The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1898-04-13

VI tuem VINO mas Deen very active
in antsgopiziDg delay says the mes
sage will be perfectly satisfactory to
him and will fully meet the expecta
ton of tue country
Pending the transmi:tal of the
message. in view of the situation
presented by The President, all plans
looking to action in the house will be
abandoned. But those who have
been taking part 10 the radical move.
ment and who always admit the pos.
sibliity that the time may come when
they will have to part company with
the President are, according to the
leaders of the movement. more
determined than ever to ulti.
mately obtain what they desire.
They. however, are at preent
satisfied with the assurances they
have received as to the char
acter of the message. But this has
not prevented them from organizing
for possible contingencies The con.
ference which was to have been held
tonight after the message was in
was abandoned, but so of those who
originally inaugurated the movement
met Immediately after the house ad-
journed to discuss the situation All
who were not heartily in sympathy
with them were invited to leave
Those at the meeting unanimously
agreed to wait upon the message,
but the movement for caucus start
ed by the Presidents supporters,
which was also abandoned during the
afternoon, exposed to them q danger
upon which they had not reckoned-
namely, that caucus of Republicans
might be called to bind them by the
party action and place them in the
position of boilers if the occasion
arose for them to adopt an independ-
ent plan of action A committee Of
eight was therefore appointed to
count noses, TO watch the situation
and to devise ways and means to
meet any tactics of the opposition
The committee is as follows: Messrs.
Hopkins of Illinois. Lorrimer of Hi.
nois, Tawney of Minnesota, Cooper
of Wisconsin, Hepburn of Iowa.
Bronwell of Ohio, Joy of Missouri,
Knox of Massachusetts.
Several rather vigorous speeches
in denunciation of any policy of
delay were made in the course of the
meeting In order to emphasize this
position, proposition was made to
unite with the Democrats and block
all legislation, adjourning from day to
day until the message appeared and
the house had acted on the Cuban
resolutions Mr.. Hull of Iowa, who
is pushing the army reorganization
bill, made such an ardent plea to al
low that bill to come to vote that
the proposition was temporarily
abandoded Whether it will be re-
vived depends largely upon the
course of events It can be stated,
however, that it is seriously contem-
plated One of the other chief de-
velopments of the day was the prob
ability that in the event of split on
the Republican side the Democrats
would unite with the radicals and
allow the latter to force the issue
If the Democrats should seek to as.
sumo the aggressive the chances are
they would solidify the Republicans
against them.
The delay Of the message was re-
ceived in the senate with varying de-
grees Of favor of disfavor, depending
largely upon the predictions and
personal and political associations of
the members Senators united in the
necessity for protecting the safety Of
Gen. Lee aud the other American cit
liens in Cuba Many, however, were
Inclined to criticise because our citi
zeps had not been removed hereto
fore. while others declared protection
for them should have been sent to
| Habana 1T is a humiliating spec
tacle," said Senator Quay Of Penn
sylvania, "that with our feet within
90 miles of Habana we are not able
| to protect our people in that port
"That request said Senator Proc
tor, "merely illustrates the character
of the people we are dealing with in
this matter"
The intense Cuban sympathizers on
both sides of the senate chamber
were free in the expression of opin-
ion that there was some motive for
the delay that did not appear on the
surface They did not question the
good faith of the representation as to
the danger of Americans in Cuba,
but they agreed that there must have