The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1897-02-19
ashingtOn Letter.
From our regular Correspondent

w ASdlNGION, " ~. l. GU. IttlI, 1901.
The most important event of this
week in Congress will be the counting
of the electoral vote by the two
Houses of Congress in joint session.
Representative Murray, the colored
member from South Carolina, has
announced his intention to enter a
protest against the counting of the
vote of that state, on the ground that
the state has not constitutional
republican form of government. Mr.
Murray says he has made up his mind
to this course in Difference to the
wishes of his constituents and without
consulting with the republican leaders
in Congress. If his protest, which
must be made in writing, be signed
by one Senator, it will be necessary to
stop the counting of the votes until
the House and Senate in separate
session shall decide the validity of the
protest.
The immigration bill will have to
go back to the House, as the Senate
rejected the conference on the bill and
further amended it by providing that
illiterate wives and minor children of
immi grants who can meet the require
ments of the bill may be admitted.
1t was stated that Mr.. Cleveland had
said that he would vote the bill if it
were sent to him with the clause which
would have admitted the husband who
could read and shut out his wife and
children over fifteen years of age who
could not left in it. 1t was also that
clause upon which most of the op-
position to the bill in the House was
based consequently the bill is now
reasonably certain to become law.
A conference with Speaker Reed
and other republican leaders of the
House having convinced the Senators
who have advocated the Nicaragua
Canal Bill that the bill would not
even be considered by the House at
this session, no ma tier whether the
Senate passed it or not, those gentle
men have decided to drop the canal
bill and allow it to join the great
aggregation of legislative might-have-
beens.
Senator Sherman has announced
his intention to endeavor to get the
Senate to take up the Arbitration
treaty for consideration at one, but
there are several reasons which make
it doubtful whether the Senate will
during the present session devote
enough time to the treaty to dispose
OF 1t. The session is rapidly drawing
to close, and besides the appropria-
ton bills there are number of other
important measures upon which the
Senate ought to act In addition
there is growing opposition to the
treaty among the silver Senators.
Two members of the Canadian
government, the Minister of Trade
and Commerce, and the Minister of
Marine and Fisheries, arrived in
Washington authorized to offer GER
tain trade concessions IN exchange
for duties low enough in the new tariff
bill to allow Canadian farmers to dis
pose of their products in the United
States just in time to learn that the
ways and Means Committee had in
formally agreed to the agricultural
schedule which prescribes duties high
enough to practically shut the Cana
dian farmers out OF the market. They
will endeavor to secure reconsider
alton on the part of the Committee
by offering special inducements in the
way of concessions to certain of our
goods and products, but the Committe
had already gone over the matter very
carefully and been convinced that
Canadian competition was running
our farmers, in section of the country
without being of any special benefit to
anybody except the Canadians, under
the low duties of the present tariff
bill, and it is not likely to change.
In their zeal to give their papers the
news of the progress that is being
made on the tariff bill some well
meaning Washington correspondents
have been making great deal of un-
necessary trouble for the committee
by sending the rates leftin schedules
that have been informally considered
by the committee to their papers with
the statement that they have been
definitely agreed upon. Neither Chair
man Dingley nor any other member
of the Committee will consider any
duty definitely decided upon until the
entire bill is ready to be reported.
They do not wish to be commended OF
condemned for fractions of the bill but
| for the whole measure, which will be
made public when it is completed.
The Senate Committee on Elections
| having decided not to reopen the Du-
Pont case, no objection was made to