The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-08-12
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 1897.

! government would not guarantee TO
Japan the execution of the decision
OF the arbitrator who will pass on the
controversy between Japan and
Hawaii shows that his backbone is in
tip top condition. He says his little
outing and rest did him much good
and that if the weather in Washing
ton remains as pleasant as it has been
for several days he will not go again
this summer. Secretary Sherman
says he doesn't think there is anything
in that story about Minister Sewall
! having last week declared a protec-
torate over Hawaii, and that if cold
J Glory has been raised over the is
lands it was because some act of the
japanese had caused Minister Sewall
to consider such course necessary to
avoid future trouble and complica-
tons. MIR. Sewau has authority to
raise the flag over Hawaii at any time
he may consider it necessary.
The innovation of the Navy Depart
| ment that our vessels must be put to
a better use than being made to serve
as attractions at seaside fashion re-
sorts, will not please the young dane
| ing officers who have found pleasure in
| posing as summer resort Washers, but
it is being strongly endorsed by men
who wish to see our navy made as eff
Gent as possible by practice in sea
drills. There has never been any
good reason for making our navy an
adjunct of seashOre society.
Senator Germans little bluff about
his not being a candidate for reelec-
ton is regarded in Washington as
about the poorest one he ever made
and as indicating his desperation.
He knows that there are consider
able number of democrats in Mary
land who intend to aid the republicans
to elect a majority of the legislature
in order to be sure that he cannot be
returned to the Senate.
Some of the testimony in the hear
ings, now going on, as to whether
John Wedderburn & Co. should be
disbarred from practice before the
Patent Office has developed a condi-
ton that ought to open the eyes of
everybody to the manner in which
those who become victims of the get
Observation-Disclosures fever,
given them by insiduously worded
advertisements and circulars, are be-
ing worked for their hard earned
money, or the money of their neigh
bors who are caught by false reports
made upon their alleged inventions
by INSCRIPTIONS patent attorneys.
Officials of the Patent Office have
stated in their testimony that only
about one-ha!f of the thirty
hunGred-odd applicat ions for patents
| filed by John Wedderburn g. Co.,
during the past two years have con
tanned anything that was patentable,
and that the portions that We're pat
entable in many of the remainder
were of such a nature that it was
! practically impossible for the inven-
| tor to ever get back the money it
cost him to get the patent. They
further stated that Wedderbum &
Co. solicited and got in many instan-
ces, additional fees for making appH-
cations for foreign patents upon these
devices, which they knew, or should
OF known were unpatentable; also
that they sought to obtain, and did
obtain, money for advertising them
for sale at fabulous price when they
knew, or shOnld have known that
| they were worthless.
EX-Congressman Robert J. Trace
WELL of Indiana, has qualified as
| Comptroller Of the Treasury. This
is the position that was held under
the Cleveland administration by Rob
ert b. Bowler, of Ohio, who obtained
some unenviable notOriety by setting
himself up as higher authority than
the courts or an act OF Congress, only
to tumble ANONYMOUSLY off his self
erected pedestal. Mr.. Tracewell is a
very different sort of an individual,
and will perform the duties of his i'm
portant office in the same careful and
thorough manner that he served his
constituents in Congress.
Hon. Benz. Butterworth, Commiss-
Toner of Patents, is living up to expec-
tatiOns in the matter of raising the
standard OF practice before the Patent
Office. This latest and most impor-
tant move is an order providing that
"a register shall be kept of all persons
entitled to practice before that Office,
and establishing rules under which
attorneys may get their names upon
that register. In these rules Mai.
ButterwOrth has gone to the extreme
limit of authority given him by the
present somewhat satisfactory laws.
He has other reform ideas which will
require the sanction of the Congress
before they can be carried out.