Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-04-14
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From Our Special Correspondent.)
WASHINGTON. u. q Anr;l O ,o7

WASHINGTON, D. O., April o, '97.
President Mckinley made new
friends both by his promptness in
recommending in a special message to
Congress that an appropriation be
made for the immediate relief of the
Hood sufferers and by his following it
up with the announcement that altho'
all arrangements had been made for
his departure from Washington in or.
der to get several days needed rest he
would not leave until Congress acted
upon his recommendation. The prompt.
ness OF Congress in adopting unani.
mously in both branches a Joint reso.
luton appropriating 5000, 900 for the
relief of the sufferers from the floods in
Mississippi River and its tributarie LEI and
in the Red River of the North enabled
the President to get away on the day
planned. This was highly creditable
to Congress, but detracted nothing
from the credit due President McKin-
ley for having said that he would not
leave Washington until he had signed
the resolution making an appropria.
ton for the flood sufferers.
Speaker Reed took occasion during
the short time the House was in session
on Wednesday to answer some of the
criticisms of his failure to appoint the
House Committee, excepting those
necessary to transact the business for
which the extra session was called.
After calling attention to their being
100 new members in the House and the
time needed to know them well enough
to judge their capacities for committee
service, he said that the late James G.
Bline, when Speaker of the House, had
under similar circumstances deferred
selecting the committees. Referring to
the charge that he was exceeding his
authority, Mr.. Reed said: IF the
House thinks that any occupant of the
chair is not carrying out his wishes, is
not acting as its Representative We, the
remedy is in the hands of the House at
any time, and the chair welcomes any
action on the part of the House, whose
representative he is." That was man.
full and business like, and it aroused
much enthusiasm on the Republican
side of the House.
Senator Hanna is not disposed to in
terfere with the pleasure the Demo-
Gratis are pretending to feel because a
few municipal elections in Ohio have
been carried by Democrats. Speaking
on the subject he saio: There was re-
ally nothing significant in the elections
at all. The questions at issue were
purely municipal and not national. 1t
Is the quite the thing for Ohio to swing
from side to the other in these local
elections, and history has repeated
itself. That is all. If a national cam
paign should appear tomorrow, Ohio
would be in the Republican column.
am quite sure that the result will have
no effect on the election of a legisla.
tive ticket next fall"
The friends Of Major BENJAMIN But
tcrworth, and that means everybody
who knows him, who has again been
nominated and confirmed as Commits.
sioner of Patents, q position he 80 ably |
filled under the Arthur administration,
are generally of the opinion that it is
the administration and those who have
business with the patent office. and not
Maj. Bntterworth, who should be con.
graduated The Office of Commissioner
OF Patents has never been filled by as
big a man, from all points of view, as
Maj. Butterworth is, and by this state
ment of fact l mean no disparagement
OF the other gentlemen who have held
the office; and it would not be surpris.
ing If the rumor that President McKin.
ley intends o .call him "up higher"after
he reformed some abuse connec ed with
the practices of disreputable patent at.
torneys, should turn out to be true.
Maj. Butterworth's brilliant record as
a soldier, statesman and lawyer is too
widely known to need repetition by me.
Lawyers can seldom be persuaded to
express opinions for publication of
speeches made in court by other mem.
bers of the legal profession, but it ia
evident that Mr.. Bryan's argument be-
fore the Supreme Court this week, in
the Nebraska railroad cases, did not
make a good impression upon LAWYERS,
however we'll it might have sounded as
a speech at a Democratic. or Populist
mass meeting. If he knows any law,
he didn't make much use of the knowl.
edge in that argument.
Speaker Reed and Mrs. Reed went
with the members of the House WAYS
and Means Committee aud the ladies
of their families on a little trip to the
battlefield of Gettysburg this week,
which was'greatly enjoyed. Represen.
tative Tawney, of Minnesota. who il a
member of the committee, was born
near Gettysburg about six years pre-.
vious to the war, and lived whereabouts,
working after he was fifteen years old
at blacksmithing. He acted as guide
for the party, This committee, the Re.
publican members of which worked
steadily and industriously on the Ding
lev tariff bill from the first of last De.
cember until the bill was passed by the
House, has earned the right to take a
little rest and recreation.
The Senate thrashed out a lot Of old
Cuban straw this week and adopted a