The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-02-21
NO. 10
W ashingtOn Letter.
From our regular Correspondents !


, WASHINGTON, d. c. Feb, IA, 1896.
, The caucus of republican Senators
which nominated Mr.. w. A. Shaw, of
, Spokane, Washington, to be Secretary
OF the Senate Mr. l.. II. Grant, of N.
G. to be Sergeant-at-Arms, and Mr..
, Alonzo Stewart, of Iowa, to be Assist
ant DOorkeeper, authorized Senator
Sherman to call up the question of the
election of these officers whenever he
sees tit, but he is not expected to do so
until assured that they can be elected
In other words, until certain that at
least one populist will vote with the
republicans. That leaves matters in
an indefinite shape. Senator Frye has
been unanimously elected President
pro tenn, but when The other republi-
can officials can be elected nobody
knows. 1t may be tomorrow it may
be not at all.
The outlook for the House tariff bill
is not encouraging, no matter whether
Senator Quay's resolution, to commit
the free coinage substitute, which the
Finance committee last week reported,
to the committee, be adopted or not.
If adopted there is nothing to show
that Senator Jones, OF Nevada, who
holds the balance OF power, will allow
anything but free coinage substitute
to be reported from the committee.
And if it isn't adopted, there is little
hope of getting the tariff bill through
the Senate.
The House will this week refuse to
concur in the Senate free coinage sub
stltute for the House bond bill, and
the substitute will be sent to confer
ence, where it is likely to remain.
The syndicate represented by Mr..
J. Pierpont Morgan will get about one
third of that bond issue, simply be-
cause its bid for the entire issue was q
tiny fraction higher than that put in
by the syndicate represented by an
other New York banker. Whether
Mr.. Morgan made his close shave by
reason of advance information-he
probably did is question, but the
most important fact connected with
Mr.. Morgan's bid was that, although
the market quotation for these bonds
was little lower than it was last wear
when he made that private deal with
Mr.. Cleveland for the $62 100000 bond
issue, and that these bonds will have
one year less to run, his bid for these
bonds was about seven cents on the
dollar-$7 100000, in all-in excess of
the price he paid for the same bonds
one year ago.
Has the Senate a right through
select committee to investigate the
election of members Of State Legisla-
ture which elects u. S. Senator?
That is the problem which has been
referred to a subcommittee of the
Senate Elections Committee, and the
answer will probably determine what
action the committee will take upon
Senator Aliens resolution for an in
vestigation of the Alabama legislative
election which proceeded Senator
last election to the Senate.
The vote Of forty to twenty-eight, by
which the Senate referred the resolu-
tion providing for the distribution of
several of the regular appropriation
bills among ommittees-they now all
go to the Appropriation committee-to
the Committee on Rules with in
to report back on the first
day Of the next session, was a great
to Senator Allison, who is
chairman of the Committee on Appro-
priations. There is little doubt that
majority of the Senate would have
voted for the change had it not been
for the fear that such action by the
Senate at this time would have been
construed by some people as refec
ton upon Senator Allison.
The report of the Nicaragua Canal
Commission is not encouraging to
Congressional action on the canal; at
least, not on the lines heretofore pro-
posed. In addition to nearly doubling
the estimate of the cost of it's con-
struction, the report says plans must
he changed or it cannot be constructed
at all. A majority of both branches OF.
Congress favors the construction of the
canal, but they are far from agreeing
as to lust how it should be done. This
will result in delaying anything like
positive action.
Justice Brewer, President of the
Venezuelan Boundary Commission,
has made public statement denounc-
ing the stories published in sensational
newspapers about the luxury and ex-