Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-09-26
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Regular -PoBdencc of the standard
W.cUINGToV ID & Sent 10 1850


WASHINGTON, ID. c., Sept. -, 1850.
Speaker Reed having adopted about
al the prcrosatives pertaining to the
legislative branch OF the Government,
suddenly remembered that there were
certain other prerogatives conferred by
the Constitution upon the Executive
exclusively. This was more than he
could stand, and he determined to
poach upon the Executive preserves;
and he actually did, for more than
week, refuse to sign the River and Har- .
bor bill which had lee!l passed 10y both .
House and Senate, and to make the .
matter worse, he stated that unless the .
Democratic members would agree to
remain in their seats to make Il
" counted quorum while the Repub-
licans passed anything they pleased, he
would not sign it at all. The Demo
Gratis simply laughed at his threats and
let him understand clearly that they
knew a method Of quickly convincing
him that he had no authority to veto
bills. That brought him to his senses.
He dismounted from his Trojan horse
and attached his name to the bill with
out more ado. The signing OF bills
passed, by the Speaker OF the House
and the President of the Senate, are
clerical functions, exactly the same as
those performed by clerks OF Courts,
merely attesting that the bill has been
passed and for either official to refuse
to do so should be sufficient cause for
his impeachment.
Evidently Mr.. Blaine did not fancy
the names of the Republican Senators
whom Mr.. Ingalls, selected to settle the
fate, rs members OF the conference
committee OF the reciprocity amend
ment to the tariff bill, so he wrote
another letter hoping to save his pet.
| Whether he will succeed is somewhat
questionable now, although if the mat
ter had been decided before the Maine
election, there is no donbt that the So
called reciprocity amendment would
have remained in the bill, but now
it is believed that Mr.. Mckinley,
instigated by Mr.. Reed, will make a
determined fight against it, for the pur-
pose of striking at Mr.. Blaine. And
the fact that Senators Allison and
Sherman, both opposed to the Blaine
idea, are members of the conference
committee, is not calculated to allay
the fears OF the Blaineites. However,
for all the good it will ever accomplish,
the amendment might as we'll be left
alone.
The conference committee OIL the
tariff bill is made up as follows: Re
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Aldrich, Hiscock
Sherman and Allison; Representatives
Mckinley, Burrows, Dingley and
Bayne. emocrats-Senators Vance
Carlisle and Voorhees, Representatives
Mills, Mcmillan and Flower. Repub-
licans expect the bill to be reported
back early next week, but whether il
will or not depends entirely upon the
power OF the Republicans to reconcile
the radical differences existing among
them OH the sugar and other schedules
The Senate having passed the bill
closing the mails against the lotteries
it is said that the lottery people have
offered Mr.. Cleveland and Senator
Evarts fabulous retaining fee to take
the new law to the Supreme Court in
order to get decision rs to whether
it is constitutional.
The House has eased its conscience
by ordering that the worst parts OF the
speech calling Senator Quay a modern
Judas Iscariot and a convicted felOn,
recently delivered in the House by Rep
resentative Kennedy, of Ohio, but not
printed in the Congressional Record
until Monday last, shall be expunged
from the Record. In the meantime
Mr.. Quay says nothing.
Two Republicans out of three taken
at random, will admit that Represent
alive Cooper's charge against Pension
Commissioner Raum has been proven,
notwithstanding the protection given
the accused by the Republican men,
bers of the committee, and any report
whitewashing him made by the ma
jority of the committee, will have a
willful and deliberate perversion of the
evidence. Mr.. Harrison is inconsist-
ent. He refuses to speak to Dudley,
and yet he allows Raum to remain in
an important office.
The conference report on the rail
road land grand forfeiture bill, which
does not forfeit an acre of land which
any of the big railroads want to retain,
has been agreed to by the Senate.
Every Democrat present voted against
it.
The bill to repeal the Timber Cul-
tnre act has also been passed by the
Senate.
Mr.. Harrison has sent word here
that he wishes Congress to take re-
cess until November 10, instead OF
adjourning, but the indications are
that if he wants Congress to come
back in November he will have to
issue a proclamation to that effect.
There will be no more political leg
islation passed by the House ut this
session unless the Republican bosses
can succeed in getting 4 quorum Of
Republicans on the floor OF the House
which they expect to do every day, but
they have been expecting the same
thing for a month past. a.
The investigation of the Fish Com
mission has come to an ehd, and the
opinion OF the committee seems to bt
that it would never have been begur
/. if Commissioner Mcdonald was not {
Democrat, filling place wanted for {
Republican. Dem.
n