The Press., 1898-11-24
Washington Letter.

William from his bluff, intended to make Spain and this country believe that he was about to take hand in the disposi- tion of the Philippines, is the cause of much quiet amusement in diplomatic and official articles. This bluff was the em- peror's announcement of his intention to visit Spain, on his way home from the Holy Land; an announcement that result ed in an unexpected stiffening of the back bones of the Spanish peace commission CTS, but d'd not change the American policy a hairsbreadth. The backdown, which has made him the laughing stock in every capital in Europe, except his own, was his announcement that Ion ac- count of the westher" he had abandoned his visit to Spain. The "weather'' in the case was a straight tip that his intentions towards Spain were of no more conse- quence to the U. s. than the presence of those German warships in Manila Bay were to Dewey, and would have DO more effect; and that if he was looking for trouble he could find it by meddling in any way with Uncle Sam. It is stated by members of the administration that Spain has been notified that our demand must be accepted or refused in given time, but the time is not given.
 Prof. Robt. T. Hill, of the U. S. geo. logical survey, whose full knowledge of the subject is unprecedented, said, in a looturo hafOra fho Nofiopo1 cvooororbio society, on "Cuba and the home life of the people": "The opinion regarding the Cubans, which is now, unfortunately, quite prevalent, is very largely erroneous. They are by no means lot of thieves, al- though, undoubtedly there is large class of these on the island. The larger part of the population, however, is compos' d of intelligent fairly-well educated men, who have property interests to guard and business affairs to superintend, as in any other civilized country. In mechanical lines, the Cubans have not progressed as rapidly as they might, for they are es- sentially an agricultural people. As till CTS of the soil they rank very high, and many of their plantations are models of their kind. While the Cuban army con- tained a large percentage of colored people, there are thousands and thousands of pure white men, thoroughly Cuban in heart and mind. Then, too, the colored Cuban himself is not such bad fellow. In fact, Cuba is the only one of the West Indian islands, in which 1 have found that the colored people man will work in Porto Rico and all the other islands, his wife, like the Indian squaw, is forced to perform all the drudgery. In Cuba, as you know, the colored man enjoys socia l psS vileges accorded him in few other places, but there is no danger that the is- land will ever become Africanized, as the negro population is constantly decimated by disease, while the white thrives and increases in number''
 It is regarded as reasonably certain that the fifty-fifth congress will, before the close of the last session, soon to open, appropriate more than two billions of dollars. It has already appropriated al- most one billion, and the war expenses that must be provided for at the last session leave little doubt that the two billion mark will be reached. But there will be no political cry raised against any appropriation made necessary by the war.
 Private James s. Sewers, of the Fist New York, told the war investigation commission that the reason the regulars fared better than the volunteers in the Cuban campaign, and elsewhere, was that the regular officers took care of their men, while the volunteer officers took care of themselves. He is the first private who has tod the commission that, but thOusands of them have told the same thing to their friends.
 | Those who believe in the dominant power of bread and butter arguments think that all of the democratic and popu- list senators will try to prevent an extra session ofcongress, in order to have their friends who hold positions under the senate, keep them until the end of next year. It will be remembered that noone party having a majority in the senate, the patronage of that body is distributed pro- portionately to the voting strength of each party. However,i is not likely that the patronage of the senate will be 8 factor in deciding whether there will be an extra session of congress. It is true that if an extra session is held, there will be 8 re. organization of the senate, which would give the majority the big positions
 such as secretary and sergeant-at-arms but the minority senators who have friends holding minor positions, woulc have no trouble in keeping them in place | The senate has always been more libera, in this respect with the minority, than the house. A senate minor officials place is usually secure as long as his senator keeps his seat, but not q day longer. IT other words, the senate patronage is con trolled by individuals more than by party To deprive senator of any of his pay i' regsrdrd as a violation of "senatoria courtesy"
 The talk of Representative Dalzell, O Pa., who is Speaker Reeds right hanC man in the house, does not bear out tht opinion expressed in some quarters that clash is likely between the speaker anC the administration on the colonial policy
 It is generally understood that the ad minstration wishes the colonies to remail under military role at least a year befor
 congress attempts to legislate for them
 In reply to a question as to whether h.
 thought immediate legislation would b
 necessary, MT. Dalzell said Fl do not
 think 1t would be just as we'll to let tn
 matter lie for while. We should hay
 time to study the situation and to deter
 mine what sort of Legislation is needed
 We can run along with military govern
 ment until the conditions are thoroughl
 understood"
 Providing For an Emergency.