The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-12-24
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

WAsIIINGTuN. ID. G., December Goth
MIR EpIToR Mckinlev has sur
rendered to the anti civil service wing of
| the republican party, and has promised to
| remove tie bars to some thousands of of
fees by issuing an executive order annull
| ing Il large portion Of the extensions of
the civil service rules made by Mr. Clevc
| land. This IS Just what Was expected
when the ants developed 50 much sire" 9Th
in the House. Mr.. Mckinley has always
| deferred his own opinions to these of what
he considered the controlling element in
his party. He couldn't stand the threats
that were made to him by both Senators
| and Representatives of what would happen
he didn't open some of the offices to hun
CRY republicans.
| \ glance at what was accomplished dur
| ing the two weeks that Congress was in
session, before adjourning to January 9Th,
shows that the republican talk about push
ing things at this session was only talk.
Mr.. Nathan B. Scott, of West Virginia,
must have undergone a radical change
since last Spring, when he announced
| publicly that he would not accept the posi-
ton of Commissioner of Internal Revenue
unless the Deputy Collectors, Gaugers,
etc, were taken from under the civil ser
| vice rules. AS no change has been made
in the civil service rules, although one has
| been promised, and the nomination of Mr..
| Scott to be Commissioner of Internal Rev.
| enue was among those sent to the Senate
| just before adjournment for the holiday
| recess, it is natural to presume that Mr.
SCOTS mind did the changing.
Hon. \. p. Greeley, Acting Commits
s:oner of Patents, who has been instru-
| mental in Kidding the patent bar of its
| most notorious crooks, is now cunning for
some of the minor crooks-those men,
claiming to be patent attorneys, who in
duce inventors to pay them to secure for
eign patents on their inventions by max
ing them believe that the foreign patent
can C sold as soon as obtained when they
know absolutely that any foreign patent
granted on the invention would be invalid
| and unsaleable
The National Board of Trade which held
| its annual meeting in Washington, after
| telling Congress just what its duties were
toward every imaginable sort of legisla-
| ton, Endorsed the work of the little None
| tary Commission before knowing what
that work was, a mark of confidence,
| which neither Congress nor the people
will repeat when the wonderful financial
| bill, brought forth by the Commission. y
is laid before Congress. The "Commis-
SION has completed its work-it was real
| ly completed before they met-and adj
| journed sine die, after calling for a reas-
sembling of the indianapolis gold-bug con-
vention in that city on January a5th But
the wildly impatient public is not to be
kept waiting until then to learn the exact
nature of this great work of finance; mem
| bers of the 'Commission" say it will tie
ready for introduction in Congress when
that body reassembles January 9Th
| Meanwhile the substance of the bill may
be found by the curious in the bill sub
mitted to the House Committee on Rank-
ing and Currency by Secretary Gage
| Some things are funny enough to make
horse laugh. For instance, at almost
| the precise moment that Senator Chandler
was solemnly protesting in the Senate
| against SenatorStewart assertion that the
administration of Mr.. Nc Kinley was for the
single gold standard, Secretary Gage was
telling the House Committee on Banking
and Currency that the administration was
in favor of the maintenance of the present
gold standard at all hazards
1t seems Il lit strange that what is like
ly to prove to be the most far-reachine
legislation of Congress, previous to the
Holiday recess, or for that matter of the
entire session, should have been entirely
overlooked by all Of the eagle eyed news.
paper correspondents, as we'll as by about
nine out of every ten Senato'S and Repre-
| sentatiyes until the bill containing it had
been passed by the Senate and the House
and sent to Mr.. Mckinley for his sigma
ture, which it, of course, will get, as it is
an administration scheme to try to make
up for the utter failure Of Mr.. John w
Fosters effort to get England and Canad;
to agree to stop pelagic sealing in the Pa
cifc. The bill purported to be merely
measure to stop pelagic sealing by Ameri
can citizens, and as such, received little
attention, but it stops much more than
that. 1t stops the greater portion of the
mammoth income of the rich Londoners
who control the secret process of dyeins
sealskins, and it stops the profits of the
Canadian sealers, because it destroys thu
best market the sealskins have, by pro
hibting the bringing of sealskins in any
condition, into the United States, under
penalty of contiscation.
1t may interest certain Marylanders tt
know that Senator German has no idea o
leaving that State; also that he intends tt
remain actively in politics after his retire
ment from the Senate, March 4th, 1899.
NR.GORMAN'S RETIREH ENT
In the Senate on Monday Senator Cor
| man, chairman of the Democratic Steer
ing Committee, presented an order max
ing some changes in the Democratic rep
resentation on the standing committees o
the Senate, which was adopted withou
debate. The most important change i
the retirement of Senator German from
the Committee on Commerce. the commit
tee having jurisdiction over appropriation
for river and harbor improvements. A.