Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-08-28
FROM WASHINGTON.
Correspondence Of the Alexandria Gazette]
WASHINGTON Aug. 2S. 1894.

was mOTc vi lcoS Oouoo W w q 49,
Yesterday, about what action the Presi-
dent would take upon the bill, but his
letter of Yesterdays date to Represen,
tative Catchings authoritatively settled
the matter, and the letter while al
dressed to an individual, is virtually a
message to the people, IN when tne
President very clealy defines his views
and replies to some of the strongest ar
euments presented to him by nus party
associates during the past ten days sug-
costing the method of procedure best
Calculated TO beft the party in the COM
ing campaign. Up to the last miuute the
pressure upon the President to induce
him to affix his signature to the meas
ure was not abated. The future wei
fare OF the party, the necessity OF d.
vision of responsibility and the immedl-
ate effect upon the pending campaign
were all urged upon MIR. Cleveland
with great persistency. Even dem
ocrats who have stood by the
President through thick and thin were
disposed to question the wisdom of his
action in refusing to sign his name to
the measure, and they added their ap-
peals, but in vain. Even Senator
Palmer. radical tariff reformer as ne Is,
felt that the President ought to have
signed the bill, and there were others
who would have willingly abandoned
all hostility to the Senate bill If the
President could have been persuaded
to have viewed the situation through
their spectacles. Against all this pres,
sure, however, Mr.. Cleveland remained
obdurate. He had intended to send
message to the present session relterat-
ing the opinions 50 vigorously set forth
in the letter to chairman Wilson, and
the document was partially prepared;
Other counsels prevailed, however, and
the President concluded that he would
say nothing more at this juncture. Ihls
decision was not satisfactory to the ex-
IRENE tariff reformers, who wanted to
90 into the fall elections with slogan
from the President, but the more con-
SENTATIVE members of the party,
who were aware of the uses to
which the Wilson letter was being
put by the republican campaign COM
mittee, were quite content for the Pres
ident to remain silent. When Con,
gress convepes again in December the
President will further elaborate his tar
itf reform and urge such legislation as,
in his Judgment, is requisite to make
good the party pledges and relieve the
treasury of embarrassment due to cru
dities and imperfections in the present
law. -,
Among Senators, the letters of Mr..
Cleveland to Mr.. Catchings, that ap-
peared in the morning papers, attract
ed little attention. Not one could be
found who would be quoted, save MIR.
Mills. who said that he had not read it,
but that if Mr.. Cleveland had sent out
such a letter he was in full sympathy
with what he may have said. Other
Senators freely discussed the subject in
private, but declined to permit the
use of their names. The consensus
of opinion so far as the Senate is con-
cerned appears to be that it would
have been better had the President left
the letter unwritten. One prominent
Southern Senator remarked that there
are some things it would be better to
leave unsaid and the Presidents letter
was one of them. 1t was, this Senator
observed, but another reflection upon
the tariff bill for which the democratic
party was responsible and slap at the
bill, with the composition of which the
President was thoroughly familiar be
fore it was passed by the Senate. This
Senator echoed the private remarks OF
others when he said that he believed
the President had made mistake and
had only succeeded in making it hard
ar for the democrats to defend the leg
islation they had enacted. Republic
cans refused to discuss the letter,
dismissing it with the intimation
that the condition of affairs was bad
enough and anything they might
sly would not make them worse.
Of the members of the House who talk
about the letter the republicans say
they could not have been supplied with
q more effective campaign document !;
the democrats, that as the President al
lowed the bill to becomea law and pro
fesses interest in democratic success he
might, at least, have had the grace II
not the wisdom to avoid abuse Of prOmi-
nent democrats, whose wisdom Is con-
ceded throughout the country, and the
cuckoos swallow it, but do 80 with q
wry face. The prevailing sentiment,
however, among all who sit on the
democratic side is that it would nave
been better both for the President and
his party if the letter had been burned
as soon as it was written.
Republicans from the Sth Virginia
district here to-day, say that as MIR.
Agnew of Alexandria refuses positively
to allow his name to be brought before
the coming convention, the managers
of their party in that district have
practically determined to have
Mr. PAT McCaull nominated, and
that he will accept the nom
nation and make an active can
yass. During the last administration MIR.
McCaull was internal revenue collector
for the upper district of his State. Since
then he has become resident of the
9Th district.
The President expects to leave
Washington tomorrow morning for
Gray Gables. Private Secretary Thur
Der will accompany him, joining his
family in the cottage they occupy at
Marion. The President and MIR. Thur
Der do not anticipate returning to
Washington until early in October.
Secretary Lamont will go as far as New
York With the President and then meet
his wife and children at Bay Shore,
Long Island.
Judge Cardwell, ex-spesker of the Virgin
"a Hnnsa of Delepates was here to-day Int