Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1891-04-02
Washington Letter.
ZION our Regalar Correspondent.l

are Just now more than usually arduous
owing to the negotiations with the
British Minister concerning the arbitra-
ton of the Behring Sea trouble, and tc
numerous matters connected more oil
less with the reciprocity clause Of the
Mckinley tariff act and various coun.
tries which are anxious to get the
benefits of our markets. These thing:
will probably keep Mr.. Blaine busy fol
some time to come, and there are Other
international questions that may arise
at any time.
The threat of Newfoundland to ask
for admittance to the Union as State,
and pending the hearing Of the petition
by Congress to place herself under the
protection Of the United States has been
much discussed here by international
lawyers and others fond of complicated
/ questions. In case the threat was
actually carried out and the authorizes
of Newfoundland formally ask to be
admitted as State what action would
the administration take2 1t is extremely
difficult to answer the question, as there
are no precedents upon which to base q
reasonable conjecture. The general
opinion seems to be that the President
would take no action before laying the
matter before Congress, because he
would not care to have any decision
that he might make repudiated by the
dem ocratic House of Representatives,
1t is not considered probable, how
ever, that Great Britain would stand
idly by and allow Newfoundland to
take such action. As soon as she be-
came satisfied that such action was
really seriously contemplated the colony
would probably be declared to be in a
state Of rebellion and its affairs placed
in charge of the British military author
tiles. II is hard to find a prominent
man who has given the subject careful
consideration who does not believe that
eventually both Canada and Newfound-
land will become part of the United
States, and it is still harder to find
man who believes that Great Britain
will fail to fight for its American poss-
essions. / have never discussed this
question with a member of Congress
who did not believd that another war
between this country and Great Britain
was one of the certainties of the future,
the only difference of opinion being as
to how soon this inevitable war will
come.
Some amusement has been created
here by the teegraphed statement that
the Queen of Hawaii had decided to
refuse to continue reciprocal arrange
ments with the United States. unless
Hawaiian sugar was given the bounty
of two cents pound which the Me-
KInley tariff act grants to sugar pro-
duced in the United States after April
lst. Nothing has been heard about it
at the State department, aud it is not
believed that the new ruler of Hawaii
has been guilty of taking such silly
stand, but if she has she will soon learn
that the Mckinley bill was framed for
the protection of our own citizens and
not for the benefit of foreigners; she
will also discover that if her little island
kingdom was to disappear absolutely
from the face of the earth it would not
affect the prosperity of the United States.
The secrets of the corrupt lobby
which hangs around Congress have
queer way of cropping out at unexpected
times and places. In the trial of the
newspaper correspondent, Charles E.
kincaid, for the murder of ex-Repre-
sentative Taulbee, of Kentucky in the
Capitol building a little over a year ago,
which is now in progress here, ex-Door-
keeper of the House of Representatives
Samuel Donaldson, when on the witness
stand admitted. under the sharp cross
examination of Gen. Grosernor, one of
Kincaids counsel, that his occupation
in Washington was lobbying, and that
one of his principal clients was the
Western Union telegraph company.
This was not news to Postmaster Cen
eral Wanamaker. who has some time
since discovered why his postal tele-
graph system was hung up" in Con-
gress, as we'll as the names of the men
who did the lobbying against it for Jay
Gould's telegraphle octupus, but it was
to great many other people who had
often wondered how Sam Donaldson
could afford to wine and dine so many
democratic members of Congress when
ne had no visible means of support.
The President has fully decided to
appoint the new judges of the L. S.