The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-12-18
WASHINGTON LETTER


Speaker Crisp may have made som,
promises before his election as Speak
cr--few men ever occupied the posi-
tion who had not done SO in their can
vass for votes, he has made few if any
promises since his election. He let.
the other fellows do the talking while
he does double duty as thinker he
knows that it will be impossible to SC
arrange the committee assignments
that all the democratic members OF
the House will be pleased, and, il
those who enjoy his confidence may
be relied upon, he will devote himself
principally to the task Of making an
equitable distribution of the chair
manships and places upon the impor-
tant committees between the various
sections of the country; believing that
no Representative will allow his per-
sonal disappointment to make him
angry when he sees that his section is
fully represented. 1t is now almost
certain that the lists of committees will
not be announced until after the Christ
mas recess, and it is expected that
Speaker Crisp will, after all the mem
brrs have been given chance to be
heard, retire to his home in Georgia,
or to some other place, where he can
devote his time during the recess to
making up the committees.
All sorts of gossip about the chair
manships and the makeup OF the i'm
portant committees may be heard, but
about the only thing that everybody
seems to be agreed upon is that the
Ways and Means committee, which
deals with tariff matters, will be domi-
mated by Northern and Western mem
bers, whoever its chairman may be.
The general opinion is that Mr.. Mills
can have the craftsmanship ofthis COM
mittee if he wishes it, but some of his
close friend say that he will not take
the place, Several reasons being given
why he will not; one of them being
that if there is an extra session Of the
Texas Legislature in the Spring he
will be a candidate for the unexpired
.erm in the Senate of ex Senator Rea-
5an-now temporarily being filled by
Senator Chilton-srd that if he is
elected he will at once resign his seat
in the House. But there are those
who think th"t that is just the reason
why he should take the craftsmanship.
They argue that f,I Mr. Crisp to ter
der this important | lac, to Mr.. Mills
and for him to accept it would show
that no bad blood was left by the hot
fight for the nomination, md that the
committee could be SO made up that
the next democrat on the committee
could from the first take up the hard
work of the chairman and that in the
event Of the election of Mr.. Mill; to
tie Senate this gentleman might be
made chairman.
Resolutions pro- ling for an inves-
tigation OF the ] nsion Office will
shortly be offered in the House by
Representatives Cooper, of Indiana,
and Enloe, of Tennessee. The latter
gentleman says that his resolution will
be for an investigation of the methods
used and is intended to save some of
the tax payers money that now goes
through leaks which he thinks are in
the machine. Mr. Cooper is par'icr-
larly interested in going for General
Raum, he being of the opinion that
the investigation by the last Congress
was not as impartial as it might have
been. Both resolutions will not be
adopted, but the probabilities favor
the adoption of resolution that will
be acceptable to both gentlemen.
Gen. Foney, of Alabama, who was
the senior democratic r.cmber of Il
House Committee on Appropriations
IN the last Congress, has, on account
CT his age and somewhat failing health
declined the chairmanship of that
committee, which was rendered him
by Speaker Crisp. 1t is believed here
that Representative Holman, of Indi
ana will, in the interest of general re-
trenchment in appropriations, be put
1t the head of that committee.
Speaker Crisp pleased those mem |
bers who wished to get the cash for
their mileage before Christmas by an |
nounclng at the short session of the |
House held on Saturday, previous to |
the adjournment until Wednesday, the |
membership of Committee on Ac-
counts and that on mileage, as follows :: |
Accounts -Rusk (Md.), Cooper Qnd. J, |
Dickerson, (Ky.) Moses, Is. c., Seer
ley, (Iowa), Pearson, (Ohio,) Qua cken- |
bush, IN, W, Griswold, (Pa.) and
Cutting, (Cal) Mileage - Castle |
lMinn.), Crawford, IN. CO., Kendall, |
tRyh Caldwell (Ohio) and Flick
(iowa).
Representative Culbertson, OF Tex
as, one Of the best fitted men IN pub
lie life for the position, has decided to
accept the democratic vacancy on the
Interstate Commerce Commission,
which MIR. Harrison rendered to him