Catoctin clarion., 1897-01-28
WASHINGTON LETTER.
FROM OUR knGULAR CORRESPONDENT.

WASHINGTON, JAN. 25TH. 1897.
Senator Allen thinks there is more
in the bid whiah has been made to the
government for the Union Pacific rail-
roads than appears in the official state
ment of Attorney General Harmon con.
cerning the fort closure proceedings
against that road. That is why he Of
fered the resolution, which was adopted
by the Senate. directing the Attorney
General to inform the Senate whether
be had made any deal with what is
commonly known as the reorganization
committee of the Union Pacific railroad
respecting the foreclosure Of he COY
eminent lien thereon, together with
the amount that the said committee is
to bid in the event Of the foreclosure.
He is further directed 10 furnish the
Senate the full text Of The agreement,
together with the names of the members
of the committee and his authority for
entering on the foreclosure proceedings
and for making such an agreement.
There is a suspicion that the bid made
to the government represents the pres
ent Union Pacific management No
proceedings can be taken against the
Central Pacific road ard the branch
lines which owe the government money.
before next January, and not then un-
less they default in their payments.
The Senate was sensationally inclined
during the past week. In the first
place it held a session every day, some
thing it has not done before at this ses.
sion. Cynical people say, however,
that it wasn't on the account of public
business, but on account of fight be
tween two Washington electric light
companies, and the proceedings during
the IN orning hour seemed to bear out
what the cynics say. In the next place,
Senators on the Foreign Relations com
mittee made public speeches protesting
against public pressure being brought
to bear upon them to hurry up and rat
ify the arbitration treaty. But the
greatest sensation of all was the reading
of protest against the Nicaragua Ca
nal bill, which is now before the Senate
made by foreign minister. This was
a very unusual thing. The protest was
from tho recently recognized minister
of the Greater Republic of Central
America, and was sent to Secretary
Olney, who in turn sent it to Senator
Sherman, chairman of the Senate com
mittee on Foreign Relations, who had
it read in open Senate. The protest
says In effect that Nicaragua will not
recognize any contract made with the
canal company. which it considers to
have forfeited all the concessions it eyer
had. and closes by inviting the United
States government to open direct nego
tlatiobs with Nicaragua for the build
ing Of the canal. The very nature of
this communication is such that Sena-
tors believe it to have been inspired by
Great Britain. Senator Morgan made
red hot speech about it, and there will
be more, but it has killed the canal bill
and it may be found that it has over
shot the mark and also killed the arbi-
tration treaty.
Civil Service reform circles have been
interested in an incident that will pro,
badly be investigated by Congress. A
$500 position as translator was to be
filled in the War Department, and the
Civil SERVICE Commission advertised
that applicants would be examined and
required to translate into English, tech.
nical military works in French. German,
italian and Spanish to do tvpewritipp