The San Francisco call., 1898-01-21
. . 60 os4 oo ouoouuoo . o<
Call Office, Riggs House,
 Washington, Jan. 20.


 This has been a bad day for the Ha- waiian annexationists. In an unmis- takable test of their strength they find they have been performing that act so familiar in politics and legislation of counting their chickens before they are matched. Feeling secure in the stories of their invincibility, which had been carried to them by their runners inside and outside the Senate, the men who are engineering the annexation scheme determined upon a coup which was eX- pected to show their strength, and the result was a pair of black eyes for an nexation.
 For days the annexationists have been prating about the growth in an- nexation sentiment which has been developing in the Senate. They talked so much about it they began to believe 1t themselves, and when it was decid- ed to make a showing they fell into the trap they had set for themselves. It all came about in this way: Senator Vest gave notice yesterday that he would call up for consideration to-day the resolutions which bear the name In legislative history of the late Stanley Matthews of Ohio, and which declare in so many words that it would not be repudiation to pay the coin bonds of the United States in standard silver dollars Pursuant to that notice given yesterday, Senator Vest, at what is known as the conclusion of the morn ing business of the Senate, rose to make his motion. Before he could se- cure recognition, Senator Lodge of Massachusetts. one of the most ardent of annexationists, jumped to the front with a motion that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive busi- ness. That meant, of course, the fur ther consideration of the Hawaiian question.
 It has developed that the annexa- tionists have been hugging to them selves the delusion that in the hearts of all those who talked favorably about annexation this Hawaiian ques- tion was uppermost and that the sil- yer Senators of the West and some of the Eastern men on the Democratic side would put Hawaii above silver or anything else. It was to show this they determined upon the test They believed a majority of the Senate would promptly go on record as in fa- vor of the consideration of the treaty rather than thresh over old straw on the money and bond question. and they were foolish enough to boast of their supposed power before the Senate con- vened. The result was disastrous to their hopes. By a vote of 39 to 27 the Senate determined that it did not care to go into executive session just then. and later, by the decisive vote of fl to 25, the body decided to proceed with the consideration of the bonds resolu- ton. Senator Vest held 1t there until he made the men on the other side of the chamber agree that it should be re- garded as the unfinished business of the Senate and should have the right of way, and then he consented to the executive session.
 And instead of. making a coup that would help them, the annexationists made a bad break. That is particu- larly manifest tonight in the an- nouncement that has gone out to friends of the treaty to play for de- lay. They are by no means as cer- tain as they have been of their ulti- mate success and so they have deter