Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-04-27
WASHINGTON LETTER
Washinqton, d. c., Apr. 20, 81.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MONITOR.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS THE MONITOR
Washington, ID. c., Apr. 20, 81.
Senator Sherman is in town, and
many are the ruses that have been
tried for the purpose of getting an
authoritive statement from him as to
his future political intention, but no
one has yet succeeded in drawing him
out. A gentleman, close to him per-
sonally and politically, and who prob
ably knows, if anybody does, said to
me, ''Mr. Sherman isn't ready to talk
yet and those acquainted with him
know how useless it is for anybody
to try to persuade him to do 50 until
he is. But you may be certain that
when the proper time comes the peO-
pie of Ohio will be told whether he
wishes to be reelected to the SEN
ate: John Sherman never travels un-
der false pretenses, and never hesi-
tates- to ask in a manly and and open
manner for the political support of
his Constituents when he desires it.
1t is 5he opinion of all the prominent
republicans with whom | have talked,
among them several Ohio men. that
Mr.. Sherman will be candidate for
the reelection to the senate, and that
also is my own impression.
The success of our special envoy,
ex-Minister Foster, in negotiating
with Spain reciprocity treaty be-
tween Cuba and the United States,
along the lines of the Mckinley tariff
act, gives great satisfaction in official
circles, and most effectually disposes
of all the democratic fairy tales about
there being hitch on account Of the
demand of Spain that we should place
Cuban tobacco on the free list. The
Spanish government was very anX-
iOus that we should admit Cuba's to-
bacco free Of duty, but it was far too
sensible to demand it, and when in
formed that it was impossible there
was no more said about it.
The subject of counterfeiting Unit
ed States currency is assuming grave
proportions and the officials of the
treasury department are just at pres
ent giving considerable time to study
ing it, in the hope of discovering a
remedy or preventive. The chief
engraver of the bureau of engraving
and printing, who is away up as an
expert, spent an hour in examining
two 50 silver certificates, ,One genuine
and the other counterfeit, with pow
erful magnifying glass and his YER
dict was that there was not the
slightest difference between the two
notes. New inventions in photO-me-
chanical processes have made it easy
and clean for the counterfeiters to re-
produce on metal plate every line
of a note and after little etching 1T
is an exact duplicate of the steel
plate from which the note was origin
ally printed and which it had taken
months to engrave.
The color in the red seals and the
greenbacks was once protection, but
late discoveries IN photochromony
makes it easy to reproduce the pre-
else shades. The chief of the secret
service in his last annual report says
on this subject: 'The genuine gov
ernment notes now a-days, especially
the series of 1890, are marvels of the
engraving art aided by the wonderful
geometric lathe. One would think it
impossible to successfully counter
felt such work upon looking over the
complex area of lines and patterns
and yet at this moment counterfeters
are reproducing it so perfectly that
the elaborate beauty of this paper
money may be said to offer no pro-
lection to the public or defense
against fraud"
The only way the expert has of de-
tecting this skilfully executed count
erfeit is by the paper and that has
been so we'll initiated that no one but
an expert can tell it from the genu-
inc. SO that really about the only
protection the public has against
counterfeiting is the vigilance of the
treasury secret service.
Representative Springer of Illinois
is now jocularly referred to as the
''talking candidate" for speaker of
the house, because of the number of
his recent newspaper interviews. In
his last, after painting his own pros
poets deep roseate hue, which, by
the way, is not visible to any one
else, he sails into New York politics,
nominates for governor and elects
Representative Roswell p. Fowler,
whose 'sbarrel" has so often been on
tap to the ''boys'' of the democratic
machine, and makes him the demo-
cratic presidential nominee, just as if
those other two gentlemen-Cleveland
and Hill-Were not in existence.
Really this speakership business is
getting decidedly interesting, and
each of the would-be democratic pres
idential candidates will soon have a
candidate for speaker. Mr.. Mills is
the Cleveland candidate, Mr.. Crisp
the Hill candidate, and it looks as if
Mr.. Springer was the Flower candi-
date, with a number of others yet to
be heard from.
FTbo T+al;oa hoe in