Evening star., 1897-03-13

| the wishes OF great many citizens OF
Washington, prospective chairman also,
| called at the White House this morning to
talk to the President upon the matter of
| District appointments. Mr. Babcock Is par
ticularly interested in the prospective ap-
| pointment of District Commissioner his
| concern in that case being natural by rea-
son of the fact that if he is to be chair
| man of the District committee in the next
| Congress he will come into close rela ations
| with the new head of the board of Com
| missioners.
! The President told Mr.. Babcock that he
! would not take up the ques ton of District
| appointments for some time to come. He
| said he realized the Importance of the office
| of Commissioner, and desired to give am
| pie consideration to the fitness of the diff
| ferent candidates whose names have been
! presented to him before making selec-
| ton.
| The Minnesota congressional delegation
| called to present in person Mr. L. p. Hunt
| OF Minnesota for public printer. The Presi-
! dent said he expected to take up the mat
| ter of this appointment at an early day
| but did not say whom he had selected.
| Where He Will Attend Church..
1t cannot be learned yet whether the
President has decided to take pew in the
| Metropolitan Methodist Church or in the
Foundry Methodist Church. The President
| may have made up his mind upon the sub
| ject, but has not communicated his decision
to those near him, and in the stress OF
| great affairs of state. patronage and the
| like, no one cares, it is said, to break in
upon the Presidents meditations to ask
| him about such comparatively incon-
! sequential matter as to the church in which
| he will worship.
The Illinois delegation called to present to
| the President in person ex-Representative
John X. Thomas of Illinois to be assistant
secretary of the navy. Senators Cullom
| and Mason also presented John A. Logan,
jr who wants to be minister to Austria.
Senators Morgan and Pettus of Alabama
called 10 pay their respects, and Senator
Cockeril of Missouri another democratic
senator. also called.
Ambassador Pauncefote came to the
White House and was shown into the cabi-
net room. where he had a brief visit with
| the President.
Not IA Candidate.
! Ex-Secretary Fosters visit to the White
| House Thursday gave rise to published
| report that he sought the appointment of
| minister to China. Mr.. Foster is not, how
| ever a candidate for the Chinese mission,
and the interview with the President In
which he took part Thursday had rcla-
| ton 10 federal offices.
| Preparing HIS Message.
! President Mckinley is devoting all the
| time he can save for himself from callers
| to the preparation of his message to Con-
gress, to be sent in next week
| the House is organized. II is expected that
| the message will go in Tuesday. His pur-
pose is to call the attention of Congress es-
| pecially to the two things which,in his judg-
ment, should be done at once, and by in
| ference and silence to exclude matters of
| general legislation. He will, of course,
urge prompt action on the tariff the
! line with his inaugural address and he is
| expected to recommend a currency COM
mission In the same message.
There were Il great many callers at the
mite House today. including senators and
representatives. The President has given
| them all TO understand that his chief in
| terest at this time is to promote prompt
action by Congress on the tariff bill. and
| that other matters will have to wait. 1t
| Is given out in semi-ofticial way. intend
| ed 10 be accepted authoritative that the
| only appointments to be made are those of
| the ambassadors and of two or three min
| fsters to countries with which we will have
| to deal in any conference that may be held
| on the monetary question 1t is probable
that in addition to the four amba ssadors
there Will be appointed the ministers to
| RUSSIA, Austria and Belgium. The only
| other appointments of any character to be
| made before the tariff legislation has been
| completed are those of a domestic charac-
| ter which are absolutely necessary for the
proper management of government busi-
ness under the new administration.
ne IeeSOE 1OF making the four 1nnOjpt-
ments of the four ambassadors and three
| OF the ministers Immediately is that they
| may be able to begin at once preliminary
negotiations with the view Of putting the
governments to which they are accredited
| to consent to send representatives to an
international monetary conference at
Washington. AS has already been stated
| the President does not desire to issue a
call Tor sucn Z conference or even to an
point the American conferees until for
| eign governments interested express a will
| ingness to participate with the serious in
| teEtiops of accomplishing something profit
| able.
| A gentleman having the closest personal
relations with both the President and Mr.
Hanna, who has been promised a foreign
| MISSION which does not come within the
| class which it is necessary to treat with
| on this subject at present, was told by
the President yesterday and later by Mr..
| Hanna that the President would delay all
appointments except those coming under
the class referred to above until after the
tariff bill had become law. The first and
the fourth assistant postmesters general
are to be appointed Immediately bur II
will be several months before the appoint-
ment of the second and third is made
Some Of Todny's Callers.
One OF the PRESIDENTS callers today was
famous colored man, in the person of
Robert Smalls of South Carolina. He came
to recommend s. J. Bempfield for pcstmas-
| ter at Beaufort, S. c.
Representative Quigg, ex-Representative
Aldrich and Senator Murphy and Repre-
sentative McClelland were among the
mornings visitors.
There was a larger crowd than usual to
see the President in the hour between -
and set apart for the public having bus
| mess with the executive. Few of them
however. obtained an opportunity to talk
about office.
delegation of colored men. consisting
| of Maj. w. c. Cox, chairman; S. E. Jones'
secretary; George Parker j. L. Keith. +.
c. Myers, r. H. Lewis and John Lee cali
| ed in behalf of Chaplin Brown for District
Commissioner.
| Edelegation Of Usage Indians who are in
the city called to pay Their respects to the
I Great Father" and shake hands with him
Secretary Shermnn's Conference.
Secretary Sherman came over from the
| State Department at IL o'clock and spent
some time with the President. The confer
l ence was SC long that the corridors filled
up. and IT, re was the largest crowd since