The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1893-05-26
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, May Is, 1898.

| " SHA"S'oi, hdy ~. 1000.
The administration program is
at last completed, at least that is
what those who usually speak for
the President say. 1t consists oil
only four heads, and whatever
! else it may be is certainly thor
oughly democratic. Here they
are: First, the repeal Of the fed
eral election laws, so as to keep
the South solid i'm both Congress
sional and Presidential elections
second, the levying of an income
tax, to replace the money that
will be lost by lowering the tariff
on foreign manufactures; third.
the repeal of the Sherman silver
law and of the tax OH state bank
currency; fourth, complete re-
vision of the tariff. lowering the
duties materially on everything.
This program is the result of Mr..
| Cleveland's deliberation, and he
says that he has no fear of the re-
fusal of Congress 10 adopt any
part of it except the tariff bill !;
he fears that the demand for pro-
lection for home manufactures
my be democratic
Senators and Representatives
from manufacturing states will
not support that.
Others, however, think that he
has being over-san,
guine by the talk of Senators and
Members intent upon pleasing
him so they might pick up some
crumbs Of patronage. 1t is very
certain that an income tax cannot
be gotten through Congress with
out the hardest sort of fight, al
though if it be endorsed by the
democratic Senate and House
caucus it will in the end, Of
course. be passed. 1t is not be.
lieved that a bill for the repeal of
the Sherman silver law can possi-
bly, be passed without republican
votes in both House and Senate,
because that is the one question
upon which quite a number of
democratic Senators and Repre-
sentatives will not be bound by
caucus; it was tried at the last
session of Congress and 1t is
absolutely certain that not single
republican in either House or
Senate will vote for the bill if it
be yoked to the repeal of the tax
on state bank currency. as at
present proposed; they believe
too strongly in honest money to
support bill that if enacted into
a law would give the country all
era of wildcat money. AS to the
repeal of the federal election law,
unless the next house adopts much
more stringent rules against fill
clustering than the last one did,
the republicans will defeat the at
tempt by filibustering. All of
which makes it plain that it is
much easier to arrange program
for congress to follow than it will
be to make congress follow it.
At last the secret is out as to
why Commissioner Raum was
asked for his resigation weeks be-
fore his successor was selected.
AS long as he remained at the
head of the bureau applications
for pension were granted just as
rapidly as they had been since the
new law went into effect, nearly
three years ago. One Of the first
things agreed upon by the new
democratic cabinet was that the
number of original pensions grant
ed should be largely cut down.
and they have heen from the day
that Gen. Raum left the bureau,
the decrease being about seventy
per cent. And the present under
standing in the bureau is that the
average of original pensions grant
ed should not be more than one
third of what it was under Gen.
Raum. That is one kind of PEN
sion reform, but it will hardly be
popular with needy applicants.
Cncrofarv Carlisle ia the most