The St. Johns herald., 1897-01-30
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent. l

| WASHINGTON, D. O., January IS.
 i Poor Cuba The formal announce
 ment that John Sherman had been conn
 pelIed to become McKinley's secretary
 of state, in order to make place in
 inc senate for Boss Hanna, makes it certain that unless this congress does
 somethlng for Cuba, it will have to go
 on fighting alone. There has been a
 Suspicion for some time that Mckinley
 occupied very nearly the same attitude 1 towards Cuba that President Cleveland
 does, and Mir. Sherman has made that
 suspicion certainty by saying: ''I do
 not believe this government should in-
 terfere between Spain and the Cubans.
 do not believe this government should
 attempt to settle the war or take auy
 steps putting upon Us the burden of
 determining the nature frule in Cuba
 Tn case the Cubans win" As this Ian
 guage was used when he was just from
 the presence of Mckinley and after he
 had accepted the secre ,arysnIp Ut sUs uo,
 there isn't the slightest doubt tbatit is
 an advance statement of MCKiuley's
 Cuban policy. It is several shades
 worse than the present Cuban policy.
 President Cleveland has at least tried
 to bring about peace. Mckinley pro- poses to do absolutely nothing, and to let the butchery continue indefinitely. This may result in stirring mp the friends of Cuba in congress. There are now in Washington petitions signed by six hundred thousand American cItl- zens, asking congress to recognize the independence of Cuba.
 It is evident that Speaker Reed doesn't expect Representative Boatner, of Louisiana, who was unseated at the last session of congress and reelected to fill the vacancy a. d for full term beginning March next, to be unseated in the contest which is again being made for h1s seat Otherwise he wonld not have selected Mir. Boatner, who is one of those rare democrats who favors protection to certain extent, to fill the democratic vacancy on the Ways and Means committee. Representative Bailey. of Texas, who was given the vacancy on the Rules committee, was, it is said, given his choice of the vacan- cies by Mir. Reed. Charlie Crisp, son of the late ex- speaker, was given the vacancy on the Post-office committee, | and Representative Stokes, of South | Carolina, that on the Committee on 
 The republican steering committee of the senate has given the Nicaragua Canal bill the first place in the order of business of the senate, which is merely another way of killing time during the four days a week the leisurely senate to sit during the session, as they know that the bill has no chance ofgetting acted on in the house.
 Those members of Huntington lob- by, who are not regularly on his pay roll. found themselves out of job when the house sat down so hard on the Pacific Railroads Funding bill. The ouestion of legislation on the subject is still being considered, but Hunting ton seems at last to realize that the nu- merous lobby he had at work in Wash | inuton did the funding bill more harm than good. and from now on the lobby inc will not be so openly conducted. If there is any legislation on this matter if is likely to be along the line of the bill reported fayorably to the senate, and which is now being consider by | the house committee. 1t provides for a commission of cabinet officials with | authority to settle the whole business.
 If the free homestead bill fails to get Speaker Reed will make mum erous Western enemies who will be heard from if he is again candidate for his party's presidential nomination. The bill when passed by the house only | provided for free homesteads in Okla homa, but before the senate passed 1t, were added, extending the area of free homesteads. When the bill went back to the house, instead of lowing the house to vote on the sen