The Florence tribune., 1898-04-02
Letter from Rev. l. [. Whittemore.


 Judge P. c. Warner recently received tho following letter which will prove of interest. Itshows that Mir. White more is hard at work while in Wash ington:
 am sure it will be gratifying to you to know that while so far away and en- gagged in such fight for water-storage for the Indians and the surplus that is not needed for them to be secured for the settlers in the valley, you are not forgotten by me. As I presume you read the TRIBUNE and learn of the hard | job required to get the $20,000 clause reinstated in the Indian appropriation. bill, you, wish all the rest of our citi- zens, are deeply interested. l can fight with will for God and the right, and meet every opposition, so long as there remains the shadow of hope that we shall succeed in securing even the small amount asked of Congress at this time. It is not difficult to convince members of the House, but those grave senators, who are we'll informed on. diplomacy and common law and gov ernmental interests, are as ignorant as Balaam' s ass when it comes 70 building dam at the Buttes. I'm going to try to get n chance to enlighten two or three of them. If I can ges chance to butten-hole them five minutes, if not as wise as owls, they win bc wiser than they are now. have overcone' my natural timidity and just regard them as common men, and though they can teach me the alphabet on matters of statesmanship and diplomacy and politics, yet can tell them more about Indians and Butte dam matters than they ever dreamed of. It looks like serious business for little fellow like me to take off my hat and send in my card to meet those great men in the marble room, as though I were some foreign ambassador with the interests of kingdom at stake, but feeling that all those 4,000 Pimas and perhaps 5000 Papagoes and the settlers in our valley are behind me and seeming to say, ''Go 1 it, Little Parson-keep a stiff upper lip aud fear nothing and we'll back you in everything you do and say''- then can look such men in the face and look as grave and solemn as they. Then I seem to hear all the Democrats say, "Tell Mark Smith that he can do nothing that will so surely regain him his reelection, as to help you and CO., operate with you in securing the rein statement clause" He is welcome to all the glory and am the last man to rob him of single ray, SO he hangs on and pushes it through. It looks now as if it may be left in and pass next week or the week after, but only God knows. So great is the excitement over Cuban affairs and the Maine disaster, and revelations that may st any time come to light, that our little clause that means so much to us and the In- disns may io other oversbadowiug mat ters be forgotten and succeed.
 I have been watching aud studying and learning in all these weeks "of ways that are dark, and tricks that are vain," of senators and representsves and their wiles to secure reelection the coming season and how some of them tremble in their boots "and fear each bush an officer" when they are called out lest that call may lose them a few hundred votes. Some of them are ter ribly scared and trim their sails to catch the popular breeze-just as some ministers that have known. But if they did but know it, the safest way is to do the right thing and face every danger and opposition and in the end they will be the gsiners. It is the cringing, cowardly, time-serving ones who are in danger, not the fellows who face the cannon's mouth.
 l Now, did not sit to write for the press, but simply h hneighborly, friendly letter, but do as you please with it. can face the music if you can. But, believe me, ever your constant friend,
 I.T. WHITTEMoKE. l P. S.-An explanation may be needed, and it is this-as understand it--all the amendments to the Indian appropriation bill not being concurred in by the conferees of the House, have been restored-ours among the rest and the House has been discussing claims and homestead matters, and if they will forget and let our clause re- main our hopes are bright for success.
 ItAFEB.-I met with the cenferees to- day and prepared to make B speech, but another case occupied all the time till l2 o'clock, she hour of aojournment and opening of Congress.
 Mark Smith was present and at the close introduced me to Congressman James Sherman, and he told me that he feels sure that our clause will be restored and pass. I.T.W Tf- Al