The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-12-01
Washington Letter.

Washington. Nov. 20 -"Wslk into
my p>rlor,' says the spider TO the dJ !;
walk into my National back scheme. :"
says the Standardization to the Southern
democrats. AS fast as the Southern
democrats arrive in Washington, they
are bussonholed by agents of the ad-
mioissratioo who try to convince them
what boon it uould be for that section
aud for portions of the West. where
banking facilities are deficient, if Ma
tional B.nks could be established in
small towns with capital Of $25, 600.
we're allowed to issue curreocy to the
par value of bonds deposited with the
government, and the tax on that cur
reucy vas made merely nominal.
After talking up the advantage Of
plentiful supply of currency a. home.
to meet the home demand, they try to
get the Southern democrats pl eoedge
themselves to vote for bill embodyiog
these amendmepts 80 the National bank.
ing laws. Il is shrewd game, aud
the arguments are plausible when used
to men who know how their constitu.
ents are at times nconsenienced by the
lack of sufficient corrency to meet their
needs, aud it is not surprising that
some democratic eupport for the idea
has been secured. The administration
hopes to get enough democratic Sepa-
tors to put this scheme throug b the
| Senate, 10 connection With other 6nan-
cial legislation. about which care is
taken to say nothing at this time. or if
that is not feasible, to put through
! bill with DC other feature. Anything
that will strengthen the Natiooal Bank-
log syssem will strengthen the gold
standard policy.
Secretary Longs anoaal report con-
tains several sentences that must have
escaped Mr.. McKinley's blue pencil
by accident For instance, he speaks
Of sspossible anoexation of islands in
the Pacific" /" as though be entertained
doubts about the annexation Of Hawaii,
and be acknowledges his fear Of that
growing Treasury deficit by saying that
in expenditures for the Navy "a due
regard is necessary 20 the relation OF
the patiooal expenditures to the nation
al revenues. 1t is very difficult to re.
concile the decidedly peaccable tone of
the Seoretary's official talk about only
small additions to the Navy being pro
vided for by this Congress, aud of bis
intention to take war ships oat of COM
mission in order to save running ex-
penses. ~ith the action just taken BY
his department in placing large COZ
tract-tbe largest made since the war
for ammunition aud guns.
Several hundred employees of the
Treasury Department find it impos.
sible to prepare for Christmas in the
proper Joyous spirit, owing to the
fear that the az will in the meantime
fall upon their official necks. The
civil service law provides that each
state and territory shall have pro.
portionate quota of the en-
ployes of the Government.
Secretary Gage has just had liet
prepared showing the residence of
the employees of his Department, and
has announced his intention to weed
out the ..barnacles This has, been
/ interpreted by the employees to mean
that dismissals are to be made among
the residents of those states having
more than their share in order to give
the places to residents of states
which have less than their share
Should this be true. many persons
residing, or claiming residence. in
nearby states will have to go. as the
nearby states all have more than their
share, but the heaviest blow would
fall upon residents of the District of
Columbia. which is legally entitled to
cnly nine clerks in the Treasury De.
partment, but which has more than
three hundred. There have been
several scares of this sort before, but
it isn't the sort of thing that the poor
devils who have been in government
employ so long that they have forgot
how. if they ever knew to make a
living outside, can get used to- The
odd thing about it, if carried out,
would be that it would catch many
more republicans than democrats. but
not few of them are political her.
maphrodities, making it their busi-
ness to always appear to belong to