The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-07
HANNA IS THE BIG FIGURE.
MORE ATTENTION
THAN ANY QUESTIONS OF
STATE POLICIES.
EXTRA SESSION IS EXPECTED.
Forecast of the Sessions
Work.

|
congress was apparent in the Wash
| ington hotels which are always barom-
eters of political activity under the
! dome. Senators and members coming
| to the city by every train, who are re-
| inforced by the attaches and lockers on
| of congress, were drifting into the
| lobbies, greeting one another like
schoolboys after a vacation; with much
handshaking, with "reminiscences of
| the campaign and many explanations
of how their reflections or defeats had
been brought about. There was COM
paratively small interest in the work
| of the coming session itself, apart
| from the presidents message, but
| clouds of speculation were afloat deal
| ing with the policies of the new admin
| istration to be inaugurated on the 4th
| of March, and with the personnel of
| the cabinet. 1t was unanimously con-
| ceded that the Republican programme
| was to ignore the Dingley tariff bill
and to summon an extra session of
the Fifty-fifth congress for the
18th of March for the purpose of
passing a new tariff measure, so these
features Of the situation which have
absorbed the attention Of politicians
recently had ceased to be of interest.
Curiosity was expressed over what
reference, If any, President Cleveland
might make to the issues and results
of the presidential campaign, and par
! ticularly as to his policy upon the
Cuban question.
HANNA IS WATCHED.
The central figure of the night was
Marcus Hanna, who is looked upon
here as the advance agent of the Nc
Kinley administration, with commits
sion to feel the pulse of congress and
to communicate the policy of the presl-
dent-elect to the leaders. When Mr..
Hanna appeared in the Arlington lob
by, after his dinner, accompanied by
H. G. Payne, of Wisconsin, who is
slated as a cabinet probability; J. c.
Dawes, of Chicago, a member Of the
Republican committee, and Gen. Ho-
race Porter. the marshal of the inau-
guration parade. the party was sur
rounded by congressman and other
politicians, who escorted them to Mr.
Hanna's room. The Republican chair
man had been invisible during the day
trying to put aside politics for a Sun
day, he explained, but throughout the
evening he was beset by visitors. Some
of the most conspicuous men about the
hotel, most of whom talked with Mr..
Hanna during the evening, were Sena-
tors Platt. of Connecticut, and Aldrich,
of Rhode Island: Chairman Babcock
and Vice Chairman Mercer, of the con-
| gressional campaign committee; Gen.
| Grosvenor. Of Ohio; Congressman
Lacey, Of Ohio; Gillet, McCor-
mack and Wilson, of New York; Foss,
Belknap and Larimer, of Illinois;
Chairman Cannon, of the committee
of appropriations of the house, and
financier, who served a term in con-
gress, and seldom fails to attend the
| opening of a session. With most of his
| callers Mr.. Hanna did much listening
and little talking. The chief purpose
of his visit is to make preliminary ar
rangements for the Inauguration cere-
monies. and was dropped over Sunday,
and the local politicians interested in
| the matter were not in evidence Mr..
| Hanna had breakfasted late with ex-
! Congressman Benjamin Butterworth,
Of. Ohio. and W. w. Dudley, former
commissioner of pensions, and had
! spent the afternoon driving with
| Senators Sherman and Proctor Re-
! garding the position of chairman of
| the
INAUGURATION COMMITTEE.
which has been rendered to S. w.
| Woodward, a prominent business man
| of the city, Mr.. Payne said: Mr.
/ Woodward will give definite answer to-
morrow. He fears the duties of the
! position would take more time than he
could spare from his business. He has
talked with others who have been con-
nected with inauguration committees
| who tell him he would be obliged to
devote tWo-thirds Of his time this
winter to the work. Mr.. Payne said
emphatically that Mr.. Woodward's
| hesitation was not inspired by the OBJ
q hu Dc.
publicans on the ground that he is a
| gold Democrat Mr.. Woodward will
| give a definite reply tomorrow. The
| visit to Washington of Mr. Dawes, Of
Chicago, is said to be connected with
! the proposition to maintain perma-
nent Republican headquarters at the
| capital which will be discussed while
Mr.. Hanna is here.
Chairman Babcock, of the congress
| sional committee, was non-commital
| when asked. whether his organization
would join with the national committee
in the project, saying that the matter
would have to be discussed by the COM
| mittee.
Interest in the affairs of the Hawaiian
| republic has been rekindled by the din
ner which was given Saturday night
| by ex-Secretary of State John w. Fos-
ter, to Mr.. Hanna. The guests who
numbered a dozen, included the Ha-
Waiian minister of foreign affairs, Mr.
Cooper, who is in the city; Minister
Hatch and Secretary Hastings, of the
Hawaiian legation and a half dozen
members of the senate committee on
relations, among them Senators Nor
gan, Hale and Lodge, who are advo-
Gates of annexation. 1t Is believed the
movement for annexation is to be
brought forward again with the ad-
vent of the next administration and 1t
is likely to be one of the leading ques-
tions with which President Mckinley
and the F1fty-fifth congress will have
to deal.