The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-03
NO TYRO STATESMAN

hint that 1t has already had a full one
Again Mr. Fletcher is in the negative
If the government undertakes to sub
s1dlZe a private corporation to put
through so vast an enterprise, he fore
sees a scandal and the repetition of
the whole miserable business of the
Union Pacific railway. Once more he
says: eff people want to build canals
let them pay for them" Not bad
statesman, who, on general principles,
believes in the flag and an appropria-
ton.
For Mr.. Fletcher does not object to
the government undertaking such
works as it deems essential to it's we'll
being. But if it must drop $3.50 O0O, 0OC
into statistical hole, let it do So d-
rectly and not through unofficial
agents. And here the recent declara-
ton of President Zelaya, of Nicaragua,
that his administration distrusts the
canal company and would prefer to
deal with the United States govern
ment, is noteworthy as showing that
distance cannot prevent great minds
from thinking alike.
Mr.. Fletcher's support of the govern
ment in building trans-Isthmian
canal would be more perfunctory than
enthusiastic. Had he the say, he would
lures for the benefit of Central Ameri-
ca. far wiser enterprise would be
ship canal from the Great Lakes to
the Atlantic seaboard, all within ma
tional territory, and with every cent
paid to American labor. Such a plan
would appeal to his commercial judg-
ment, which is acute; while in Utopian
bumps he is palpably deficient.
Anti-AnnexatiOn
Hence he fails to see that the annexa-
ton of Hawaii would make the Nicara-
qua canal any more of a political ne
cessNy. And on this subject OF an
neXation itself he looks as obviously
as If he had attended the recent dinner
of the Gridiron club. where the Ha-
waiian treaty was one of the dIr2licts
found in the soup. When Kannakan
oratory has been epidemic in the house
he lied to the cloak room, or rushed
from ore department to another in the
service OF his constituents, '1ike an
eTrand boy, as he somewhat discon-
solately expresses it, and thus escaped
infection. 1t may be added that he ais
escaped cacophony of mispronun-
cations sufficient with its hi-yieS and
ki-yies to make the spectator in the
gallery imagine himself at a dog
fight.
In a word, with matters of broad
public concern, Mr. Fletcher does not
much busy himself: yet it is worthy of
note that he introduced the first reso-
luton in favor of the recognition of
Cuba. When asked regarding the fat
of this measure, he replied rather bit
terly: "Oh, it was referred to the COM
nittee on foreign affairs; and any
thing sent there, like a man in his
grave, is a lOrg time dead
Mr.. Fletcher believes that the time
has come when the independence of
Cuba must be esta blished. In the Same
breath he expresses his determination
to "stand by the president This ap-
parent contradiction common in the
= case of many Republican congressman.
is thus explainable: ITO stand by the
president" does not mean Ito squat by
the president" On the contrary, it
pre-supposes the maintenance of q
manly position by the president
Should he continue to wobble, he may
find himself in a corner with no one
but Hanna and Reed to hold up his
hand
The first work this session of the
committee on territories was the de-
livery of the coup-de-grace to the as~
pirationS for statehood of Arizona.
New Mexico and Oklahoma-in which
Mr.. Fletcher took his proper Repub-
lican share and responsibility. How
little of this action sprung from "a
patriotic desire not to overcrowd the
national galaxy with nebulae, and
how much from a partisan determine
ton not to weaken the Republican vote
in the senate. is a question with which
casuists might daily. At all events,
these three fair. distressed maidens
must await for another year a rescue
by the Democratic knight.
The committee has also turned it's at
tention to Alaska, subject too i'm