The Ottawa free trader., 1886-05-15
From Washington.
:, -,,, onr Regular Correspondent

the eicht.hour rule shall 60 into effect ohe
of them said to me; "This is not strike
The workman will simply discharge himseh
and leave rather than work ten hours lie
wi,, then be an unemployed workman and
not a striker. He will be locked out by the
employers. What we promise to do' con
,;nued he. sis to 90 to work on Monday a.
usual. We will work eight hours II the
bosses do not choose to employ us at eight
hours day, we will pick up our tools ana
leave. We will not prevent other men from
working, and there will be no disorder ana
violence, but we will present a solid, un
yielding front"
The Secretary Of the Treasury, who mas
been so near to deaths door for the pa''
month, is at work again. do not mean 'ha'
he is well or at his desk. lie is only able 10
sit up and take drive occasionally but ne
interests himself with affairs at his Depart
ment and discusses business questions with
such officials as Treasurer Jordan and Assls-
tant Secretary Fairchild. There is no truth
in the report that he had signifed to the
President his intention Of retiring from o.
fee. On the contrary, it is known that he
earnestly desires and fully intends to remain
at the head of the Treasury which he has
so ably directed for the past year. The ap'
prehension of his friends now is that he will
undertake to resume his official duties before
he is physically able.
asked prominent western Representa-
tive what he thought Of the new Congress
sional Democratic Campaign Executive Com
mittee. lie answered that the selection of
Senator Kenna as chairman was most ex-
celent one. "We have so much faith in the
executive ability Of Senator Gorman,' con
tinued he, "that he was the choice Of most
of us, but he has enough to do as chairman
Of the National Executive Committee, and
declines to serve in this capacity. lie will
aid us in other ways, however, and Senator
Kenna is young, active, vigorous, and capa-
BILE Of doing a great deal Of hard work.
The West Virginia Senator made his mark
first in the House of Representatives, where
he worked hard and spoke well. Ills speech
on the currency question was one Of the
text books Of the party during the Congres
sional campaign Of 1873 and he l. in sym
pathy with his party nov on nearly every
question.
II Is not creditable to the Republicans in
Congress that it should deyolye on south. |
ern member to try to check the waste Of pub
lie money on pension appropriations. This
is field Of reform into which few Congress.
men care to venture, and the action of a
southern man is particularly liable to mis-
construction, in taking the much dreaded
step. But the northern men are afraid it
would mean the loss of thousands Of votes
for them at horle and denunciation abroad. !
There is scarcely a subject which so tests
the courage and conscience Of the average
Congressman as that Of pension legislation,
Every member has his own scheme to adj !
vance, and feels that he cannot afford to re
fnse to help the schemes of his associates.
Consequently good and bad schemes are
huddled together and nobody has the hard |
hood to try to assort them. Every Friday
evening in its special pension session the
House passes from fifty to hundred pension
bills Last week, you remember, the Senate
passed four hundred in batch without read. !
ing one Of them The Senators sat talking
and writing while the farce was going on, ap,
parently oblivious of the fact that the t. $.
Treasury was not inexhaustibc and that
every dollar taken out it had to he put into
it by tax. The pension business, as it is
carried on in Congress, is swindle Of the
worse sort, and Mr.. Tillman Of South Caro-.
linn is the man who is credited with the in
ieltion Of exposing it to the country.
The Senator's had little tariff talk II few
days ago 1t was the first chance they have
had this session Of reproducing thar views
ON the protective tariff system, and the oc-
casion was regarded with all the pleasure of
"A novelty Senator Beck was making Il warm
defense Of the course Of the Postmaster Gen
eral in his dispute with the Pacific Mail and
other steamship companies. He arose with
the intention of speaking one hour, but
when he touched upon tariff topics he was so
constantly interrupted by the Republican
Senators that it took him nearly four hours
to finish his remarks. lie made bitter de
nunciation of the policy which forbids an
American to purchase q foreign built vessel.
Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, who will be re
membered as the yOang New York reformcr
who figured so conspicuously in the Re
publican National Convention Of 1884 as a
friend of honesty in political methods and
then stepped off the reform train while in
motion with his face froned to the rear of
the train, has appeared in politics again as a
writer Of magazine articles upon Civil
Service Reform Mr. Roosevelt is a very
bright young man but be cannot expect that
his word in reform movements will carry