The Charlotte Democrat., 1897-03-25
RUPTURE OVER OFFICES.


Only Prevented by Mckinley Sacri-
ficing His Personal Friends Wash
iDgtOn Notes.
-respondeuee OF The News.
WAsHINGToN, March l9 There
have been several times during the
present week when an open rupture
between Mr.. Mckinley and some of
the biggest meu in his party seemed
inevitable, but by sacrificing some of
his personal friends Mr.. Mckinley
has so far avoided it. The bones of
contention are the big offices. 1t is
the fierce fight over each of them
that accounts for the. small number
of nominations sent to the senate.
States are no sooner made up than
some obiec or gets backing enough
to smash them. A number of men
who had Mr.. McKinley's positive
promise that they would get certain
positions have had to give way to the
objectors, among them being ex-G Gov.
Merriam, of Mimi, and ex- Congress
man Storer, Ohio. 1t was not in
tended to make any but necessary
appointments until after the tariff
bill got through congress, but it will
require some very adroit manouver-
ing to do even that much without
starting bitter factional fight in
the Republican party. There is
fight now in the congressional dele
CATION of nearly every State, espe-
cially bitter in those having Repub-
lican senators, over the men who
shall get the offices which are to 60
to those States. Still, there are
columns of rot being printed about
The existing harmony between the
administration and congress.
Using a bill introduced in Con-
gress, which has no chance to pass,
as basis to swind!e the ignorant is
by no means new dodge, but ac-
cording to the correspondence of
many southerners in Congress, such
d dodge is now being successfully
worked among the negroes of
the southern states by unscurpulous
men. During the first session of the
last Congress, Senator Thurston,
of Nebraska, introduced by request
a bill providing for the payment of
a pension to all negroes who had
been slaves. 1t was we'll known in
Washington that the bill would
never be seriously considered in COM
mittee, to say nothing of being pass.
ed by either House or Senate, but
that bill is being made the basis of a
swindle upon the poor negres, who
are being told that upon the pay
ment of rs cents for filing out an
official looking blank with their
name, age, residence, etc, they will
be entitled to a pension when the
bill becomes a law. The worst part
of this dirty swindle is that the
men operating it cannot be prose.
cuted, as it is printed upon each
blank that sit is to secure the names
and number of persons in each state
entitled to a pension under the
Thurston pension BILL" and the fee
is charged for filling the blank.
The nomination of Henry White
to be Secretary of Embassy at Lon
don, was almost as unpalatable tC
Republicans as the Van Allen nomi
nation to Italy was to Democrat!
when it was made by Mr.. Cleveland
about four years ago. Some of then
are inclined to be sarcastic about it
For instance, the man who said
"Who says White isn't an American
He has lived abroad for many years
but didn't he come over from Eu-
rope last year, live at Newport jus
long enough to cast his first vote ant
then 60 back White is all right
His help is needed to make JOIN
: Hay popular in London swell so
, ciety."
The tariff monstrosity known a
the Dingley bill is in many respect
worse than the Mckinley bill, bu
it is going to be crammed down tn
!, throats Of the Democrats of tn
House with less than two weeks de
bate. There are also quite numbe
of Republicans in the House VIII
are opposed to this bill, and few Q
them have threatened privately
: vote against it, but there will not b
enough of them to affect the result
The Democratic opinion of the bil
was voiced when Representative
Berry, of Kentucky, said: cit is a
, excessively high protective tarif
l measure. 1t will, if passed, inevita
bly, raise the price of the necessarit
of life, such as sugar and the woole
, goods worn by all classes. l don
= see how it can fail to add to tn
! burdens of the people instead {
. tightening thom. 1t will cut off OF
:. foreign markets by raising the Coz
,, of production and thus curtail tt
. manufacturers sales. AS a const
quence the mills will need to ru
L only six months, instead Of all tt
J year, as they ought to do"
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