Evening star., 1898-12-05
THE EVENING STAR, MONDAY, DECEMBER s. 1898.

| NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TINS, eHor1S are repof1cu
to be &C entinuing for the ascertainment of
Coiombia's contingent liability on account
Of cerutis debts, under the fifth article
of the award.
claim of Rn American citizen against
the Dominican Republic for public bridge
| over the ozama River, which has been in
| diplomatic controversy for several years.
has been settled by expert arbitration and
| an award in favor Of the claimant amount
ing to about $50. 900. 1t however remains
| unpaid despite urgent demands for its set
| tiement according to the terms of the COM
| pact.
| The Paris Exposition.
| There is now every prospect that the par
| t!cipation of the United States in the Unit
| versal Exposition to be held in Paris In
| 1900 will be a scale commensurate with
the advanced position held by our products
and industries in the worlds chief marts
| The preliminary report of Mr.. Moses P.
| Handy who, under the act approved July
| ID. 1897, was appointed Special Commits
sioner. with view to securing all attain
able information necessary to full and
complete understanding by Congress in re-
gard to the participation of this Govern
ment in the Paris Exposition. was laid be-
fore you by my message of December 6,
1897 and showed the large opportunities
| opened to make known our national pro
| gress in arts, science, and manufactures. as
we'll as the urgent need of immediate and
| adequate provision to enable due advan-
| tage thereof to be taken. MIR. Handys
| death soon afterwards rendered 1t necessary
| for another to take up and complete his un-
| finished work. and on January IL last Mr..
| Thomas W. Cridler, Third Assistant Secre-
! tary of State. was designated to fulfill that
| task. His report was laid before you by my
| message of June IA, 1898, with the gratify-
ing result of awakening renewed interest IN
! the projected display. By provision in the
| sundry civil appropriation act of July ],
1885, sum not to exceed $65o,000 was al
! lotted for the organization of commission
| t. care for the proper preparation and it,
stallation of American exhibits, and for TIE
| display of suitable exhibits by the several
| Executive Departments particularly by the
| Department of Agriculture, the Fish Cont
mission, and the Smithsonian Institution, Ia
| representation of the Government of the
| United States.
| Pursuant to that enactment 1 appointed
| Mr.. Ferdinand w. Peck, of Chicago, Com
| missioner-General, with an Assistant Com
| missionerGeneral and a Secretary. Mr.
| Peck at once proceeded to Paris, where his
| success in enlargng the scope and variety
! of the United States exhibit has been most
| gratifying. Notwithstanding the compare
| lively limited area of the Exposition site
| less than one-half that of the Worlds Fair
| at Chicago-the space assigned to The
| United States has been increased from the
absolute allotment of Isl, ,403 square feet
| reported by Mr.. Handy to some 202o0u
| square feet, with corresponding augmenta-
| ton of the field for truly characteristic
| ron .y1to of he
branches of our country's development.
| Mr.. Pecks report will be laid before YOU
| In my judgment its recommendations will
| call for your early consideration, especially
| as regards an increase of the appropria-
| ton to at least one million dollars in all,
| so that not only may the assigned space
| be fully taken up by the best possible ex-
| hibits in every class, but the preparation
| and installation be on so perfect a scale
| as to rank among the first in that unpar-
| alleled competition of artistic and inventive
| production and thus counterbalance the
| disadvantage with which we start as COM
| pared with other countries whose appro-
| prlationS are on a more generous scale ard
| whose preparations are in state of much
| greater forwardness than our own.
Where our artisans have the admitted
! capacity to excel, where our inventive
| genius has initiated many of the grandest
discoveries Of these later days of the
| century. and where the native resources of
| our land limitless as they are valu-
| able to supply the worlds needs it is our
| province, as 1t should be our earnest care
| to lead in the march of human progress
! and not rest content with any secondary
| place. Moreover. IL this be due to our
| selves, it is no less due to the great French
| nation whose guests We become, and which
| has in so many ways testified it's wish and
hope that our participation shall beft the
| place the two peoples have won in the field
| of universal development.
| The commercial arrangement made with
France on the 2Sth of May 1898, under the
| provisions of SECTION 3 of the Tariff Act of
| 1897, went into effect on the 1st day of
June following. 1t has relieved portion
| of our export trade from serious embar-
rassment. Further negotiations are now
pending under section of the same act
| with view to the increase of trade be-
| tween the two countries to their mutual
| advantage. Negotiations with other CAV
| ernments, in part Interrupted by the war
| with Spain, are in progress under both sec
| tions of the Tariff Act. l hope to be able
| to announce some of the results of these
| negotiations during the present session of
| Congress
| Negotiations to the same end with Ger
| many have been set on foot. Meanwhile no
| effort has been relaxed to convince the I'M
| perial Government of the thoroughness of
| our inspection of pork products for exporta-
| ton and it Is trusted that the efficient ad-
| ministration of this measure by the DEPART
| ment of Agriculture will be recognized as
| a guarantee of the healthfulness of the
| food staples we send abroad to countries
| where their use is large and necessary
| 1 transmitted to the Senate on the 10th
| of February last Information touching the
| prohibition against the importation of fresh
| fruits from this country, which had then
| recently been decreed by Germany on the
| ground of danger of disseminating the San
| Jose scale insect, This precautionary meas
ure was justified by Germany on the score
! of the drastic steps taken in several States
of the Union against the spread of the pest,
| the elaborate reports of the Department of
| Agriculture being put in evidence to show
| the danger to German fruit-growing inter-
| ests should the scale obtain a Judgement in
| that country. Temporary relief was afford
| ad in nf