The times., 1898-11-29
GENERAL POLITICAL GOSSIP.

ciose IrleHuSA OF the PRESIDENT, tHe I'M
preston is. gaining ground that the Adj
| ministration, intends TO prevent the cleo
| ton of Thomas B. Reed as Speaker of
| the next House If possible The President
would be veryfoolish to disclose his hand
| at this time. Mr. Reed will be the
Speaker of the. House until March 4, 1899.
and for obvious reasons the Administra-
| tion does not care to have an open rup-
| ture with him as long as he occupies the
| Speakers chair II it can possibly be
| avoided. However, it Is not likely that
the autocrat from Maine will remain long
in ignorance of the Administrations real
attitude toward himself. Before the holi-
days the situation, so far as the Presi-
dent and the Speaker Of the House are
concerned, is likely to reach an acute
stage and in that event there will be no
telling what may happen. Somebody will
probably get hurt 1.-THE devil will break
loose sure enough" tersely remarked a
prominent statesman yesterday in COM
menting on the consequences of an open
scrap between Mckinley and Reed.
Mr.. Reed has never taken any particular
pains to disguise his feelings toward the
President and the members of his ADJ
ministration. His attitude has been one
of contempt and open hostility from the
beginning of his term. Mr. Reed believes,
his friends say. that he was cheated out
OF the Republican nomination for Presi-
dent in 1896 by underhand and corrupt
methods; that delegates that had been in
tod tn rnta fny hrtt nod fr.
vote for Mckinley He does not, 1t is
said, actually think that Mr. Mckinley
had guilty knowledge of what was
going on prior to and during the session
of the st. Louis convention. Senator
Hanna Is the man Mr.. Reed holds chiefly
responsible for "the crime of 1896. >. but he
cannot forget the fact that Mr.. Mckinley
was the beneficiary of the transaction,
and, according to his friends, Mr.. Reed
will never forgive him for it,
Incidents are not lacking where Mr.
Reed has gone out of his way to block
the Administrations program: their num-
Der is legion, but there is one that stands
out more conspicuously than some of the
others. 1t was recalled yesterday by ID
gentleman who has been interested in the
Nicaragua Canal project. we passed one
bill through the Senate he said. to-
ward the close OF the Fifty-fourth Con
gress. and had every reason to hope to
get ii through the House. We obtained
| the signatures of over three hundred of
the three hundred and fifty-six represent
atives to petition to the Speaker asking
him to fix a day for the considera ton of
our measure. Mr.. Reed fatty refused to
grant the request. He subsequently con-
niaI the fpforma tinn a friend n mine
that he declined 10 fix "A day for the con-
sideration of the bill as he knew perfectly
| well that It would be passed If it should
be taken UP. j do not intend Mr.. Reed
| added. that that man Mckinley shall
have the credit of constructing the Mica
ragua Canal during his Administration #
/ can prevent it He frankly admitted
/ that he was not opposed to the canal pro-
ject himself I have no reason to believe
that Mr.. Reeds attitude has undergone
any change since then, and for that rea-
son alone. am not sanguine of our being
| able to obtain any Congressional action
| on the Nicaragua Canal matter at this
session.
THE President, | understand, in hi;
message TO the Congress next week, will
recommend that the canal be constructed
by government aid; that it is highly i'm
portant that the work should be COM
menced as soon as possible; and TO that
end congressional action should be taken
on the subject AT the present session. Mr..
Mckinley will not probably suggest the
form the Government aid should take:
that will be left to Congress. The truth
is the matter is very much complicated
by the recent concessions granted to the
Grace syndicate. and by the fact that
our old concession expires on the Sth Of
next October. The Grace concession dates
from October Q, 1893. Costa Rica has not
approved the Grace concession as Yet
There is a clause in the concession of the
old company providing for an extension OF
time but only on the condition that the
work on the canal has been pushed ener-
getically As d matter OF fact. no work
has been done on the canal for four or five
years, so there is no valid ground on
which 10 ask the extension of the origi-
nal concession. Our Government is not
likely to invest any money in a concession
that is about to expire Probably the
Maritime Canal Company and the Grace
syndicate will come to some understand
ing and pool their issues. But even then
account will have to be taken of Mr.. Reed
as the members of the Maritime Company
know by bitter experience
Former Senator Brice is said to be look
ing ahead to again representing the State
of Ohio in the United States Senate. His
friends are said to be at work to have
him succeed Senator Foraker in 1901 A
report is in circulation that Senator Han
ma may turn in and secretly aid Brice in
order to eliminate Mr. Foraker from the
political arena. But 1901 is some distance
off yet. and a great many things may
happen in the meantime.
Senator Perkins of California will reach
Washington this week. In an interview
just before his departure from San Fran
cisco he said: Personally / do not favor
the retention of the Philippines. but a
great many questions of state may arise
which may outweigh my objections" ~
Representative Livingston of Georgia in
an interview yesterday said:
'.As Democrats, we have no expression
from the party on the subject of expan-
sion. The question was not before our
national convention and l do not recall
many important expressions from State
conventions last Spring Therefore, the
Democrats are practically left without a
guide In this matter. A-f
But the common-sense view of the
case suggests that the situation is in the
hands of the United States. and what are
We going to do about it? For myself. /
would cover the Philippines with our
wings until they can take care of them
selves. And yet 1 see no end of trouble
for the Republican party in the program.
OF course, no one would suspect me of
being glad that the Republicans are en-