Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-03-18
FROM WASHINGTON.
Correspondents OF the Alexandria Gazette.]
WASHINGTON, March IS.

( tyOr OF the Cuil0m Dill. DC sdlu Tue
o .iginal machiney-the present law
c ,ude and ineffective in some respects,
b 10 practically broken down. The pro.
posed bill is to provide new machinery
b. which the principles OF the original
law may be made effective. Unless
these cardinal principles are maintain
Ell it would be better to take away the
power the interstate commission Is sup
posed to have. He said. however, that
of 225 cases in not single one did the
railroads set up want of authority on
the part of the commission. He said
the courts had seriously affected the
law by their decisions.
By arrangement between the parties,
Sir Julian Pauncefote, for Great Bri-
tain, and Senior Andrade, for Vene-
zuela. the cases relative to the bound
ary arbitration prepared by counsel on
either side have been exchanged. The
documents will be forwarded to their
respective governments by the ambas-
sador and the minister to serve as the
basis for the counter cases to be ex-
changed later on, and to prepare the
way for the arbitration to meet in Paris
next fall. 1t was to settle these
cases that ex President Cleveland is
sued his famous declaration of war
against Great Britain several years ago
after one of his ducking trips.
Senator Gallinger was at the Capitol
10 day for the first time since his re-
turn from Cuba. When requested to
make a statement as to his observa-
tons on the condition of affairs on that
island he responded: "You can sign
my name to any picture you may draw
of utter wretchedness, restitution and
hellishness in that country. The
Spanish troops are not drilled
as our soldiers are. Indeed they lack
every element Of soldierly bearing,
whatever may be said OF their merits az
fighters. The drills that | witnessed
were travesty on modern military
ideas. While they were undergoing
their eVolulions the soldiers were talk
ing to each other aud smoking as freely
and unconcernedly as they woul3 do
in their mess rooms. From my obser-
walton of them | should not consider
them very formidable antagonists on
the field of battle"
The House committee on coinsge,
weights and measures has favorably re-.
ported to the House q resolution au-
fhoriZng the Secretary of the Treasury
to make experiments to determine the
best material for minor coinage. The
committee says the copper penny be-
comes dingy, dirty, dull and by corro-
sion poisonous; and that the five cent
nickel. three quarters copper, is too
soft.
The President does not expect any.
thing in the nature of a preliminary re-
port from the court of inquiry in the
use of the Maine disaster His expec.
tatiun is that the report will be COM
piete in all respects, although it is
within the power of the Secretary OF
the Navy to order continuance OF the
investigation.
No official notice of the stoppsge OF
the Spanish torpedo boat fotilla at the
Canary Islands and their turning back
from that point has reached the gov
eminent as yet.
The Navy Department has not sus-
pended its efforts to obtain possession
of wsrships abroad and 10 no direction
is there visible any relaxation of the
purpose of the Navy aud War Depart.
ments to provide against hostile attack.
The formation Of the new squadron at
Hampton Roads is the latest manifesto
ton of activity in this direction. The
strategy board suggests that the navy
be reinforced by number OF 500
ton torpedo boat destroyers. With
the enormous speed of thirty knots per
hour and an offensive armament of
quick firing guns equal TO the average
gunboat, it is sid that the power of
such craft is certainly very great and
that perhaps they may prove to be the
ideal naval craft. One distinguished
naval officer, an expert in ordnance
matters, expressed the opinion to-day
that two torpedo boat destroyers
might annihilate the biggest battleship
in the world if they stood ready to run
the risk of being sunk themselves. All
that would be necessary for them to do,
he said, would be to hold the battleship
in sight during the daylight hours,
which they could do easily, owing to
their superior speed, and when dark
ness had come to attack the hattleship
from opposite directions simultaneously
at full speed with torpedoes. So far
the department has been unable to buy
any such boats abroad and, while four
torpedo boats of the larger class Of
thirty knots speed, almost equal to the
destroyer type, are building in this
country, they cannot be completed for
many months to come.
Senator Hswley, of Connecticut, said
to-day it was the Intention to get
through Congress as speedily as posi-
ole the three battalion military bill
which was introduced at the suggestion
of the department in both houses yes
terday for strengthening the military
arm of the service and providing for its
increase to 104, 900 men, Unnecessary,
A distinguished assemblage of officials
representing in their several capacities
the Spanish government and the new
insular government of Cubs East here
to-day to open the negotiations for
treaties between the United
States, Spain and Cuba, but in view of the
present condition of affairs it is not i'm
probable that their connection with al
the official branches of the Spanish and
Cuban government will permit their
deliberations to take wider range,
The reciprocity treaties, which it ia
J 70 Ior