Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-02-24
Washington Letter.
rom our Regular Correspondent.

! VINO doesn't believe that General AL
ger was a brave and a good soldier,
and we are delighted to see him made
secretary of war. 1t is a matter of
considerable congratulation to US that
both the president and secretary of
war will be members of the Grand
Army. We have done very well in
the matter of presidents since the war.
President Mckinley will be the fifth,
the others having been Grant, Hayes,
Garfield and Harrison.
Some fears are expressed that one
or more of the regular appropriation
bills may fail to become laws before
the expiration of the fifty-fourth con-
gress, but SO far as can be learned
they are not shared by the veterans
who compose the senate and house
appropriations committees One of
them speaking of the matter said ::
The life of this congress is rapidly
drawing to a close, but with the ex-
ceptiOn OF the general deficiency bill,
which is always purpOsely kept back
so as to include items that may get
overlooked and so as to give the de-
| partments time to ascertain all the
deficiencies, we have the appropria-
ton bills which have not yet become
laws well in hand, and, unless one of
| them should be vetoed during the last
few days of the session, | feel certain
that they will all get through, al
| though one or two of them will as
usual have tight squeeze; but there
will be little or no time to devote to
anything else from now on"
Although Senator Pettigrew, of
South Dakota, denied the charge made
by Senator Chandler, that he be-
trayed the sound money convention
that sent him to the ST. Louis conven-
ton, by boiling that convention and
| supporting the silver mOnOmetallist
candidate for president, his denial
left the charge just where it was when
first made. 1t has been repeatedly
stated in Washington that Senator
Pettigrew pledged himself to num-
Der OF Republicans to abide by the
candidates and platform of the St.
Louis convention before he was elect
! ed a delegate; also that Mr.. Pettigrew
would not have been elected delegate
If he had not made that pledge. If
| he wishes to convince people that his
subsequent action was blameless he
should be little more specific Stat
ing that a convention which had just
come out iat-footed for sound money
sent him as delegate to the National
convention knowing that he would bolt
the convention if it declared for sound
money, as Mr. Pettigrew in substance
does, is not convincing enough.
Although Senator Frye is the second
member of the senate committee on
! foreign relations, he will not succeed
Senator Sherman as its chairman after
March 3. Senator Frye is chairman
| OF the committee on commerce and
has, it is understood, stated that he
would not care to undertake the ardu-
Gus duties of chairman of the foreign
committee in addition to those of his
| present Craftsmanship which he pre-
fers to retain. Consequently it is con-
| sidered certain that Senator Davis, OF
| Minnesota, at present third member
of the committee, will be made chair
man when Senator Sherman retires.
Mr.. Davis is thoroughly equipped in
general knowledge for the position
and his Americanism is of the true
blue brand. There is some talk OF d
combination of the silver senators to
prevent the retention by the Repub-
licans of the organization of the SEN
ate in the next congress, but known
/ conditions do not warrant belief in the
success of such a ombination, even
should the attempt be made.
A great many newspaper men are
assuming to tell just what Speaker
Reed will do at the coming extra ses-
sion, but not one Of them has given
Speaker Reed as his authority. It
should be needless to say that Mr..
Reed, even if he has fully decided
upon his exact course. which is doubt
full, has not taken anybody, outside of
the leaders of the Republican party,
into his confidence, and that neither
he nor they are in the habit of furnish
ing advance programs to newspaper
men. Some things may be surmiSed
with a fair degree of correctness by
almost anybody who is fully convers-
ant with the situation, but when any
attempt is made to enter into details
about the committees of the next
| house and what will or will not be
done beyond the passing Of the tariff
bill, for which the extra session will
be expressly called, it is simply guess
ing and that is one Of the things your
correspondent never does when impor-
| tant matters are involved. While
clever guess often gets man credit
| for wisdom, a wrong guess, when
stated for a fact, causes him to be
thought to be fool or knave.
~ II GS