Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-02-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
'From Our Special Correspondent.)
WASHINGTON. d. G.. Fehv- 10 ,A7.

WASHINGTON, d. c., Feby, 10, '97.
Senator Sherman has worked hard
70 get the Senate to dispose of the arbi-
tration treaty this week, but so many
new amendments have been offered
and so much opposition has been mani.
tested that he doesn't consider the ont.
look for disposing of the treaty at this
session particularly good, In fact, it
would not be surprising if he should
quietly abandon the effort and let the
treaty go oyer to the extra session of
the Senate which will convene on
March 4th. There is much that can be
said in favor of such action on his part.
II the treaty were temporarily dropped
1t would give the Senate more time to
devote to a number of important meas.
ures that ought to be disposed of at the
present session. The extra session of
the Senate would have more time to
give to the treaty, as it will have moth.
ing else except to act upon the nomi
nations of President Mckinley. The
attempt to keep the proceedings of the
Senate in executive sessions secret has
resulted as usual-in the publication
of the substance of the proceedings
daily.
The last formality, but one, needed
to make Hon. William Mckinley Pres.
ident and Hon. Carrot A. Hobart Vice
President was gone through when the
Senate and House assembled in Joint
session, counted the electoral votes,
and officially declared the result of the
balloting in the electoral college. This
ceremony, which took less than an
hour to complete, was held in the hall
of the House, Vice President Stevenson
presiding with Speaker Reed seated on
his right. There was no excitement as
the votes of the several States were
read out by the %tellers, except that
caused by the fainting of a woman in
one of the crowded galleries, and the
only marked demonstration was the
round OF applause which greeted Mr..
Stevenson 8 announcement of the totals
and the election of Mckinley and Ho-
bart.
Senator Chandler has been showing
his friends a letter he hab received
asking him to endorse the writer's appli-
cation for office under the coming ad
ministration, from which the following
is an extract: II wish to be appointed
to n of the following positions: U. S.
Consul, Ambassador to Denmark or
Sweden and Norway, or U. S. Revenue
Collector, Revenue Agent, Pension
Agent, Superintendent of the Coast
and Geodetic Survey, Surveyor Gen.
eral of the U. S. Public Lands, I'm mi.
grant Inspector, Comptroller, Register
of the U. S. Treasury, or Collector of
Customs"
The House this week passed two pri.
vate pension bills, for the benefit of
Rachel Patton and Caroline Mowatt,
widows of soldiers, who had remarked
and lost their second husbands, over
Presidents veto, and agreed to the con
ference report on the amended Immi-
grafton bill. The Senate also passed
over the Presidents veto a bill estab
fishing a new place for holding court
in the Eastern Judicial District of
Texas. This bill is now a law, as the
House passed it over the veto sometime
ago.
The Senate Committee on Naval At
fairs have settled, 30 far as it lies in the
power of a committee, the long drawn
out controversy over the price the
Government should pay for armor
plate for its fighting vessels, by decid.
ing that $40O a ton shall be the price
and providing for the establishment of
a Government plant to make the armor,
If the two companies having plants re-
fuse to furnish it at the price stated.
The much amended immigration bill
has at last reached the White House,
and it is supposed that it will il due
time become a law, although Mr..
Cleveland threatened to veto it before
the last amendments were added.
Considerable surprise is felt by Sena-
tors and Representatives at the attempt
of Senator Allen to make a sensation
out of the movement among some of
the wealthy friends of Gen. Nelson A.
Miles, commander of tho U. s. army,
to raise a fund for the purpose of pre-
senting him with a house in Washing.
ton, and more at the action of Mr..
Allen in offering a resolution prohibit
ing the acceptance of any gift of value
by any officer on the active list of the
army or navy. This action on the part
of Mr.. Allen is merely a bid for the
support of the anarchistic element,