Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-03-16
THE POLITICIAN.

cur TO prevent congress can easily au-
journ by June l. For time it appear
ed that the Senate might prolong the
session by dilly-dallying on the APP
preparation bills, but up to this time
there has been no disposition to do SO,
and present indications are that the
Senators are just as anxious for an
early adjournment as members of the
House are. The House is unusually
we'll advanced upon the appropriation
bills and, unless there shall be a
wrangle over the River and Harbor APP
preparation bill. which will be the last
one reported, all of them will have
passed that branch of Congress before
the, middle of April. The idea of any
tariff or financial legislation at this
session has been almost, If not entirely
abandoned by everybody ''s'ASe ANS y
The at times exciting debate in the
Senate this week on the report of the
committee on Foreign Relations in
favor of accepting the House substitute
for the Senate concurrent Cuban reso-
lutions has been highly entertaining
to the crowded galleries, but when
considered as whole it is extremely
difficult to see what was the use of it
all. The Senate had already put itself
on record in favor of resolutions pre-
cisely the same, only differing in word
ing, and everybody knew it would not
reverse itself by refusing to accept
the report of it's committee. So long
as the President did not send the
Spanish minister his passports for hav-
ing so far forgotten his position as to
have used the columns of a newspaper
to question statements made by SEN
ators, as he should unquestionably
have done, it would have been more
| dignifed for the Senate to have ignor-
ed him. But this isn't the first time
that the Senate has chosen to be talka
tive rather than dignified. When the
Senate adopted it's original Cuban re-
solution the time for speech making on
that subject should haye ended.
There's no use trying man after he's
hung.
1t seems that Secretary Hoke Smith
has not abandoned the idea of captur-
ing the seat in the U. s. Senate which
Gen. Gordon will vacate next March.
This was shown by his virtually COM
pelling the Southern Railway, which
has recently secured control of the
Georgia Southern and Florida railroad,
to appoint one of his friends attorney
for the latter road in Georgia. Secre-
tary Smith recently complained to the
head of the syndicate which controls
the Southern Railway that the Georgia
attorney for that corporation was us
ing his position against his (Smith's)
Senatorial aspirations and in favor of
ex-Speaker Crisp. The railroad man
not deeming it advisable to quarrel
with the Secretary of the Interior, and
not daring to remove the attorney of
whom Mr.. Smith complained, who is a
son of one of the owners of the Atlanta
Constitution, told Mr.. Smith that he
might have one of his friends appoint
ed Georgia attorney for the G. S. and
f. road Mr.. Smith named Mr.. John l.
Hall, who has resigned the position of
Assistant Attorney General for the In
TERROR Department to go to Georgia
and look after the Smith boom, and
incidentally the interests of the rail-
road that will pay his salary, and the
Southern Railway now has pull on
| both sides
There is some very plain talk in the
majority report of the Senate commit
tee on Privileges and Elections in favor
of Senator Aliens resolution for the
investigation of the election of the
Alabama legislature which elected
Senator Morgan. For instance, the
report says: "The case is not merely
one of local frauds which happened
here and there over the State, but is
that of willfully planned and deliber-
ately manufactured masses of fradu-
lent returns, based upon no votes what
ever, but made to apparently defeat
a state government that was actually
chosen, and to give apparent title to a
state government defeated by the vot-
ers." The report says there isn't the
slightest doubt of the right of the SEN
ate to make this investigation, and in
Inmates that if made Senator Morgan
may lose his seat.
Representative Hopkins, of ILL.,, has
been made chairman of subcommittee
of the House Ways and Means commit
tee which will deyote the whole of
next week to public hearings of those
who have information concerning the
pratical operation of the reciprocity
treaties negotiated by the Harrison ad-
ministration, and the effect of their
repeal by the democratic Congress;
also as to obstacles in the tariff or Gus
toms regulations of foreign. countries
tending to retard the growth of our
export trade. The object OF the hear
s.,n. t., - II I. -