The St. Johns herald., 1896-12-26
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.

WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 20. | There is a great deal more in the an- nouncement that the Republican mem- bers of the House committee on Ways and Means have begun work on the tar if bill which they are to attempt to pass at the extra session of the next congress to be held early in the spring, and tn at the committee afe to grant 1 hearings to manufacturers at once, than appears upon the surface. There are reasons to believe that this announce ment was hurried up as a part of the plan to elect Republican senators enough this winter to make 8 majority for that party. The Republican steer ing committee of the Senate succeeded in getting MT. Hanna to undertake this job of eEecting Senators in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Dakota and Washington, and everybody knows that the only lever Mr. Hanna relies upon for success is money. By giving the men who expect big profits through the protection" of Republican tariff bill hearings before the committee, they can be shown that they are to get what they want and thus be put into the hu- nor to furnish what MT. Hanna wants more cash.
 The same talk about moderate tariff" which is now being given to newspaper men was prevalent when work was begun on the Mckinley bill. The result will be bill that will prob ably be more radical than the McKIn- ley bill was. It is true that many of the Republicans would really like to see the bill made moderate, but it is equally true that the men who made Republican success possible this year are determined that the duties shall be high. President Cleveland has gone to South Carolina on fishing trip, and congressman are joeularly charging hlm with having run away to escape the ex Queen of Hawaii, who Is coming to Washington to present hlm with bill of damages for failure to fulfill his promise, not of marriage, but of a re- stored throne.
 Tue populists in congress are little shy about expressing for publication any opinion about the rumpus between Senator Marlon Butler and Tom Wat son, but it is plain that some of them, especially those from the South, believe that Butler will have to do something to show his resen tment or lose his ln- fluence with the populists of that sec tion A Georgian, who is not popu- list, said about the recent phase of 1t :: ''There were fighting words Tn that ar tcle of Watson s, and when l was young man it wouldn't have been question of publishing similar attack upon the other party. To have sald that 8 man tells an untruth merely for the casual pleasure of having deceived would have meant duelling pistols and an early morning meeting Tn the vicin- ity of BIadensburg, in the good old days" There is no idea that Butler will do anything else than call Watson another.
 If Mckinley is half as wise as his admirers think him to be he will quick
 lv let it be known among the Republl- can senators, that Proctor. of Vermont. is not to be the administration leader , in tLe senate of the next congress, a position now assigned him by rumor. Senator Proctor is a nice enough man in his way, but he has not, either as
 member of Harrison's cabinet or as a
 senator, shown any of the qualities needed for successful leadership, and
 there is no reason to believe that he possesses them. There are already a
 number of Republican senators who do
 not feel over cordial towards Mckinley,
 and if lie isn't very careful he will be
 in hot water almost as soon as he is in
 the White House.
 The House made fairly good show - ing for the first week of the session, B having passed the pension appropna- P tion bill, number of postal bills, a : bill against the sale of liquor in the Y Capitol building, and whole batch oi private pension bills. The Senators held only four sessions during the s week. and it has very little to show for A them. At one of these sessions some :. commotion was caused by motion t made by Senator Allen to take up the n Dingley bill. The motion carried, but e the only result was the killing of a fe" e minutes time, at the expiration o1 e which the bill went back to the calen dar under the rules.
 Senator Teller has been quite busy |. man since his arrival in Washington
 One of the first men he had an extend ed conference with was Senator Jones a of Arkansas, and the subject of tht e conference was the future policy of tht
 silver men in Congress. Both senator
 declined to be interviewed on the sub
 feet. and no public announcement Il
 expected until after the conference O
 silver leaders, shortly to be held. an'
 it may not be deemed polite then t
 announce any formal programme
 Lieutenant D. l.. Brainerd, Secon' ,s cavalry, recently stationed at For 10 Wingate, was recently promoted to n captalncy. Captain Brainerd has yer.
 many friends ID this part ot the coun
 fry who will be pleased to learn of hl