The Springfield herald., 1898-01-28
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
Items of Interest About People At tn
Capital.


Peruvian. and Mr.. Paz. the Bolivian
ministers, who came in July: Mr.. Won
Holleyben, the German ambassador.
who came in November, and Mr.. Cam
bon, the ambassador from France,
who came few days ago.
Representative Howard of Alabama,
Populist, is nffording the courts an
opportunity OF determining whether n
member of Congress can be compelled
to pay his debts by judicial process
Under section q Of the constitution Of
the United States senators and repre-
sentatives are privileged from arrest"
for all crimes and offenses except
treason, felony and breach of the
peace, during their attendance at the
session Of their respective houses and
going to and returning from the same"
But there Is no provision relieving
them from the responsibility of refund
Ing borrowed money, paying their
boarding house bills or protecting
them against judgments and processes
of the civil courts. In the case of Mr.
Howard judgment was obtained in
Alabama, an attachment was issued
and certain property was seized. His
attorneys moved to quash the attach
ment on the grounds that he is exempt
from suit MS n member of Congress act
ually attending a session when the
summons was served upon him. The
matter has been carried to the Court
Of Appeals.
An urgent appeal has been made to
Congress to pass a bill introduced by
Representative Hubbard of Missouri
providing the death penalty or impris
Onment in the penitentiary at hard Ia
Dor for term of not less than ten
years for wrecking and rObbing or at
tempting to wreck and rob railway
trains. 1t has been shown that during
the last eight years there have been POS
train robberies in the United States, in
which seventy-eight persons were
killed and sixty-seven injured. In 1890
there were twelve holdups, in 1891, six
teen; in 1892, sixteen; in 1893, thirty
three; in 1894, thirty-four; in 1895,
forty nine: in 1896. twenty-eight; in
1897, thirty. During the last year there
was only one hold-up in the republic
Of Mexico. and that was unsuccessful,
which is accounted for by the deter
mined policy of President Diaz, who
sent a message to Congress snying that
pirates on land should receive the
same punishment as pirates at sea, and
announcing that he had given instruc-
tions to have all train-wreckers shot on
sight without taking the trouble to
bring them into court. That summary
action put an end to traiu-robbing in
Mexico.
Speaker Reed has not been at the
White House since Congress met in
December. He has been there only
once since Mckinley was inaugurated
and that was last spring to talk over
the policy to be pursued during the
special session. Publicly he has Of
fered no criticism upon the conduct or
policy Of the administration, but occa-
slonally he shoots an arrow tipped
with satire In the direction of the ex-
ecutive mansion.
Members of the House OF Represen.
tatives are receiving many protests
against the enactment Of the law which
passed the Senate the other day impOs.
ing an educational test upon immi-
grants, but almost without exception
they come from foreign-born citizens
who are recent Immigrants themselves,
and the greater number are from the
natives of countries where the average
of illiteracy Is the highest. The agents
OF the steamship companies declare
that they are not opposing the bill.
A st. Louis miller has offered the sec.
retary OF state n carload of flour for
the starving Cubans; it has been CRATE.
fully accepted and will be shipped by
the first steamer after 1t reaches New
York. Other contributions of the same
kind will be appreciated.
There will be no surprise In Wash.
ington If the next serious incident OF
the Cuban problem occurs in Spain.
Advices which come through diplomat.
ic channels represent the situation there
10 be very grave. The Spanish govern.
ment has been obliged to resort to the
same precautions that Blanco has EN-
ployed In Havana last week to restrain
manifestations of popular dissatisfac.
tion. The time is recognized as pecu.
liarly fit for revolt against the estab.
lished order. The only question seems
to be whether Don Carlos Is fully pre-.
pared to take advantage of the condi.
tons. A revolution in Spain would
mean an uprising in Cuba against
Blanco. The presence of American
warships in the harbor of Havana in
the interest of law and order, by some
not altogether unexpected turB may
become welcome to those who would
at this immediate time resent their
coming.
The people of the United States do
not drink so much whisky as they did
years ago. The annual average con
sumption per capita in 1860 was 2S0
gallons and Notwithstanding the enor-
nous increase in the use of whisky in
manufactures the average has been re.
duced to .95 of a gallon. During the
four years after the war, from 1854 to
1868, when the whisky tax was 81 a
gallon, the consumption dropped to less
than one-third of n gallon per capita,
but with the exception of those years
there has been n steady decrease in
the use of the beverage, until the aver
age last year reached low-water mark.
This decrease is attributed to an i'm.
provement in the habits of the people
and to the Increased use of beer, wines
and other lighter liquors. The In.
creased tax and the hard times also
probably had their influence. While
the secretary of the treasury and the
commissioner of internal revenue rec
ommends an increase OF the; tax on
beer, they favor decrease in the tax
on whisky as n means of stimulating
its manufacture and increasing the
revenues of the government, but the
records show that high taxes have pro-
NOTED temperance, or al least caused a
decrease in the consumption The H.