St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-05-25
Our Washington Letter.
(From our Regular Correspondent

(From our Regular Correspondent
For some time past many people
have felt that it was high time that
the government should get on to a
war basis at home in dealing with
the Spaniards. For weeks past,
there has been pretty conclusive evil
dence that Senior Polo, the former
Spanish minister, who has had his
headquarters in Montreal, has a
large number of spies on the Allan
tic coast and in Washington, with
whom he is in frequent communi-
cation. Many of them have been
Swallowed by the detective depart
ment, who know when they visit
Montreal and then reappear in the
United States in various places. The
spy, Downing, who was arrested
and made way with himself, was
one of them. There are Spaniards
in the department and one acted for
time as a reporter on one of the
city papers, until he went to the
state department and found out some
news which should not be given out,
and then was called to account about
it. Many think it quite time to take
note of their bearings. Visitors now
cannot gain entrance to the State
and War department only when adj
mitted by passes. 1t is stated that
the Spanish consuls and attaches
have connecting rooms in their hotel
in Montreal, but they pass each
other like strangers when on the
streets or outside, so as not to at
tract attention.
Senior Polo now thinks of going to
Halifax, where he can communicate
directly with the home government
and also with the Spanish fleets and
still keep up his spy machinery ar
rangements. Many wonder that
more strict censorship of the press is
not maintained. One or two very
ingenious methods of communicating
news which has recently come to
light, was to send the news over by
cable to Europe and Spain and then
publish it from the Madrid papers.
1t was simply surprising how quickly
Spain was informed of all of our
movements. Again the remarkable
foresight some of our newspapers
have shown in forecasting events
and locating our fleets with full de-
scriptions of camps and number of
troops, harbor defenses and fortified.
tions. This is all very interesting in
formation for Americans, but it also
keeps the enemy well and fully in
touch with our plans and movements.
The Spaniards have given us les
son in keeping silent about war news,
by keeping US in the dark about the
location of their fleets. When we
learn to do the same we may hope
for success.
Congress has recently and wisely
taken decided action and it is hoped
stringent measures will be followed
out in the future. AS the first call
for troops has been nearly filled, it is
thought that the President will issue
soon another call for perhaps rs, 900
men. All are rejoiced that Admiral
Dewey is to be reinforced in the Phil.
ippine Islands. Gen. Merritt has
asked and will have the troops he
wishes. Few begin to realize the
time it takes to furnish necessary
equipments for the soldiers. In coun.
tries where there are large standing
armies, establishments are accus-
toned on short notice to respond
to the sudden calls, but it takes a
much longer time with us. The gov
eminent has ordered search lights to
| be built and mounted on orr princi-
pal harbors on the coast. By this
means harbor can be made as light
as day and we could detect the fleet
of an enemy approaching and turn