Arizona republican., 1898-04-29
WASHINGTON ASTIR.
The War Fever Evident in the Ma
 tional Capital.

IlOudl Sdplldl.
 Washington, April 28.---WashingtOI has the war fever A member of tn; Oldest Inha abitants' association of tht District of Columbia stood in front ot the White House gate today as tht newsboys rushed along the streets crying the extras" The veteran citi- zen appeared bewildereo and lost in thought. Suddenly his wrinkled face brightened and he said aloud to him. self:
 Well, we'll, well, the days of 1861 are back again. Even my old bones feel the war fever which has again at tackled this beautiful city. If I was as young as I used to be I'd go to Cuba myself"
 Then the old man bought an "ex- tra," hailed an electric car and went home to read the news If his old bones felt the war fever, how strongly all the young bones must have felt it. The days of '61 have indeed come again to Washington. It is no longer wrangle in congress about what ought to be done, or diplomatic word splitting contest as to how not to do it, but now it is the actual movement of troops and the actual sailing of ships. No wonder the venerable citi- zen was carried back nearly forty years in life's calendar. Washington was a struggling mud hole of a city when he heard the governments first call to arms. Today it is modern metropolis, brilliant in the green and flowery spring time, but war means the same now as it did then, and the outward signs of it's presence are much the same.
 At one end of historic Pennsylvania avenue today, the thoroughfare along which the triumphant armies passed at the close of the last war in which the United States took part, congress was in session framing the laws un- der the terms of which the president will drive the Spaniards out of Cuba and set up the government of a free and independent people. In the beau tiful capitol building committees were at work framing legislation, and in all the deliberations there was no trickery of politicians, no fights of factions. Senators and representatives of all parties were working effectively and tremendously to strengthen the presidents hands, and give him freely and intelligently the ways and means for prosecuting war which has been undertaken in behalf of humanity and of freedom.
 At the other end of the avenue the president sat, surrounded by his off, cial advisers, mapping out a plan for the conduct of the war that is now an established fact Conferences be- tween the president and officials of the Q WY I v-tx continuously under way and the tele- graph instruments clicked messages into the White House over special wires from all parts of the United States. The war of 1898 will be car ried on largely through the assistance of an agency that did not exist in 1861. and one that now seems indispensable the telephone. Today this modern means of quiet communication bore nearly all of the numerous messages that flew back and forth between the capitol, the White House, and the various government buildings
 Today the stars and stripes are fly ing from hundreds and thousands of buildings in Washington, public and private, an evidence of the intense loyalty and fighting patriotism of the citizens of the national capital, and the sight of the stars and stripes was another reminder of the old days when the boys marched to the front. In- deed, they have been marching through the streets of the capital to- day and yesterday, and they will be marching through them tomorrow The girl left behind me- was on hand yesterday and today, as she was in the stirring days of the civil war, and the sound of the marching feet and the music of the drum and fife which was merely music to the young men and women of thirty years ago, had a more thrilling meaning to their eldera
 Possibly there is more visible active patriotism among the people in Wash ington, living as they do among the stirring scenes of warlike activity, than among citizens of outside To- calities, and this may account for the apparent general desire of every body to enlist for service.
 The recruiting stations have been doing a rushing business all the week, and the ranks of the District National Guard are already filled Every young man who ever had an unfulilled ambi- ton to be a West Point or Annapolis cadet, or who has tried to get into the army or the navy, now feels that his chance has come. Applications are pouring in for officers commis- sions and staff appointments, and, failing in these, the enthusiastic youngsters are willing to enlist as pri- yates or to serve in some capacity They do not stop to ask the reason why or to count the cost Apparently theirs is to do or die, and they are doing it with their eyes open and full of the fire that marks the intrepid spirit So eager are Washingtonians generally for the fray to begin and so keen their scent for any incident that smacks of war that the sound of