Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-05-12
Washington Letter.
From our Regular Correspondent. !

| senate by the finance committee this
week, than to cr1ticise it. The bill
contains a number of surprises, but
| they know that Senators Aldrich, AL
lison and Platt, who compose the
subcommittee which drafted @fhe
amendments, had good reasons for
every amendment they added, land
that all three OF them are staunch pro-
tectionists. The bill will be taken up
for debate on the 18th of this month,
and by that time the amendments
will have been thoroughly digested.
| The bill was not accompanied by a
report, but both majority and minOri-
ty will make one later. Senator Al
lison says the addition of "A cents a
| barrel in the tax on beer and the
placing of duty of 10 cents pound
on tea, both of which are only to be
collected up to January 1, 1900, were
intended to supply. that will
take the place of what will be lost by
reason of advance importations.
| The senate has filled its committee
vacancies, passed the free homestead
bill, and rejected the arbitration
treaty.
Hon. w. j. Deboe, the new Repub-
lican senator from Kentucky, present
ed his credentials and was sworn in
this week. He received many warm
congratulations
Senator Foraker has no cause to
feel ashamed OF his maiden speech,
oil do E
the moment, in reply to some remarks
OF Senator German charging that the
sundry civi! appropriation bill,
which failed to become a law at the
last session and which was before the
senate this week, carried extravagant
appropriations. AS an amendment
proposed by Senator Foraker had
drawn this scolding upon the senate,
Mr.. Foraker promptly replied. He
began by calling attention to Senator
Germans having shouted ,''extrava-
gance" at the Indian appropriation
bill, and to his having failed then,
and again in this instance, to specify
one single item that was extravaganza
or unnecessary. Then warming up
Senator Foraker said: 80 far as the
tariff policy and the tariff bill re-
ferred to by the senator are con-
cerned, let me say that they need no
defense from me or from any other
senator on this side of the chamber.
In view of the experience this coun-
try has had during the last four years
the tariff policy of the Republican
| party is speaking for itself more elo-
! quently than any human tongue can
speak. So far, Mr.. President, as
the pensioners of this government are
concerned, the senator need not have
the solicitude he manifests. They
will be taken care of. They have
never failed to be taken care of under
the Republican administrations. For
the next four years it is the purpose
of the legislation we propose that the
government of the United States shall
have a sufficient revenue to meet its
ordinary expenditures; that it shall
have a sufficient revenue to make it
unnecessary to issue bonds to meet the
current obligations; that it shall have
sufficient revenue to pay pensions
to the men who are entitled to them,
and it will have that revenue and
those obligations will all be dis
charged"
Senator Shoup, of Idaho, says of
the amended Dingley tariff bill: 81
believe the committee made an honest
effort to treat ali sections of the
country fairly and impartially. It is
we'll organized fact, however, that no
bill meets the unqualified approval of
all parties The West. in my opin-
ion, has received favorable consi6era-
ton. We did not receive quite all
we had hoped for on wool, but on the
whole | think the committee did the
best it could and strained point to
do it. We had a hard fight on the
lead schedule and were lucky to get
what we did,"
Following dec: sion of the United
States supreme court, that pension
examining surgeons were not govern
ment officials, but simply agents to
be hired and discharged at will by
the commissioner of pensions. Com
Iu1SSlOu6c TNduS WILL uOU T0CO0u1Z
those positions as being under the
civil service rules. Speaking of the
matter Commissioner Evans said: Il
cannot go back on a supreme court
decision, and | shall not hesitate
about removing the Democrats on all
pen ion boards at once, and appoint
ing Republicans in their places"
More than 200 boards in the large
cities will be affected by this conclu-
sion, and about 600 Republicans will
thereby get places on these boards.
Senator Wolcott has gone to New
York, where he will be joined by his
| fellow commissioners, ex-Vice-Presi-
dent Stevenson and Gen. Paine, and
tomorrow they will sail for Europe,
for the purpose of ascertaining by
diplomatic negotiations the attitude
of the European nations toward inter
national bimetallism.
Speaker Reed got the laugh on those
who were charging him with bossing
the house and refusing to appoint
| the committees so that general leOiSla-