service guilty of inr fractions against the civil laws. Courts of final appeal have held that the constitution is not violated and that neither officers nor privates can secure civil trial on the theory that the constitution guarantees every man charged with offending against the law a trial before a jury of Ms peers. The articles of war are held to establish the right of military courts to pass upon , cases agreeing in every essential particular with the Carter case. President McKinley is a great reader of newspapers. Every day he goes through at least fifteen newspapers. His skill in reading rapidly is as great a* that of the average exchange editor. His time is very valuable and everything is done to facilitate the process. The papers are arranged tor him by an attendant. They are opened and folded so the editorial page is uppermost. He glance* at the heads of all the editorials and reads enough to get the gist of all which bear upoh public matters. Before casting the paper aside he glances also at the news columns. In- addition the White House has its special corps of readers who clip, classify and paste in scrap books .all matters of public interest. The wonderful growth of the United States is graphically illustrated by the increasing size of the different official registers kept on the shelves of the Interior Department. This year’s Register is a tremendous two-volume quarto affair, weighing hearly twenty pounds. It will be considerably larger than the last one published, and that contained 2,743 pages and showed that there were 200,000 persons in the service of the Government. It looks large beside the first volume published in 1820, when Monroe was President and John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State. Then the Register was an octavo of 224 pages. The regular publication of the “Blue Book,” otherwise known as the Official Register of the United States, is nearly ready for the printer. It will be bound and reqdy for subscribers by the time Congress meets. Although its pages have a dry and uninteresting look, being for the most part an endless succession of names in parallel columns, the Blue Book is in greater demand than almost any other Government publication. It is ex, ceedingly valuable for reference purposes, containing the correct official title, together with the residence, birthplace and salary of every man, woman and child in the employ of the United States. Attorney General Griggs will direct proceedings to be brought against Cap? tain Carter’s alleged accomplices; in the robbery of the'Government on Savannah contracts to recover the stolen money. The Atlantic Contracting Company, which did the work, and which Is charged with having been in collusion with Carter. in the fraudulent operations, is made up of rich men who are supposedly responsible.' Secretary of War Root will have the experts df the War Department supply the Department of Justice with full data upon which to proceed against the persons incriminated. For the past two months the Government has had E. S. Holmes of the statistical division of the Agricultural Department at Work in Texas getting figures ’ as to the damage done by the Brazos river floods last July. The report sgys that* the property destroyed will figure up to $7,412,583. In the devastated region the landlords are accustomed to advance money to the tenants on the security of the prospective crops; $756,000 was so advanced. With the rent anticipated for the uae of the land the owners [are out of pocket $2,519,000. Brig. Gen.. Charles B. Eagan, who was suspended from rank and duty aa a result of the language employed by him before the' war investigating commission, hopes to obtain a vindication from Congress during the coming session. Gen. Eagan ,is in Washington to settle matters connected with the furniture of the house, he occvpied before hia departure lor Hawaii It is understood, however, that he ia trying to enlist the sympathy of members of Congress <n order to obtain a congressional investigation of the beef scandal. President McKinley, in honor of Ad-