The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-02-23
NATIONAL CAPITAL.
Excitement Over the Maine Subslding
a Little.
OF CONGRESS A MAT
TER FOR CONCENTRATION.
Tariff Bill VIII Soon Produce q Surplus
ESPECIAL TO THE PRESS.

Tariff Bill VIII Soon Produce Surplus
| ESPECIAL TO THE PRESS.
Washington, February 22.-The presen
week has opened with considerable abate
ment of the excitement over the blowing
up of the Maine in the harbor of Havana
It. has ceased in a measure to be tint
leading topic of conversation among Con
gressmen in the lobbies and cloak room:
of the House and Senate. The leaders o.
the House feel very much pleased with the
manner in which that body has borne IT.
generally recognized that the incident, sc
sad and SO liable to cause feeling to over
leap reason, might result in the gravesl
compli cations, ii not in actual and I'M
mediate war. Therefore the older mem
bers of the House felt that the wise poll
patience until the exact facts could DC
known, or at least until there had been
careful, calm and systematic effort to ar
rive atsthe facts. But it is one thing fol
the older and leading members to feel IN
this way, and another thing for body
to be stbe attitude of the whole body.
A hot-headed speech from one member,
published broadcast as it would be under
sensational headlines. would outweigh
many judicious speeches in forming i'm
pressions of what the attitude of the
| Oro 1ov. 1,ro of fba <vnuornYnnnt
was in the crisis. The rules of the
House, framed out of the experience of
more than hundred years, are SO con-
stituted that matters of such great i'm
portance can only be brought before the
body for consideration after they have
or seventeen members. This insures
care, elaboration, thoughtfu1ness, and
tends to prevent mistakes through the
varying passions of the moment. But
while this would have safeguarded the
action of the House, there are number.
less ways in which the feelings Of its
members may be expressed individually
while other subjects are under debate.
Such an occasion happened when Mr.
Boutelle brought in from the committee
on Naval Affairs the resolution to pro.
tlu6 lOE Uu0 G0COvoIy VI Uu0 UOOlCb dli0
the property from the wrecked vessel.
But Mr.. Boutelle, though evidently much
moved and REFRESHING his own somewhat
impetuous feelings, stated the case with
calmness and deliberation, and with as
few words as possible. His example
was followed by all. Not even one of
those who are counted as Cuban hot
who has tried to force Cuba to the front
at all times and under all conditions,
had word Of impatience or of defancs
to Spain or any other of the powers and
potentates of the earth or the govern
ment. The Supreme Court of the UE.ved
States. could not have proceeded about
the matter with more dignity, calmness
fortunate, for Senator Mason "got loose"
as the expression is, and before he had
concluded said some very regrettable
things about our own government as
we'll as about the mystery in Havana har-
Dor. The judicious speeches of Senators
Hale and Wolcott could not efface the
impressions which Mr.. Mason's talk
made. Perhaps if Mr.. Mason had been
in the House the House would have been
less fortunate, and the Speaker and the
other older members might not have felt
so much pride over the conduct of the
body in which they have served SO long. \
General Joseph Wheeler, of Alabama,
is the only exception to the general calm
ness OF the House. The first day, when
the members were talking under their
breath in the cloak rooms of the disaster,
the wiry little general was seen flying
about the floor of the House in evident
excitement. Presently he darted out into
the lobby and rushing up to the telegraph
operators table hastily scrubbed off q
message which he had sent with all the
haste imaginable. Immediately it was
whispered among the pages who had
looked at what he had written, that Gen
eral Wheeler had sent telegram to the
President rendering his services in
case of war with Spain. Such proved to be
the case. When the news was carried to
the cloak rooms one of the Oldest mem
bers, who remembered the days when the
General was the most ubiquitous of the
Confederate cavalrymen, said: "Does he
want to command a ship?'' Another
said: 'Give him unlimited leave to
will be all right" a reference to the Cen
eari's we'll known propensity to get leave
to print speeches of many pages y hich he
does not deliver in the House. The Gen.
eral has, by the way, all the fighting he
can attend to in his own district. A
young Democrat has risen up there who
thinks that the General has represented
uu6 party lung oHouRu, auu is IHbkiHS
very active and bitter campaign for the
nomination. Members of the House gen
orally hope that he will not succeed.
While very eccentric General Wheeler is a
very kind-hearted, genial man, whose Pc
culiarities are never offensive and gener-
ally amusing. Those who laugh al him
the most respect him personally.
While the eyes of the country are di-
rected towards Cuba and possible war,
the new tariff bill is quietly going on,
bringing in revenue This month the
daily receipts have generally been in ex-
cess of the million dollars which is about
the diurnal expenditure of this govern
emnt. AS there are paid during Febru-
ary some interest charges coming over
from January, there may be no surplus
for the month, but the surplus is sure to
be here before July.
The bankruptcy bill has passed the
House and will now go to conference be-
tween the two houses The reason of
this is that the ideus of the House and
Senate are very much opposed on this
subject. At the last session of this Con-
gress the Senate passed the Nelson bill,