The San Francisco call., 1898-02-09
SPEAKER
 REED HAS
 THE SWING Can Kill the Scheme of Annexation if
 He Desires. Does Not Favor the Policy of Territorial
 Expansion. But It Would Require Great Political Courage to En-
 force His Views. JOINT ACTION PROBABLE. It Is Now Almost Certain That the Senate Cannot Ratify the
 Treaty.
ACTION PROBABLE.
It Is Now Almost Certain That the Senate Cannot Ratify the
 Treaty.
Special Dispatch to The Call
Call Office, Riggs House.

e Call O1nCe, Rlggs House, g Washington, Feb. 8. 2 As the Hawaiian controversy ( Q in the Senate Is apparently near ( 9 ing an end, and with the pre- ~ sumable result that the question ( g must be decided by joint action ( 2 of the two houses, Speaker { 6 Reeds attitude toward annexa- 9 tion is becoming recognized as ( 6 dominating the situation. If Reed ( 6 wants to kill the project 1t will 6 doubtless be within his power to ( z do so He is personally unfav- Q orably inclined toward the policy ( 2 of territorial expansion in the 6 Pacific, but 1t would require con- ( 2 siderable political courage to en- 6 force his views upon his party ( 6 which is apparently committed ( @ overwhelmingly on the other ( ~ side. A canvass of the House ( 6 has been quietly made, with the ( q result that careful observers be- G lieve Reed, as an avowed oppon- z ent, would be strong enough to 2 defeat the measure in an open ( " NOlc OI tllC I1OuoCb poS eAAS 4dCO- 6 ton is whether the Speaker 2 would care to lead a Republican ( Q minority in conjunction with the @ Democrats against an admins ( 2 tration policy. Without some ( 2 such leadership helatent Repub- ( Q lican opposition to annexation is ( 6 likely to vanish before the potent ( G nf " ar-if 4 g thus seems to depend upon Reed ( Q how the House would vote on an- ( 2 nexation. The Democrats are ( . presenting a nearly solid front ( 2 of opposition, and claim that only ( 6 five of their number will break 2 over party lines. It would, of q course, be possible for the Speak ( q CT, in combination with the two q Democrats on the Committee of ( q Rules, to kill the thing by more 2 arbitrary methods, but it is prob ( q able that he would prefer to ac- ( q complish such result by House ( 6 leadership rather than by parlia- ( 2 mentary machinery, since he ( z would have that choice. It ought ( 6 to be apparent before long what {
 a the Senate can do, and if the ( q sixty votes remain unattainable ( 2 the eyes and influences of the z country will turn to Speaker ( $ Reed.
 WASHINGTON, Feb. s.-Senatol Pettigrew of South Dakota was tht only speaker on the Hawaiian annex ation treaty in the executive session O the Senate to-day. He opposed tn, treaty, resuming his speech where h, had left off week ago. taking up thu line of his argument in connection witt his assertion concerning the area ant population of the islands. He asserted that the area capable of sugar culti vation amounted to fully half-mirliol acres and said that, as the land Wal very productive, there was no doub that all the sugar necessary to suppl, the demands of the United States coult be produced in Hawaii. He quoted official statistics to the effect that il eleven months of last year there hat been 496, 100000 pounds of Hawaiian su gar imported into the United States The Senator then undertook to show that all the sugar grown on the islands must be produced by Asiatic labor, re beating and elaborating the argumen race had ever been successful within the tropics. He replied to Senator Tel Ter on this point, saying that the fact were against the Colorado Senator contention and that the Hawaiian Is lands would prove no exception to th' rule that the white man could not ant would not labor in a tropical climate.
 He said that of the 100000 people il Jamaica fewer than 15,000, includin, the British garrison, were white, and il the Straits settlement not 1 per cent o the residents were English. He as serted that in Hawaii there was no Flu ropean laborer, aside from the Portu guese, engaged in the sugar planta tions to-day.
 If, he argued, we should annex tn, islands, the Japanese would inevitabl. take possession of them, and we could not in any degree check their inroad under our new treaty with Japan which goes into effect next year. II view of this fact, he contended tha whatever bounty we give or tariff W, levy the result would be in the interes of Asiatic labor in Hawaii. Senato Pettigrew held that the result of tn, encourag cement of this species of labo would be to the detriment of our owi commerce, which, he contended, is al ready declining in the Hawaiian Is lands.
 Tt is absurd" exclaimed the Sena tor, "to talk of defending San Fran cisco from Hawaii as it is to talk O defending New York from Ireland, fol the distance Is about the same"
 Senator Pettigrew at 5 o'clock an nounced that he had not concluded hi speech, but would continue tomorrow