The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-12-17

Custom Duties be Pat0 IN 1ofa-~Does
This Embody speaker Reeds Views
On the silver Question .>-it is an
Open Secret That the Young North
Carolina congressman is the Speak
er,s pet-- he Supreme Court.
WASHINGTON, Dec. Especially
Conoress adjourned Thursday not to
meet any more until Monday.
II just stopped to think.
When it gets through thinking, II
will begin IL make laws again.
While neither House nor Senate are.
therefore. formally in session, yet one
looking upon the body from the gal
leries would think they we're, For the
House of Representatives when II is
trsnsaeting business appears TO the lay
eve only like n muymoring mass of
men moving about and doing all kinds
,eg ainleSs looking things, with man
over IN a far part of the House max
ing gestures tn words that nobody
hears. That is the speech that comes
home. all Sticky Photographed, spelled
and pnnctuated. with applause 49,
brackets here and there.
Atont half of the House loaf about
the seats even during this interim.
saw Tom Settle I'm his seat to-day
chatting with Bailey of Texas. and got
TO talking with him later. lie refuses
to have any suspicion aroused that he
is weakening ON his anti-fuSion theory
i'm the matter of an electoral ticket,
On the contrary. he proelaims himself
TO he sitter than ever in his views,
Moreover, he says his crowd j. gain
ing every day in North Carolina, that
even the populist executive committee
has refused TO endorse Pritehard )
position Now ii comes TO pass that
Settle is presumably opposing this
electoral ticket, ON the ground that IL
the Republicans are thus nauseatipgly
mingled with the Populists iii National
matters, the principles of the q. o. Z.
will suffer. | asked Mr.. Settle was not
the theory OF the rank and file Of Re
publicans and Populists merely to beat
the Democrats; in other words, was it
not the Republican theory that it were
better to have even five Republican
electors than eleven Democratic cleo
tors. Mr.. Settle sneezed off this sug-
gestion as if it were birds nest of
last year, two years ago. insisting that
it was the principle of the thing. The
wise akin on national issues.
In view of all these things, it may be
pertinent to note an intention ex-
pressed by Mr.. Settle this morning
lie said he would at an early day intro
duce a bill for the coming of the
American product" He said this was
the issue ne made his canvass on. His
bill will provide that half OF the GUS
toms duties shall be paid in gold, and
that an import duty shall be imposed
upon silver from abroad equal to the
difference between the coinage value
and the commercial value of our coined
product Thus it would seem that Mr..
Settle would force an international
agreement by the laying on of duty.
Not to go any deeper into the subject,
it will take q merry set of accountants
to calculate the fiuctuating difference
from day to day between coinage value
and commercial value of silver in this
question. If we may say theoretically
that Mr. Settle takes his stand on anti
electoral fusion by the acquiescence
of his candidate, Mr. Reed. may 1t not,
also. inferentially be said that the pro-
visions of his BILL also. meet with Mr..
Reeds approval? 1t is true that this
bill is q understanding circumven-
ton of the single gold standard, and
instead of meaning free silver, means
really only the attitude occupied by
Senator Sherman When the bill is in
tToduced, it may be well to analyZe it,
so as to show free silver platforms in
North Carolina don't mean free silver
bills in Washington
1t is openly said that Mr. Settle is a
pet of Mr. Reeds, and it is easy to see
how he may attract man even OF so
much prominence as the Speaker.
Certainly he is a rather picturesque
figure in the House, and is popular on
both sides. But his house needs good
strengthening before ne can get IN
free silver order, as Tar Heels under
stand the term. In other words, does
the Fifth District believe that the
country viii be saved by Mr.. Settle S
bill? II any rate that will be his con-
tribution toward its salvation.
The only thing formally at work
about the Capital, except of course,
the clerical force, is the Supreme
Court. The chamber is comparatively
small and is shaped just like half
moon. The Judges sit on the dame
ter-line of the moon and the spectators
sit around the edges of the moon. The
IdWNGIS Stdtit4 DttNNth tlAt SttNttehboiF
and the Judges. These Judges are
great men. and are watched as if they
were freaks. One would think that
when a man had grown big enough tc
be United States Supreme Court
Judge he would not wiggle. But the
whole bench seem 10 be doing some
thing all the time. Somebody on the
row is on the move pretty nearly con
stantly. The Chief Justice spends
much time propping up his moustacht
with his index finger. The intellect
ual fad of Justice Field is to nod at the
attorney addressing the Court, approx
ingly. This gives the speaker spur
and does nobody any harm. justice
Field sits in an oid-fashioned cane
backed rocker. with head-pad at the
top, the only rocker in the row. Tn,
rest of the chairs are alike, with tn,
of no oh of hQ Chic