The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-09-09
WASHINGTON LETTER
from our regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. LIST, 1898.

with the announcement made when he
left Washington, just after the extra
session met. is back at his desk in the
White House, and his appearance is
the best refutatiOn of the many silly
sensational stories that have been pub
lished within the last week about the
dangerous condition he was in. He
probably never dreamed, when he was
having those two troublesome teeth
extracted and their liberated roots cut
out, two months ago. that itwould by
and by grow into an operation in
which the greater part of his jawbone
would, in the mind of the sensational
writer, have to be cut away in order
to remove the terrible ~cancerous
growth. In short, it was but another
version of the familiar old story of the
man who vomited three black crows.
President Cleveland is not sick, and
he has not been sick since he left
Washington. In fact, there were few
days while he was away that he did
not perform some of his public duties,
as the records in the Office of his pri-
vate secretary will show.
The passage of the bill for the un-
conditional repeal of the purchasing
clause of the Sherman silver law by
the House has focused public atten-
ton upon the Senate, where financial
speeches are now the order of the day.
How long the Senate will talk before
voting is a question that will be an
swered differently by nine out Of ev-
cry ten men in Washington. Two
weeks is the shortest time given by
anyone, and the longest goes away up
in the months. An agreement ofsome
sort will have to be reached before a
vote can be taken, and the silver SEN
ators declare they will make no agree
ment. unless the Voorhees, bill, which
has been reported as a substitute for
the Wilson bill that was passed by the
House, is amended in a II salts
factory to them. The democratic
leaders, however, are confident that
an agreement will shortly be reach
ed.
Reconstruction may be the thief of
time, as the old school adage says, but
it isn't getting a chance to steal much
of it from the House Ways and Means
committe, which has buckled right
down to the tariff question with the
determination to report a reform tariff
bill at the extra session or very early
in tie regular session. While the
committee is not disposed to encour
age long drawn-out hearings of every
Tom, Dick and Harry who may think
themselves tariff experts, it will grant
proper hearings to all parties who by
reason of their prominence in lines of
business that may be affected by a
change in tariff have a reasonable
right to be heard. The hearings will
begin Monday and end September 20.
Speaker Crisp did a very unusual
although not unprecedented thing
when he called Representative Rich
ardson, of Tennessee, to the Speakers
chair and descended to the floor of
the House to reply to the unjust and
uncalled for attack which ex Speaker
Reed made upon the new rules Of the
House. Mr.. Reed was surprised, and
before the Speaker got through. dis
gusted to find himself Justly held up
to the scorn of the House and the
country for having falsely claimed
that the new rules were in line with
the notorious rules with which lie rag
ged the House of the Fifty-frst Con
gress. 1t is not the first time that Mr..
Crisp has proven himself more than a
match for the Maine blusterer. and it
will not be the last. The difference
between the new rules of the House
and the notorious Reed rules is pre-
cisely that between the Government
of the United States and the Govern,
ment of Russia-the new rules put the
authority for shuttingo IF debate in the
hanks of the majority of the House
where it alone belongs, and the Reed
rules put it into the hands of Reed.
making him more of an autocrat than
would be tolerated in any legislative
body of the world.
1t is queer how some things work
1t is nov said that Col. Charles p. Lin
coin, who was Deputy Pension Com
missioner under Raum, and who has
lately gained some notoriety by pub
licly announcing his intention to test
in the courts the right of the Commits
sloner of Pensions to suspend pension
ers, except in cases where fraud is pro
ven to have been used i'm securing the
pension. got the scheme up for no 9th
er purpose than to boom his candidacy
for COMMANDMENT Chief of the G.. A.
X. at the coming encampment of that
organization at Indianapolis.
1t is regarded as significant that
Speaker Crisp should have attached
eff | am in Washington on that date''
to his acceptance of an invitation to
deliver a short address at the centen-
NAL celebration of the laying Of the
orner stone of the Capitol, to be held
on fha 18th of Santpmher II IL +oLon