The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-11-27
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
WASHINGTON. ID. c.. November a3rd.

WASHINGToN. d. c., November aard.
Mr.. EDIToR:-The first round between
the Mckinley and anti Mckinley republi
cans has been fought, and the Mckinley
ties have won, but the victory isn't sub
stantial enough to crow over. As quick
as it was known that the republicans had
won the National election such men AS
Senator Sherman and Speaker Reed began
to announce the necessity for pushing the
Dingley bill or some similar revenue meas
ure through the Senate at the short SEES
| sion, if it could possibly be done. That
| caused lining up of republicans for and
against the Dngey bill and the contest
was getting lively when the word was
passed that Mckinley would not have the
| Dingley hill put through. That ended The
round. The Dingley bill is dead. and the
| anti Mckinley republicans are temperate
| ly licked, but they will have their innings
later on and will do their part towards
showing the country how badly divided
| the republican party is even on the tariff
| question, and the financial division will
not be overlooked either. The tifty-tifth
| Congress promises to be one of the liveleSt
| seen for wears. and although the demo
| Gratis therein will not he numerous enough
| to accomplish much by voting as a party,
| there is no guessing what they may do by
holding the balance of power between the
| republican factions in the Senate.
There is no more amusing feature of the
! situation than the talk of the popuistS
about the democratic party having to come
| to them in the next National Campaign.
| 1t would be Il case of the tail waggng the
dog sure enough, for the party which cast
! more than tve-siNthS of the votes Bryan
received being absorbed by the party
iI.l,. laSg hon h,,ff mo-
There are some things in which this
| country might take few profitable les
sons from Older nations, and one of them
| is in the wording of official reports which
| are intended to be made public. 4 case
in point is the annual report of the
Board of Ordinance and Fortitication.
This Board is composed of prominent army
officers, including Gen. Miles, and has ex-
Congressman Cultivate for a civilian
| member. In its anxiety to impress upon
Congress the necessity for large appropri
atoms for Coast Defences. the Board made
the mistake of using the following lang
uage: SHOULD a conflict arise we are liable
| to he embroiled with some power whose
| navy, in the present defcncelesS condition
| of our coast, might destroy or exact enor
| nous ransoms from our chief cities
That sort of stuff may do very well in the
| sensational newspaper offices but it is de-
| cidedly out of place in an official docu
| ment 1t is the publication of that style
! of matter in official reports, for this isn't
| the first time it has been done, that has
| made every country owning a few modern
| warships cocky in its dealings with the
United States, because of the belief that
fear of the destruction of our sea coast
cities will make us stand almost anything
from country with a Navy. Chilli had
that idea several years ago, and Spain has
| it now. While there is no doubt that these
gentlemen meant we'll in using such lam
guage, such report would never have been
made public by any European power, and
| it should not have been published here.
Ex-senator Walsh, of Georgia, now
visiting Washington, retains the editorial
| faculty of stating the situation in a nut
shell. He said: 1T is to be sincerely hoped
| that prosperity will come to the country
through the incoming administration
Every patriot hopes for that The repub
| licans will nave the responsibility and if
| their methods and policies are Tor the gen
eral good to them will belong the credit
But if they fail to carry out the promises
| they have made, that if entrusted with
power, great benefit would accrue to the
| country, then the democracy would meet
them at Phillippi Amy man who reckons
tllat tne uemccratlC party Is DEAD Is max
ing Il serious mistake If am not great
ly mistaken it will be very much alive in
1900"
Those who always jump to conclusions
have taken it for granted that Mckinley
would send to the Senate for ratification
the treaty negotiated during the last days
of the Harrison administration, providing
for the annexation of Hawaii, which was
withdrawn by Mr. Cleveland. He will do
nothing of the sort. He is opposed to the
wording of that treaty and will not send
it to the Senate at all. Mckinley. while
not opposed to annexation, will take no
steps toward that end until fully assured
that the people of Hawaii desire anneXa-
ton and shall have formally asked for it.
Then he will agree to the negotiation of Il
new treaty.
Chief Ford, of the Treasury Bureau Of
Statistics, agrees with Senator German
both in the belief that the Dingley Tariff
bill would do the Treasury no good and
that the best way out of present difficulties
would be to put duty on coffee and tea.
He said: ''If Congress desires to pass
purely revenue bill at this session it will
be easy enough to get up one that would
stop the deficit A tax of 40 per cent. on
coffee and tea and dollar barrel addi-
tional on beer would do it to nicely, by
adding about f15,ObO,0O0 a year to our
revenue