The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-08-11
JOHN SHERMAN
PLAYING BOSS.
Gossip About the State De-
partment---NeWs Items Of
Various Sorts From
Washington.

Washington, Aug There are
many opinions as tc why John sher-
man should have returned to Wash
ington and taken charge of the State
Department at this time Some say
that the old man intends to make a
fight to knock out the Hanna Mckin-
ley plan of kicking him out of the
Cabinet after the Ohio election /:
others that he has d scheme Of his
own to get even with the administra.
tion for the treatment he has received
by getting it into some foreign com
plication, but the generally accepted
idea is that he is in Washington sole.
ly to enjoy bossing the State Depart
ment, privilege that 'is denied him
when Mr.. Mckinley and Assistant
Secretary Day are in town. Mr.
Sherma $ virtual acknowledgement
of his ignorance of the nature of the
instructions given to Minister Sewai!
concerning Hawaii is proof how lit
tie ne knows of the important part
of the foreign policy Of the admins
tration. Mr. Day has bad exclusive
charge of all matters relating to Ha
waii and Cuha
Mr.. John W. Foster, the gentle
man who is credited with having
written the instructions to Ambassa-
dor Bay that were signed by MIR.
Sherman. has returned from his seal
I.iDg mission to Europe He says it
was successful (; Prof Elliott, OF the
Smithsonian Institution, says it was
fat failure Which Of them is
righ: will not be known until after
the international conference. which
meets in Washington next October,
shall have been held
The Spanish Minister has only 70
tip the winE 10 the Secretary OF tie
Treasury to put ell she machinery Of
the Z. s. Customs Service 20 woi6
at flibuster hunting His latest was
an allegation tbat arms were about
to be shipped from Bridgeport,
Conn. or thesabouts, to the CubaDs
Special orders were at once sent 70
ali the officers OF ,he Customs Ser
vice in that vicinity to turn them
selves into detectives 10 please ;i'e
Spanish Minister.
Of course every man has u right
to have and express an opinion upon
subjects before the public, aud yet
opinions may be expressed in such d
way as to make man appear to be
gloating over the misfortune Of some
thing that he opposes, which causes
them to strike moss people ss being
in bad taste, or even worse To the
latter class belong the publicly ex
pressed opinion OF Mr. Preston, Di
rector of the Z S Mint, on the de-
cline in the price of silver With
the usual gael of the known it all.
MI Preston tells the public not only
that be knew the decline in price
was coming but that he knows the
decline is going to keep on until it
gets down to forty cents all ounce.
The belief is irresistible that MIR
Preston's talk represents his wishes
rather than his knowledge on this
subjecs.
Patent Office officials have testified
in the disbarment proceedings
against John Wedderburn & Co..
now going on. that practically one
half of the nearly $500 applications
for patents filed by Wedderburn &
Co during the pact two years. have
been fer what was nnpatentable, and
that large percentage ef;he remain
der. which contained devices that
were patentable, were Of such trif-
ling nature shat it was practically
wasting money for their inventors to
pay for obtaining the patent. They
also testified that either knowingly,
or through lack of knowledge that
should be part Of the equipment OF
every patent attorney. Wedderburn
Il Co, have sought to secure money.
aud often secured it, from these
would be inventors as fees for apply
ing for foreign patents and for adver-
tising for sale these unpatentablc de-
vices
Not little Joking has followed the
naming of the new submarine torpedo
boat. which small party Of officials
went over to Baltimore to see launch
ed from the Columbian Iron Works.
"Teddy" Roosevelt, who is always
trying to do something out of the
common christened it the *'Plunger. "
The order just issued by Commits.
sioner of Patents Butterworth, pro-
viding that all attorneys practicing
before the Patent Office shall be re-
gistered, and precribiDg the rules
which must be complied with in order
to get upon that register, Is one OF
Al -.t :,.no,too+ o1or ;ScuoN NV