The Opelousas courier., 1897-12-25
Washington Letter.
From our Regular Correspondent.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 30, 1897.
Mr.. Mckinley has surrendered to the
anti service wing of the Repubi-
can party, and has promised to re-
move the bars to some thousands of
| offices 10y issuing an executive order
annulllng large portion of the exten-
sons OF the civil service rules made 10y
MIR. Cleveland. This is just what was
expected when the antis developed SO
much strength in tho House. Mr.. Me
klnley has always defe.red his own
opinions to those of wha he cOnsid-
cred til" controlling element ill., is
party. He couldn't stand the thres..~
| that were made to him bJ both Sena-
tors and Representatives, of what would
happen III Congress after the Christ
mas recess, if he didn't open some of
the Offices too lungry Republicans.
A glance at what was accomplished
during the two weeks that Congress
was in session, before a6jouunipg to
Jan. 5tll. shows that the Republican
talk about rushing things ut this ses-
sion was only talk.
Hon. A. p. Greeley, Acting Com
missioner OF Patents, who has been ill.,
struncntal in Kidding the patent bar
OF NEST OF its n:oot notorious crooks,
crOuks-thosc men claiming to be pat
ent attorneys, who induce Inventors to
pay them to secure foreign patents on
their inventions by making them be-
lleve that the foreign patent can be sold
as soon as obtained, when they know
absolutely that any foreign patent
granted on the invention would DO in
valid and unstable.
The National Board OF Trade. which
held its annual meeting iu Washing
ton, after telling Congress just what
Its duties were towards every imma-
glnable sort OF legislation, indorsed the
work of the little Monetary Commits
slon' before knowing what that work
was, Il mark OF confidence, which
neither Congress nor the people will
bill, brought forth by the "COmmis-
SION is laid before Congress. The
"Commission' has completed its work
it was really completed before they
met and adjourned sine die, after call
ing for IL reassemb bling of the Indianapo-
lis gold-bug convention in that city on
JAN % But the wildly impatient pub
lie is not to be kept waiting until then
to learn the exact nature of this great
work of finance members of the Com
mission" say it will be ready for intro
huction in Congress when that body
reassembles Jan. 5. Meanwhile the
substance Of the blll may be found 10y
the curious in the bill submitted to the
House Committee on Banking and Cur
rency by Secretary Gage.
Some things are funny enough to
make Il horse laugh. For instance, II;
almost the precise moment that Senator
Chandler was solemnly protesting iD the
Of Sannfnr IfayuoYt1S
ton that the administration of Nr.
Mckinley was for the single gold stand
ard, Secretary Gage WAS telling the
House Committee on Banking and Cur
rency that the administration was in
favor of the lualntainauce of the present
gold standard al all hazards.
1t seems ii bit strange that what is
likely to prove to be the most far-reach-
ing legislation of Congress, previous to
The Holiday iecess, or for that matter,
of the entire session, should have been
entirely overlooked by all of the eagle
eyed newspaper correspondents, as well
as by about nine out OF every ten Sena
tors and Representatives until the bill
containing it had been passed 10y the
Senate and the House aud sent to Mr..
Mckinley for his signature, which it, of
course, will get, rs 1t is an admnistra-
tion scheme to make up for the utter
failure Of Mr.. john w. Fosters effort
to get England and Canada to agree to
stop peiaglc sealing in the Pacific. The
bill purported to be merely measure
to stop the pelagic sealing by American
citizens, and as such, received little
attention, but it stops much more than
that. 1t stops the greater portion of
the mammoth income of the rich Lon
doners who control the secret process of
dyeing sealskins, and it stops the pro-
fits of the Canadian sealers, because it
destroys the best market the sealskins
have, by prohibiting the bringing OF
sealskins in any condition, into the u.
S., under penalty of cuntiscatiun.