San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-02-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
WAsHINGTON,. FelR. II. 1893.

party on the eve OF disruption.
Democrats of national prominence
in Congress privately express. the.
belief that it is, and predict that
long before the end of the admin
iStratiOn to begin next month the
separation between the wings Will
be open and final. The principal
cause of this belief is the wide gulf
that exists between Mr.. Cleveland
and southern and western demo-
Gratis on the silver question:, a gulf
which the failure of Mr.. c. to force
the repeal by Congress of the pres
ent silver law has widened and
apparently impossible. Notice has;
been publicly served on Mr.. Cleve-
land by Representative Bland, the
leader of the silver democrats in
the House, that further attempts
along this line would bring about
a withdrawal of the silver men
from the party. The forcefulness
of Mr.. ClevelandS character is so
we'll known here that the general
opinion is that he will continue
his fight against silver by calling
an early extra session of the Fifty
third Congress, unless convinced
that a bill for the repeal of the
silver law would be voted down in
either the House or Senate. In
that case he would postpone call
ing an extra session until he had
converted" a sufficient number to
carry his point.
The selection of Judge Walter @.
Gresham, as head of the cabinet,
which is accepted here as an ac-
complished fact, will also be fac
tor in bringing about split in the
democratic party. AS rule the
Democrats in congress decline to
publicly discuss this selection, but
privately they are showing their
anger and disappointment. The
feeling among them may be judged
by the fact that Senator German,
who is ordinarily the most inditfer-
ent of men to newspaper sto-
ries printed Of him, took
special pains to go around
among the Washington correspon-
dents and contradict the published
rumOr that Gresham had been
selected on his advice. With the
natural shrewdness of the tactful
political wire puller German lost
no time in disavowing his re-
spOnsibility for Gresham; he has
seen and noted the effect of the
announcement of his selection
upon his party associates in con-
gresS.
Senator Hill has been quietly
sounding the Democratic Senators
to ascertain how many of them are
willing to carry their opposition to
Gresham to the extent of voting
against his confirmation as a MEM
Der of the Cabinet. If he can Sc
cure the pledges of a sufficient
number of Senators to defeat the
confirmation he proposes to do it,,
although it would be something
never before attempted, as it has
been considered one of the unwrit-
ten laws of the Senate to confirm
Cabinet nominations without
question
Pressure is being brought to
bear to have Scargent at Arms
NOder of the House made commits
sioner of Pensions, if the scheme of
transferring that burrea to the
War Department and suspending
the pensions of all widows mar
ried since 1870; of all men having
an income in excess of $500 year.
and,eX cept for total incapacity, of
all alien nOn-residents, fails, as it
will The cOmmissiOnership is
merely to be used as a stepping
stone to the Democratic nOmina-
ton for Governor of Ohio. The
claim is made by Noder's friends
that his connection with the I. V.
T., will enable him to get the votes
of a sufficient number of old SOL
diers, heretofore Republicans, to
anchor Ohio permanently, in the
democratic column.
The House committee on Ways
and Means is on a wild goose chase
after a silly newspaper rumOr al
leging that Secretary Foster had
agreed to sell $5O,OOO,OOO worth of
bonds to syndicate Of New York
bankers for gold. There is not a
word of truth in the rumor. Sec.
Foster has made no agreement to
sell bonds and has no intention of
making such an agreement, and
he has no idea that the financial
situation will be such during this
administration as to cause him to
even take such a step into serious
consideration. Resides. it is well