The St. Johns herald., 1898-01-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
President Mckinley ann the
 Civil service.

From Our Regular Correspondent
 WASHINGTON, January 14, 1898.
 Mir. Mckinley, by working overtime
 and by using shovel on the pie, man.
 aged to send more nominations to the
 senate since congress reassembled than
 have before gone in in any single week
 since he took charge of the pie counter,
 but it has not lessened the pressure on
 him for pie even little bit. For every
 hungry mouth he has filled there are
 thousand asking to be filled. There is
 suspicion that Mir. Mckinley, instead of
 being opposed to the warm fight that is
 being made in the house for modifica-
 ton of the civil service law, is really in
 favor of it. Lacking the backbone to
 use his authority to modify the rules un- der the present law, he will do nothing
 But if congress adopts any legislation he will allow it to become law. probably without his signature. The ground tor this suspicion is ample. Many of Mr. McKinleys warm friends are engaged in this fight, and every member of his rahinat hge gone on record as iavOring so ne modification The bill nov before tae H0 ss C.eu Service committee lim- it's the law to those positions paying from $90O to $1, 800.
 Ink senate has taken up the Hawaii an annexation treaty, and, if it's sup porters have their way, will consider it daily until a vote is reached.
 Senator Butler, of North Carolina, has offered joint resolution that would revolutiouize the United States courts. It proposes that all United States judges including those Of tn, supreme court, shall be elected by the people, for terms of eight years, and provides for divIs- ion of the country iuto circuits for thelr election. Speaking of hls resolution, Senator Butler says: "There was time when all the states thoughtit incumbent upon them to appoint their judges for life. Now the life tenure of. judge in a state is the exception. 1 believe in placing the power over the judiciary in the hands of the people. If the system of stated terms is good in the states it ought to be equally good for the federal government.
 Many democrats in congress favor be- ginning the congressional campaign of next fall at once, on the floors of con- gross, and keeping up red-hot, aggres- sive fight upon the republicans from start to finish Among them is Repre- sentative DeArmond, of Missouri, who | said on the subject: "We ought to be aggressive. We ought to force the fight 1 ing. We ought to lose no time in ex- posing the hypocrisy and cowardice of our political opponents. We can lose nothing by being aggressive. Those who followed the standard of democracy enthusiastic and earnest as ever, and ! we who are here in congress represent : ing that sentiment ought not to lag !
 Senator Chiffon, of Texas, says of the civil service hubbub n republican ranks: 'In my opinion, if MT. Bryan had been elected instead of Mckinley, the fly specks which republican orators in congress now imagine to he biooo spots on the civil service system would would have escaped their attention alto gather. Their sudden realization that the idea of civil service reform has been carried too far is due solely to their pur- nose to get republicans into places now filled by equally capable democrats and no democratic senator or representative should give them aid CT comfort in their designs"
 Czar Reed is the one republican in congress who has never buckled down to Ross Hanna. On the contrary, he not long ago made Hanna eat big chunk of humble ple. It all came about in connection with the appointment of light house keeper in Mir. Reeds dls- frict a place Mir. Reed had asked for one of his constituents. Instead of the Mir. Reed got letter from the headquarters of the Republican Ma tional committee, signed M. A. Hanna. That made him mad. He isn't pro- fame man, but his demand for an exPla