The Press., 1898-06-09
Washington Letter.
washington, June 6, 1898.

ought to be on the ground by now, to make combined land and sea attack up- on Santiago de Cuba and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet now known to be in that harbor. It is impossible to say how long this will take, owing to lack of definite knowledge as to how strong de- fense the land Notifications will be able to put up, and the amount of assistance the insurgents will give our land forces. Although General Shafter, who is in cOm- mand of the army sent to assault Santi- ago, will welcome any assistance render ed by the insurgents, his plans are in no way dependent on their assistance. The assault will be 8 strictly business one from the start, as the orders of General Shafter are to take the town of Santiago, and those of Admiral Sampson to take or destroy the Spanish fleet.
 The present programme is to follow up the captu1e of Santiago with the capture of Porto Rico, the fleet going from Santi. ago to San Juan and troops following at once from Florida. The opinion Is strong ly prevalent in administration and diplo- matic circles that if Santiago and Porto Rico, can be captured without any delay the war will practically be over, and that it will be unnecessary to send an army to Cuba for the purpose of capturing Havana. The ground for this opinion is the belief thatif these blows can be struck in quick succession Spain will realize that she has seen the loss of the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Cuba. But this opinion is not lessening the efforts to push the war; Gen. Blanco is now cut off entirely. The only Cuban cable remaining uncut is that of Key West, of which he can make no use. By the time Santiago and Porto Rico are disposed of we shall have our entire army thoroughly equipped and ready to move on Havana, if it be neces- sary to do so.
 It is heroic deeds like that performed by Lieut.. Hobson and a crew of seven volunteers who carried the U. $. collier Merrimac into the narrow mouth of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, under hail of Spanish shot and shell, and sunk her to obstruct the channel, that makes one proud to be an American. When Admiral Sampson asked for volunteers for this perilous duty, regarded as going to almost certain death, more than four hundred men responded, although only seven were wanted. The seven heroes performed their work and escaped death, but they were all captured by the Spanish. Pro- motion and an ovation awaits them, when they are restored to liberty either through exchange or by the capture of Santiago by our forces.
 In the course of 8 somewhat spirited reply to an intimation of Senator Allen that the money spent by the bimetallic commission during It's visit to Europe was wasted, Senator Wolcott, who was at the head of that commission, used the following language, which shows that he still has hopes: ''The experiment, which is now being tried in India, in the opinion not only of the bimetallists of the world but al of nine-tenths of the gold men of London, where the situation has been carefully studied, will result in absolute and entire failure. It will be impossible to impose the gold standard upon the people of India. In the face of this con- ceded fact, say he Is an enemy and not a friend of bimetalllsm who stands up in this presence and talks about international bimetalism being delusiOn and snare. And yet 1t appears that he has no argu- ment to present, except that embodied in the statement-untrue, unpleasant, and undignifed- the bimetallic com mission took large sum of money and squandered it," MT. Wolcott stated that the entire expense of the commission had only been $16,OO0 Senator Allen dis claimed any intention to reflect upon any body, but reiterated his statement that the appropriation to send a commission to Europe had been made when 1t was known that it's mission would be failure and that it should not have been made Silver men regret this controversy be- tween two friends of the white metal.
 Although the senate by vote of AS to 31 decided on the coinage of the seignior- age of the silver bullion in the treasury, it is generally regarded as merely asop to the silver men and not likely to be in the war revenue bill when 1t goes to the presi- dent. The understanding Is that the house conferees will insist upon striking 1t out, and the belief is that in the end the senate will agree. It is believed that the house conferees will insist upon making the amount of bonds issued $500 1000, 900, as in the original house bill instead of $500, 900, ,0OO as in the bill when passed by the senate, and that the senate will agree. Members of the administration say that the amount authorized by the senate will not be sufficient. The president is using his influence to hurry action upon the bill which is now in conference. It is hoped to complete 1t this week
 Speaker Reed has made positive state ment that the house will be allowed to vote on the resolution for the annexation of Hawaii this week, and 1t is an absolute certainty that it will be adopted by @ large majority when it is voted on. But there is no abatement of the opposition in the senate, and fears are expressed that the minority can stave off vote in- definitely and will do so, unless they can be reached by the force of public opinion in favor of annexation.
 |
 ELLINGTON,
 Crystal Lake Correspondence.)
 Miss Carrie Reg was home over Sum- day.
 Remember the children's concert next