Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-01-01
WASHINGTON LETTER.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS.

No ACTIoN ON CUBA--The pres ident'
advice in regard to Cuba seems t,
have been needed, because even tn,
recent fiery utterance OF Senator Allen
when he introduced resolution fol
the immediate recognition of the indie
pendence of the island, did not strik,
responsive chord, and after he hat
read his carefully written spe ech the
whole matter went to the foreign rela
tions committee without the least
furry. Had such resolution been
introduced during the extra session,
the Senate would have talked Cuba fol
hours, and the Democratic leaders o
the House would have worked hard
to arouse some excitement in that
part of Congress. Cuba is now safe
ly put away in the hands of the
House foreign affairs committee,
and predict that the committee will
not act on the matter until the ad
ministration is ready. The sub-com.
mittee on Cuban affairs is in favor OF
upholding the presidents policy, and
until that acknowledgements to the
full committee. the latter will not he
able to act. There are Il number OF
Cuban resolutions before the com.
mittee, and the subcommittee can
justly say that time is necessary for
study before reporting them. After
the holidays the House as we'll as the
Senate will get down to work. The
committees by that time will have
finished with number of measures,
and there will be something to work
on besides appropriation bills. The
ways and means committee will give
the banking and currency committee II
chance to get together, but shoull
it become evident that there is dead
lock among 'the official tinanc:ers'
of the House, the ways and means COM
mittee will take the matter up, frame Il
bill on broad lines and report it to the
House. 1t is safe to predict, however,
that for time, the financial question
will be kept in the background.
Among the first important legislation
to be considered by the House, out
side Of the appropriation bills, is the
Bankruptcy bill, which will no doubt
be reported to the House in week or
so. The bill to be reported will be ON
the lines of the old Torrey bill, but
with some of the harsh features
softened. AS the Senate has already
passed bill, the two measures will
go to conference, and it is likely that
the session will bring forth some legis-
lation on the subject.
CONGRESSMAN WHEELER's GRAM
MAR-They have been having lots of
fun in Congress over corrections in
the Congressional Record. For in
stance, Congressman Wheeler felt
himself in duty bound to call the at
tention of the House to the action of
Congressman Hepburn in changing
the wording of speech in which he
had spoken of "the controversy be-
tween the gentleman from Ohio and
I" so as to make it read ''the con-
troversy between the gentleman from
Ohio and me-" This brought an in
dignant response from Mr. Hepburn,
in which he said that, if any change
in the Record had been made, it was
not made by him or with his consent.
The indignant member appears to have
been rather neatly trapped, but his
familiarity with the rules of grammar
doesn't seem to have enabled him to
recognize the joke.
The SOCIAL SEAsoN--The social sea-
son has fairly begun, the ladies of the
Cabinet having held their first regular
weekly receptions. Secretary and
Mrs. Bliss, assisted by Miss Bliss,
have had very large reception in
their new residence, which is all annex
of the Arlington, while Mrs. Gage,
the wife OF the secretary of the treas
ury, received for the first time in her
new house on Massachusetts, avenue.
Mrs. Gary and her charming daughters
have opened their big brownstone
residence on Connecticut avenue for
the season. In fact, there has been
quite house warming for almost all
the Cabinet homes. The vice presi-
dent and Mrs. Hobart are once more
in their Washington residence on
Lafayette square.
HIS MIND HEAVILY LoADED-'You
seem rather melancholy" remarked
the friend. "No," replied the gentle
man who has never before been
member of Congress, or at least so
says the Washington Star. 81 am
not melancholy, merely pensive. I
have just awakened to full sense of
my responsibilities. 1t is the duty of
this government, by it's example, to
reform the governments of the world.
1t is the duty of Congress to reform
this government, and it's my duty to
reform Congress-, so you can't blame
me for not being my old-time light
hearted and tlippant self.
SHOULD GET TOGETHER AT ONCE
An intelligent visitor here expresses
his amazement at what he terms the
utter lack of harmony among the Re-
who constitute majority
of both branches of Congress. There
is Republican disagreement on nearly
all the leading questions of the day,
and the prospect of harmony is said to
be remote. This is rather bad state
of things, for unless the party man.
ages to get together with reasonable
promptness, it stands poor chance
of maintaining it's supremacy in the
general election less than year hence.
The New AMBASSADOR - The re-
Gently appointed German ambassador,
Baron Won Holleben, presented his
credentials to President Mckinley,
qualifying as the diplomatic repre-
sentative of Germany at Washington.
The proceedings in the blue parlor
were of the usual formal compliment
tary character.
Policy THE THINa-The president
says that our "honor" requires that
Hawaii be annexed. The more ex-
treme opponents of the treaty declare
that "honor' requires that Hawaii be
not annexed. This appeal to ''honor'
is absurd on both sides; it is a simple