Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-06-30
NATIONAL CAPITAL.
TARIFF REFORM IS STILL THE
WATCHWORD.

TARIFF REFORM is STILL THE
WATCHWORD.
Financial Reform Likewise TO Re
ceive Attention carlisle ION
To- the Smugglers ON Puget
sibiiity for the FOrd's Theater
Disaster-A Coming Event.
From our Regular Corrcspondence.)
WASHINGTON, June %, 1898.
II there are any persons who be-
lieve the silly stories now going the
round OF the Republican press, charg-
ing that President Cleveland and the
other Democratic leaders have aban-
doned all idea of making any radical
changes in the tariff at the coming
session o: Congress, they would better
begin to prepare themselves for a great
disappointment. There has been no
change in the programme mapped out
| by the Democratic leaders before Mr.
Cleveland was inaugurated, except that
caused by the financial stringency
throughout the country, which ha,
given financial reform the first place
on the programme, but has by no
means displaced tariff reform. Ever
since President Cleveland's election
m hn
forms with every man he met who
might be supposed to have practical
and valuable opinions upon either,
and he has lost no opportunity TO OBJ
tain suggestions from those whose
practical experience or special studies
have made them tariff experts. A
perfect tariff bill has never been pre-
| pared and probably never will be, but
unless present indications are all
wrong the tariff bill to be prepared
this winter will be nearer perfection,
from the standpoint of the Chicago
platform, than any OF its predecessors,
and that it will be radical change
from the Mckinley law is as certain
as that Congress will meet. Tariff
reform and financial reform are to be
the first born children of the Fifty
third Congress, the first for more than
than thirty years to be Democratic in
both branches while Democrat was
President.
President Cleveland has not and
will not attempt to say what the de-
tails of the bill for the repeal of the |
Sherman silver law shall be. He is
satisfied that the law is a very bad one |
and also that Congress will promptly |
repeal it at the extra session. He is |
also satisfied that it is perfectly safe
to leave it to the wisdom OF Congress |
as to how this shall be done and what
other financial legislation shall be
adopted in order to undo the bad
effect OF the Sherman law. In con-
versation with a friend this week he |
stated his belief that the partial poll |
ing of the members of the House and
Senate by newspapers furnished no
reliable basis to estimate what the |
vote on the question of repeating this |
law would be, owing to the large |
number of Senators and Representa-
tives who have not declared how they |
will vote
Ever since Secretary Carlisle took
charge of the Treasury department he
has been quietly working to put a
stop to the wholesale smuggling Of
Chinese and opium by way of Puget
Sound. Reports from two trusted
men sent to investigate soon con-
WINGED him that u number of the |
Government officials whose duty it |
WAS to prevent such smuggling were
in league with the smugglers. He re-
moved number of these men and
appointed their successors, but did not i
make either the removals or the ap- |
pOintments public until this week,
because of the desire to secure the |
necessary evidence to criminally pros
ecute the crooked ex.officials. Large
fortunes are said to have been made |
by the smugglers in the last ten years,
but Mr.. Carlisle intends to see that no |
more are made while he remains in |
office.
Not a few Republicans, among them
some Congressman, have openly COM |
mended Judge Lochren for his vigor-
Gus efforts toward carrying out Presi- |
dent Cleveland's idea Of making the |
/ pension roll a roll of honor, and the |
number is bound to increase as the |
good effect of the new methods become |
more apparent. The most sudacious
Republican Congressman will hardly |
dare to go on record as criticizing the
present administration for dropping |
men from the pension rolls whose |
names have no right, either in law or |
equity, TO be there, and it is only that
kind who are being dropped.
As was expected, Col. Ainsworth,
the contractor, the superintendent,
and the engineer have been pro-
nounced guilty of criminal negligence
by the coroner's jury for having failed
to take necessary precautions to pre-
vent the accident which killed 90 men |
and wounded a number OF others in |
Ford's old Theater. They all gave
bail to await the action OF the grand
jury. An army court OF inquiry will,
as soon as the grand jury acts, begin |
taking evidence upon which it will
decide whether Col. AinswOrth shall
be court-martialed or exonerated. He
can only be deprived of his rank in
the army by court-martial.
Mrs. Cleveland and Baby Ruth have
gone to Gray Gables. on Buzzard Bay,
Ruth's birthplace, while the President
remains here, notwithstanding the
dancing among the nineties of the
thermometer, up to his eyes in work
so important that he cannot leave it. |
He hopes to get things in such shape
that he cannot leave it. He hopes to
get things in such shape that he can
join the family in about ten days or
two weeks and remain with them long
enough to assist in welcoming the ex-
pected guest. DEN.
NETGHBORHOoD STRIFE.-The trial
of J. P. Olinger. before Justice Lacey,
Tuesday, on charge OF larceny, pre-
ferred by U. L. Collins, ex. Representa-
tive OF this county in the State Legis-
lature, developes the existence of a