The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1898-03-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, D. G., March 4, 1898.


WASHINGTON, d. G., March 4, 1898.
President Mckinley. like the humblest
citizen is waiting for the Naval Court of
Inquiry to find its verdict; until that
verdict is reached there is nothing to be
done. When that ysrdict will be given
is more than any man, even one of the
members of the court, can say. The
court is largely law unto itself, and
will take all the time needed to make
the investigation thorough and it's yer.
dict convincing. Meanwhile the Presi-
dent is performing his regular duties. If
he has an opinion on the cause of the
Maine disaster he is keeping it to him.
self, and publications quoting him on the
snbject are fakes pure and simple. The
only member of the Cabinet who has
publicly expressed an opinion is Secre.
tary Long, who said that in his judg.
ment the official statement of Spain,
through d'afaires at Washington, that
there we're no mines in Havana harbor,
eliminated the element of official Span
ish participation in the explosion. An
attempt has been made to make great
sensation out of this expression of opin.
ion but after all there are few persons
who ever entertained the belief that the
Maine was blown up by orders of the
Spanish government, so that it really
amounts to nothing. Spain will be held
responsible, if it be shown that the ex.
plosion was on the outside of the Maine,
no matter who committed the crime.
The Democrats in Congress, with the
exception of the sputtering of several of
the ]. Hamilton Lewis stripe, are not
indulging in any criticising of the Presi.
dent for not showing his hand in ad.
vance of the verdict of the Naval Court.
On the contrary, they are keeping very
quiet, and are very much afraid that
when the President does move, he will
move faster than they are willing to 60.
In other words, they are afraid to shout
war now lest they be called upon by
their votes to support the President in
making war.
In adopting resolution providing for
the erection of bronze memorial tablet
at the Capitol, to commemorate the off.
GERS and sailors who lost their lives on
the battleship Maine, in Havana harbor,
Congress did just and fitting thing,
for, as Senator Perkins 80 aptly said,
"When death came in the awful shape
it took in the harbor of Havana, the
dead are no less heroes than if they had
fallen before hostile guns. The living
have shown the heroic mold in which
all were cast. If it were ever fitting to
recognize the devotion of the country of
brave men, it is now fitting to erect q
tablet in memory of those who lost their
lives in the destruction of the Maine"
Representative Dalzell's arraignment
of yellow journal sensationalism, which
was so thoroughly deserved, has been
highly commended. After briefly re.
ferring to the Cuban situatson as it was
up to the blowing up of the Maine, Mr.
Dalzell said: I'm all of this great excite
ment there are two things that have i'm
pressed me with their conspiciousness
One is matter of pride; the other a
source of reproach. The reproach to
which 1 refer is toward the sensational
and infamous columns of much of the
press. 1t is not liberty we pay for, it is
license. Some of the journals We pick
up today may be said to contain nothing
but prima facie false. They do not
know the truth, of, if they do, it never
finds place in their columns. They have
no relations to the public morals, except
to degrade and debase them. The prat.
ings of this class of the anarchistic press
are not intended to serve public interest,
but to excite the baser feelings of human
nature" The thing which Mr.. Dalzell
referred to as a matter of pride is the
self.repression and calm dignity of the
American people as whole since the
Maine catastrophe, and their absolute
confidence that President Mckinley will
do the right thing at the right time.
Secretary Wilson says the Department
of Agriculture will 90 right along in
specting meat to be exported, notwith
standing the decision of Judge Rogers
at Kansas City, that the maintenance o.
system of meat inspection by the Fed
eral government is unconstitutional
Secretary Wilson said: "The fact is that
Judge Rogers, during his service in Con
gress, was known as an extreme con-
structionist in the matter of States
rights, and it is but fair to presume that
he has carried his States rights senti
ments to the bench" The Attorney
General Is studying the case with view