The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-02-23
Our WASHINGTON Letter.
THE BLAINE LETTER.-BLAIR BILL.-sE-
CRET SESSIONS. PERSONALS, SC.


THE BLAINE LETTER.-BLAIR BILL.-sE
CRET IONS.-PERSONALs, sc.
Especial Correspondence of the vIRGINIAN]
Although more than week has elapsed
since the appearance of Blaine's Florence
letter, there has been little abatement of
the excitement it .occasioned. 1t is still
the chief topic Of conversation among pol.
iticians, and as Washington. is a sort of
all the year round political gathering.
wherever crowd is congregated, there
the name of the man from Maine is heard.
The first effect of the letter was to raise
the hopes of the friends of various aspi.
rants for the nomination. This led to a
closer inquiry into the claims of the
respective candidates, and marshalling
of the strength of each. Then came COM
parsons. Measured by the side Of him
who voluntarily declined, the weakness of
one after the other became apparent.
Blaine S real strength and popularity were
not fully appreciated until the prospect
of having another nominee was forced to
the front. Then, if never before, the hold
he has upon the American people was dis
closed From every class and from every
section the demand for his candidacy has
come. 1t is demand that will not read
lily accept a denial. If, however, it is de-
MED then some new man will be selected.
The nominee of the National Convention
will either be Blaine or it will be some big
Drained, clear-cut Republican, whose name
has not been prominently mentioned in
connection with the positioa. Neither
Sherman, nor Hawley, nor Allison, nor
any of those who have been so pers.stently
trotted out every four years, will come
nearer securing the prize than they have
done before. Another Garfield will rise in
the person of such man as Mckinley, of
Ohio, whose splendid abilities and thorough
Americanism have long been recognized;
or Reed, of Maine: or Burrows, of Michi-
gan; or Hiscock, of New York. These
are but few of the men who haye made
an impress on American history. and are
worthy to occupy the highest place in the
peoples gift. The fight of 1888 is to be
on the lines of pronounced Americanism,
and the chosen leader must be in sympa-
thy with that sentiment, and bold enough
to proclaim it from the housetops.
! For the third time the Blair Educa-
tional Bill has passed a Republican Senate.
The vote was taken on the 18th, and stood
SO to 30. OF the majority % were Repub-
licans, viz: Allison, Blair, Bowen, Cam.
eron, Chandler, Cullom, Dawes, Dolph
Evarts, Hoar, Henderson, Mitchell, Nor
rill, Palmer, Platt, Quay, Riddleberger
Sawyer, Stanford Stewart, Stockbridge
Teller, Wilson, of Iowa; and sixteen were
Democrats. viz: Berry, Brown, Call, Col
quit. Daniel, Eustis, George. Hampton
Hearst, Jones of Arkansas, Pasco, Payne
Pugh. Ransom, Vance Walthall.
OF those voting against the bill, seven
teen were Democrats and twelve RepubIi
cans. The Republicans were A ldrich
| Davis, Farwell, Frye, Hale, Hawley, His
cock, ingalls,, Jones of Nevada, Plumb
Sabin, Spooner
The Democrats were Bate, Beck, Black
burn, Blodgett, Butler, Coke, Faulkner
Gray, Harris, Kenna, Morgan, Reagan
Salisbury. Turpie, Vest, Voorhees,, ant
Wilson, of Maryland.
OF the Senators paired Sherman, Ed
| dc 1ioop M,
Gibson, Democrat, would have voted TO
the bill; and Chace. Republican, and Cor
man, Cockrell, and Mcpherson. Demo
Gratis, would have voted against it.
Counting pairs the vote stood for thu
bill, 43, of whom 26 were Republicans. ant
seventeen Democrats; against the bill SO
of whom 20 were democrats and IS Repub
licans.
The bill passes for third time to ;
Democratic House, and the prospect il
that it will again meet its former fate
1t is said that the speaker has packed Thu
Educational Committee in the House
with special reference to this measure
putting on it majority of members
| NHO0C HOolllIly W ~ RIOlOuuCCu.
a majority of a committee refuses to repor
a bill, either fayorably or adversely, thel
the minority is powerless. In this way
under the present rules, bill may b.
smothered in the committee, even i
three-fourths of the House favor it. TX
obviate this. and secure, if possible, a vot
of the House on the bill, irrespective o
the committee's action, Gent Cutcheon
of Michigan, warm friend of the bill ,ha
introduced an amendment to the rules
which if adopted, will bring the question
up before the House. The amendmen
provides that whenever application il
writing, signed by a majority of all TIN
members Of the House, shall be presented
to the speaker requesting him to recognize
any member therein named to move a sus
pension of rules and pass a bill, to b.
named by him, upon the first Monday o
the next ensuing month, it shall be tn
duty of the speaker to recognize the mem
Der so named. at the time designated; ant
when more than one such written reques
shall be presented in one month. the mem
bers therein named shall be recognized il
the order in which they are presented t.
the speaker. Should this amendment b
adopted. the friends of the measure vii
at once 90 to work to secure signatures t.
an application for member who vii
move to suspend the rules and take up tn
Blair Bill. In this way the people will b
made to know who the real friends of tn
Blair Bill are. Even if a sufficient mum
bers of signatures are not obtained, tn
signing of the application itself will b.
the test of friendship for the bill.
And now TIE difficulty is to get Gen
Cutcheon's amendment from the Commit
tee on Rules, Of which the speaker is
member. But it will be gotten from Their
or else the people will know the reason
why.
Recently the papers have been filled will
the so-called exhibitions" that Senate
Riddleberger has..been making in the Sen
ate. The gravamen of his offence is tina
he has demanded the abolition of tina
hoary farce, the executive session. in orde
that the acts and doings of the Senators
may be known by the people whose ser