Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-12-04
CONGRESS AND JINGOIsM.

Business looks with some apprehension
upon the meeting Of Congress. While
IL would appear that IT does not expect
that Congress will do anything with the
currency question, and has discounted TO
a considerable extent the f~ruitless agita-
ton of that question that is likely to oc-
cur. ii fears jingoism. And this fear
is being stimulated by some of the wise
acres. Mr.. Dingley. for instance, ex-
presses the opiaion that there will be a
strong effort to induce Congress to take
the Cuban question from the hands Of
the President and Secretary OF State and
nave that body solve ii by resolutions and
campaign speeches.
In this view Mr.. Dingley is not singular,
but. On the other hand, several we'll
Informed Washington correspondents
make a much more optimistic forecast.
One of these correspondents. who treats
the matter in a good deal of detail. finds
that there has been a decided change in
the sentiment Of Congress on the Cuban
issue in the last two months. While,
says this correspondent, the administra-
N'NA AHR hA*A AO oNNNAhEN ~ ~ Opb
gress on the subject, the President and
members Of the Cabinet have talked re-
garding It with Senators and Represen-
tativos who called on them since their
return to Washington. The statements
of these leaders in Congress are. we
are told. regarded by the administration
as much more significant than would be
,on ~, f,zgy;l,.1g oV1 boxro caffc- |
fed the President and his advisers that
Congress will not precipitate action by
this country until Spain has had a rea-
time in which to show what can
be accomplished by the new men and new
put forward by the Sagasta Min
1t is earnestly to be hoped that Mr..
and those who coincide in his
opinion on this subject are as far wrong
touching it as Mr.. Dingley has been
proved to be in his contention that his
arin bill was a revenue producer, and
the forecasts of the Washington
correspondents in question will be yeri-
led. Certainly, hardly less from the
.tandpoint of international comfy than
n the interest of business, Spain ought
o be given a reasonable time in which l
o test her new Cuban policy. So far |
'lancO's administration of the affairs of l
'uba has been singularly free from the
that characterized the Weyler
egime. That fact, together with the i
alease Of the Competitor prisoners and ;
concessions Spain has made to l
ublic sentiment in this country, places
pom us the obligation to accept the .
agasta reforms as offered in good faith, y
ntil the contrary shall have been demon
and it shall have been shown be-
md the peradventure of a doubt that II
ley will not prove successful in pacify- SC
g the island.
has been suggested that if Congress
'jingoize" it would better 'jingoize"
-er the Haitien question, and we are
It certain that the suggestion is not It
orthy of consideration. Any jingoism a
ould be calculated to conduce TO bust IN
SIS disquiet, and is to be deprecated, ~
It there is less harm TO be apprehended re-
on an explosion on the Haitien compli- al
ton than from an explosion on any dc
her in which we are involved. Even ~
re there in the issue the materials for go
real and genuine explosion, Germany ev
,uld be very careful how she provoked ar
at present. What with watching CT
ance, coquetting with Russia. keeping
act the Triple Alliance bonds. and ex- ,
lding her prestige in the far East, Ger to
my has her hands so full that she ri
uld be inclined to think long and hard W
'ore getting into a serious quarrel with err
United States. This must be APP ca
-ent to every businessman who has on
the Haitien incident any degree of grt
attention. We therefore see w.
reason why a congressional jingoistic acl
burst over the incident should disturb +
any further than 1t might be Y
scted by the manipulation Of values wiz
the juggling with the money market, ~"
speculative element might be able,
a result of the agitation, to carry V
temporarily. Coz
tur
son