The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-12-18
Washington Letter.

W.surSGToN. ID. G.. Dec 12th, 1871
Mr. Harrison's annual message 10 ooh- II
rress is a strong bid for renomlnation
a. the hands of his party, and all that
now remains to make his nomination
certain is that Mr.. Blaine shall write d!
mat letter which the public has TOR a !
vear or more been periodically informed
that ne was Just on the eve OF "Iluhs'
declaring that he Will under no clrcuni
stances accept the nomination. ne
NAV or may not write such letter; Just
now it is again positively stated tiia't he
will do so in few days.
The only part of the message deserv-
ing of the slightest commentator Il
that dealing with the severai IoreiSn
combinations which have occurred dur
ing the past year. 1he rest Oh F." WIN
one or two exceptions is worthy only OF
the condemnation of those Who believe
in Democratic ideas of the admlnlstra-
t;on of the Government He strongly
endorses the Government guarantee OF
tho 500 OOO. 600, of bonds which eX-
Senator Warner Miller estimates as nes-
sarv to build the Nicaragua canal; he
wants to interfere with the sovereign .
RIGHTS of a state as lately exercised by I
the Michigan Legislature by the adop- /
ton of Constitutional amendment pro
viding a method for the election OF
members of Congress and the electoral
ge-Constitutional amendments
have always been a Republican fad; he
proyes that Senator German and the
other Democratic leaders have been
right in asserting that the notorious
Force bill was not dead, but only tenn
porarily shelved by lamentIng the tall-
ure to pass that bill and proposing that
an .S to 70 commission be appointed
by the Supreme Court for the purpose OF
considering the ''evIlS connected with
our election svstem.' This is willy at
tempt on the part of Mr.. Harrison TO
geta partisan commission appointed
that would report in favor OF the enact
ment of a law similar in all respects to
the Force bill, but the Democratic party
has been tricked by one ''S to - Com
mission and is not likely to be caught IN
the same trap a second time. 1he
principal .'evil'' in our election system,
in Mr.. Harrison's mind is that Demo
Gratis are elected where he wishes Repub-
licans to be elected; if that could be re-
versed he would consider the system per
feet.
Mr.. Harrison naively informs an over
taxed country that the Commissioner Of
Pensions, after careful examination OF
the subject, is of the opinion that
the estimate of S144, 956, 600, which is
included in the annual report of the
Secretary of the interior, will be sufii-
cient to pay the pensions for the year
ending June 80, 1898.
In order to give Speaker Crisp an OPP
portunitv to devote sometime to the very
important work of making the commit
tee assignments the House adjourned
from Wednesday to Saturday with the
understanding that it would then ad-
iourn to the following Wednesday.
5 Even if he devotes his time entirely to
- the subject it is hardly probable that
Speaker Crisp will be able to announce
the committees before the Christmas re-
cess.
r The first bill introduced in the Senate
4. was that prepared by Superintendent
I Porter, providing for permanent cen
sus bureau. Mr.. Harrison does not
mention this subject in his message
There has been good deal of nonsense
C written about the election of Speaker shut
: ting out prominent candidate for the
a Democratic Presidential nomination
The National convention only, has au
thority TO settle that question.
: Ii Jerry Simpson does not catch tin
# Speakers eve as often as he wishes, l
It will not be because of his location, as h'
;, has secured a seat in the very front row
Jerry has not recovered yet from his dis
L appointment at the small vote his candi
l. date for Speaker received. He think
le that instead of the Alliance caudldat
should have had about 40 votes.
The meeting of the executive com
mittee of the National Democratic Con
n mittee here early this week was an IN
e. portant event for the party and yer
a. pleasant event for those who attended L
- January 21, 1892, was the date set fc
the assembling of the full committee l
re Washington, for the purpose of namin
to the time and place for holding the ne!
D. National convention of the party. II
of time for holding the convention Wi
probably be about the first week IN Jul.
but the place is as yet matter of doub
tn Representative Mills characterises
ry absurd the rumoI that he intended to
is sign That he is disappointed he do
,,S not deny, but the idea of resigning IA
never occurred to him. He is not tn
al kind of a man; and unless the Governs
ID, of Texas shall call special session
all the legislature of that state, which sh;
,st elect Mr. Mills Senator, to fill the u
:. expired term of Senator Reagan, there
IT. every probability that Mr.. Mills W
'd, serve out his term in the House,
N though it will not be surprising If
In should decline to again assume the
sponsibilities and hard work of cha
oh man of the WAYS and Means Comm
'i0 tee.