The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1886-01-29
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
From our Regular Correspondent.

WASHINGTON, JAN. 18th, 1886.
/ Diminishing between the President and the
| Republican Senators /; lively debates in the lower
| branch of Congress; notable speeches in the
Senate; Convention in behalf of the Mississippi
/ river and another by the National Board of Trade
are features of the week at the Capital
The controversy between the President and
! the majority in the Senate has reached an inter-
esting point and there is prospect of political
! debate in that end of the Capitol this week. The
hepupllcans OF tne senate determined long since
his party as they could They will take every
advantage Within their reach to perpex and
| annoy the Administration. They assume this
! course to be political duty and their leaders,
/ Edmunds, Hoar Morrill,, Sherman and others arc
thoroughly trained in ali the arts of obstruction
and legislative chicanery. They were drilling
for this onslaught on the persons and policy COM
posing the Administration at the time they were
making professions or good will towards the
President and his administration.
Senator Edmunds proposes t" begin the fight
by offering his resolution calling upon the Presi-
dent to furnish information regarding the cases
of removal of federal officials and his reasons for
the same. The Democratic Senators are united
and harmonious and will support Mr.. Cleveland.
They are getting ready for the discussion by hold
ing caucuses and the Republicans are doing like
wise.
There is no more bitter partisan in the Senate
| than cheftain Edmunds of Vermont. He is the
arch enemy Of the Democratic party, aud he
shaped this little game while protesting great
! admiration for the Presidents good intentions
and an anxious desire for his success. He took
| pains to call at the White House at the time of
| Vice President Hendricks death and affected
good will towards Mr. leveland by urging him
not TO attend the funeral at Indianapolis Mr..
| Edmunds believes more in strategy than in
violence, and he has laid his plan for entrapping
the President very artfully.,, He would like
above all things to convict Mr.. Cleveland of incon-
sistency as Civil Service Reformer and to trip
the Administration.
President Ceveland's future course in the mat
ter cannot be outlined. He has expressed his
willingness to furnish the Senate with all the
papers on file in the Departments bearing upon
| his appointment and such documents have been
sent. But whether or not he will agree to Mr..
Edmunds' proposed demand remains to be seen.
He may be relied upon tor knowing his rights
| of the Civil Tenure law to his appointments. He
| is not apt to be dscourteous to the Republican
majority in the Senate, but he is apt to maintain
the authority Of the executive. Tbe Senate may
resent any refusal to furnish reasons for sus-
nations, or lay them over indefinitely.
The Senate has again been debating the old
Electoral Count problem. Senator Sherman went
at length into the issues involved, opposing all
| other plans and Offering one of his own, to the
effect that If the two Houses disagree, they shall
Other Presidential candidates besides the willy
Senator from Ohio, discussed how the next vote
of the Electoral College should be counted
| These were Evarts MIR. Hayes Secretary of the
| State, and Edmunds and Hoar. either of whom is
| reckoned as an eligible New England candidate
| if the other one can be gotten out of the way
| Four other Presidential aspirants sat in groop,
silent but alert listeners, turning occasionally to
neighbor and whispering with the emphasis of
| Allison, and Cullom. The subject evidently had
a personal interest for each, although Logan has
said recently that no man can go from the Senate
| to the White House nowadays.
| The House has been discussing Pensions
among other things. Nearly all the old pension
projects of the Eighth Congress have been
introduced in this, while there some new
ones which Guido in extravaganza anything
hitherto proposed. There was a warm debate on
the bill increasing widows pensionSfrom IS to $12
Representative Reagan, of Texas, opposed it,
Said he: II do not expect to defeat the bill, nor
any Pension bill brought up here, no matter how
great an outrage it may be upon common sense
and common right. But in the name of my con-
stituents and the Taxpayers of this country,
protest against the ndiscrimipate giving of PEN
sions to all men and all women who ask for
them" The purpose of those who bring forward
these bills is not to benefit the man or woman
in question. Their motive is to buy the
soldiers vote, and to make the taxpayers of the
country pay for their political supremacy.