Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-09-19
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Regular Correspondence OF the standard.
WASHINGTON, ID. G.. Sept. IL 1890.


Regular Correspondence of the standard.
WASHINGTON, ID. c., Sept. IL 1890.
To see the jollitication in which the
are INDUCING over having
reelected Speaker Reed from district
where there was no organized Demo .
cratic opposition, one would suppose
that they had elected Il majority OF the
next House and secured Il mortgage
on the Presidential chair for four wears
from March 1, 1892. Let them rcmem-
her that lie who laughs last laughs
best"
The adulation which Mr.. Reed is
now receiving here from members OF
his party is absolutely sickoning. He
is naturally vain and seli-conceited,
but since his return he is worse than
ever; he struts arou, with his head
thrown back and hi. chest expanded,
looking exactly like barn-yard tur-
kcy-gObbler among lot of hen tur-
keys. He regards his reelection as
not only an endorsement OF his I'M
prccedented record as Speaker, but, also
a an endorsement OF his presidential
aspirations, and the turning down OF
a certain gentleman who has for many
years been supposed to carry the vote
of the State of Maine around in his
vest pocket-James G.. Blaine. BY the
way, it is noticeable that among all the
kilograms OF congratulation received bv
MIR. Reed there was not a word from
Mr.. Blaine.
Representative Cooper proved that
Lemon, the pension attorney, who en-
braced Commissioner Raum's notes for
$l2,O0O the day after Raum made Il
ruling that put more than 100000 in
Lemons pockets, had committed a
forgery more than twenty years ago in
this city and had been therefor dis
barred from practice before Govern
ment department., and that the patent
upon which the Refrigerator company
of which Raum is president and Rep
resentative Snyder, to whom has been
delegated the task of electing Repre-
sentative Mckinley, is large stock
holder, was a worthless fraud before
the Republicans of the whitewashing
committee got their heads together
and decided not to investigate the pri-
vate business affairs of Raum. The
majority of the committee may white
wash until doomstlay, but it will not
change the verdict of guilty as indict-
ed" which the unprejudiced public has
found against the Commissioner of
Pensions, and Mr. Harrison will retain
him in Office at the peril OF his party.
1t is stated quietly by Republicans
that Mr.. Harrison would have demand
ed the resignation of Raum before this,
if the Congressional elections were not
so near, and that after Raum gets his
coat of whitewash and the elections are
over, he will be compelled to resign.
Has Mr.. Harrison the backbone to
carry out the threat he made of vetoing
the River and Harbor bill if the $4,000
600 of Senate amendments were agreed
to? We shall soon know. The Senate
amendments were agreed to, and the
bill is now in his hands.
The Democratic Senators, like most
members of the party, believe in the
principle OF reciprocity, and would be
glad to seeit extended to every country
which buys our products or sells us
theirs, but they want none of the So
called reciprocity which is contained
in the Aldrich amendment to the tariff
bill, which puts it in the power of the
President to close our ports against
friendly nations whenever it NAV be
his pleasure so to do, and that makes
it possible for combinations of I'M
scrupulous spectators to manipulate
our tariff for their own benefit at the
expense of the consumers.
That isn't the Democratic idea of
reciprocity, therefore it was not sur
prising that the solid Democratic vote
was cast against it. Two Republic
cans-Messrs. Evarts and Edmunds-
also voted against it, and another Re.
publican-Senator Hoar-had the I'M
blushing effrontery to state in sub
stance in his closing speech that he
only supported it because he regarded
it as make-believe reciprocity. He told
the truth; the object of the Republicans
in adopting the so-called reciprocity
amendment is to catch votes for the
party. They recognized the popularity
OF the idea and have attempted to take
advantage fit.
The Democrats of the House have
this week been engaged in justifable
fillibustering to prevent the seating of
two negro contestants, whom the ma
jority of the committee on Elections
have unjustly decided were entitled to
seats held by Democrats. If the Re-
publicans will persist in their dirty
political work, let them keep quorum
Of their own members present to do it.
Senator Gibson says the sugar
schedule of the new tariff will rob the
sugar planters of Louisiana of more
than million dollars year, which
will go into the pockets OF the mem
bers of the sugar trust.
If the conference committee to
which the tariff bill has now gone al
lows October LIST. to remain as the
date for the new tariff bill to 20 into
effect, and it throws the country into
a financial panic, as the bankers of
New York say it will, owing to the
unusual demand on the part of i'm
porters for money to get their inn
ported goods out of the bonded ware
houses before that date, the response
bility will be with the Republican
party. They have been warned, and
it trouble ensues the people of the
country will know where to place the
blame for it.