The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-04-08
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON. April 5. il

votes and one POpulist vote, is now in
the hands of the Senate committee on
finance Every statement made con
corning changes in the bill by that
/ committee is a guess Senators ALI
son, Aldrich, and Platt of Connect
cut, who have been going over the
| bill as a subcommittee, are not the
/ kind of men to announce their con
illusions, even when they have def
niteIy arrived at them, to the public,
before making their report to their
colleagues on the committee. When
the committee decides upon the
amendments TO the bill will be time
enough to praise or to criticize its
work. Until then your guess is as
good as anybody's, if you must have
a guess.
The honor Of being the first fourth
class postmaster appointed by Presi
dent Mckinley fell to Mr.. John p.
Kelley, of White Cloud, Kansas. The
delay in making appointments of this
| class was owing to the change in the
Office of Fourth Assistant Postmaster
/ General. Mr.. Bristow is novsufogpy-
ing that position, and viii proceed as
rapidly as possible to fill the $500 va
cancies which have accumulated
since the new administration came
in. There will probably be an aver
age Of about SO appointments day
until the work gets up to date.
Senator Elkins has for long time
been studying the question of how
best to restore the old time prestige
of American shipping. As a result of
that study, he made a very strong
speech in the Senate in favor of his
bill providing for the imposing Of
| duties upon imports in manner that
will discriminate in favor of Ameri-
can ships.
President Mckinley seldom makes
promises in connection with appoint
ments, but he has made one that will
please every patriotic American, that
is, to appoint young Phil Sheridan
cadet to West Point as soon as he
reaches the age Of eligibility, which
will be sometime next year
Representative Grosvenor, of Ohio,
is a good lawyer, and the following
opinion from him on the decision of
the Supreme Court, which so many
persons, especially Democrats, profess
to think is opposed by the amendment
to the tariff bill making the duties i'm
posed by that bill go into effect April
i, and upon the right of Congress to
pass such an amendment, is both
timely and interesting. After citing
other misunderstanding Mr.. Grosve-
nor says Simply and solely what
the Supreme Court did hold was that
the Wilson law, which werqa~into eff
feet on the 2Sth day of August, and
was said to take effect from the first
day OF August, did not repeal the Ne
hinley law until the day it was passed
and how anybody could have had a
doubt about that is mystery to me,
but the Supreme Court did not hold
that the long line of retrospective leg
islation in the Wilson law was not APP
proved. That law bristles with re-
Prospective legislation. Whiskey in
bond and not in bond that has been
manufactured and deposited in the
| bonded ware house or was on that
day deposited at a tax of ninety cents
was Immediately raised TO $t10 New
bonds were required, the whole system
remodeled, but no lawyer in the u. s.
ever disputed the power of Congress
to pass just such an enactment The
best evidence Of the popular estimate
of this retroactive amendment is
found in the fact that the vast body
Of importers who presumably have
the very best legal advice at their
command, have all accepted as con
elusive that Congress has that
power"
President Mckinley's appointments
have been uniformly good, and even
his bitterest political opponents have
found it extremely difficult to criticize
any of them and his appointment of
Maj. Benz. Butterworth to be Com
missioner of Patents is commended by
everybody, including Democrats and
Populists, This is just as it should
be, for Maj. Butterworth as Commits
sioner of patents is surely the right
man in the right place. He il an able
statesman and lawyer of wide exper-
fence, and having been Commissioner
of Patents once before, and had SER
vice on the House Committee on Pat
ents, is thoroughly familiar with the
| important duties of the position He
is quite large enough for a Cabinet
position, or for that matter for the
highest position in the country
| But there are few public places in
which man of Maj. Butterworth's
equipment can do so much good as in