The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-04-02
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WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent

NJ
hands of the President and was to-
day carefully gone over and dis
GUESSED at an extended meeting Of
the Cabinet. Spain has been off,
cially notified of the purporte of the
report. That ended the first stage Of
the case, aud we have now entered
upon the second stage, which is
likely to be much shorter. The re-
port, together with a copy of the
communication sent to Spain by
the President, will be sent to Con-
gress next week, and then-what?
tits impossible a, this time to say
what programme will be followed
in Congress, because circumstances
are likely to bring about changes at
any stage of the proceedings. But
it is certain that an understanding
has been arrived at between. the
President and the Congressional
leaders of all parties. who have con-
ferred with him in the last three
days, and believed in accordance
with that understanding the report
and accompanying message will be
referred to committees as soon as
received in the House and Senate,
and that those committees will take
whatever action that President Me-
Kinley may desire; and what he
will desire will depend largely upon
the answer received from Spain. If
it is war;. this country is fully pre-
pared for fighting, not only on the
water, but in Cuba. Arrangements
are perfected by which we can land
$4,000 soldiers in Cuba inside of
ten days, without enlistinga man
militia regiments aggregating that
number, which are ready for service
at a days notice, would simply be
mustered into the United States
service.
The war spirit is growing in Con-
gress, instead of lessening. Some of
the most conservative men in both
Senate and House have become con-
vinced since Senator Proctor told
what he saw in Cuba that war was
inevitable, and have concluded that
the best thing to do is to hurry it
up, in order that it can be quickly
fought out they believe there would
be less damage done TO the material
interests of the country by a short
and victorious war than by a con-
tinuation for an indefinate period of
present conditions. Senator Proc
tors story of Cuba is corroborated
and added to by the speeches made
this week by Senators Gallinger and
Thurston, who were in Cuba at the
same time he was. And the two last
were much more belligerent in tone
than was Mr.. Proctor, but all three
agree that the right thing to do, and
the only thing that will bring last
ing Eeace Oh the devastated island
and allow the starving thousands
of non-combatants to again earn a
living for themselves. is to force the
Spanish out. Senator Gallinger says
he would go further and annex Cuba
if he could have his way; while
Senator Proctor thinks it would be
hest to merely allow Cuba to be in
dependent.
Senator Bacon made speech in
favor of resolution introduced by
him, declaring it to be the policy
of this country TO maintain peace
as long as consistent with honor,
but it fell fiat; it was not in tune
with existing circumstances, nor
with existing sentiment. The war
spirit is abroad.
The American Federation of Labor
has taken up the fight of the plate
printers union against the extended
use Of steam presses in the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing which
has been officially announced. A
similar fight against steam presses
was made by the plate printers, and
won, during the Fiftietb Congress,
their contention being that the work
turned out by the steam presses
was inferior to that done on the
hand presses. The Superintendent
of the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing has already, under orders
from the Secretary of the Treasury,
placed an order for fifteen steam
presses to be put in at once.
The bill authorizing an increase
of the army to 100000 men has
been amended by the House Military
committee to restrict enlistments
until the country is actually en-
gagged in war. =
Among the items of the Naval
Appropriation bill that may be
considered as preparatory, if not
actually war-like, are the provision
for the construction of five dry
docks, large enough to accommo-
date our largest vessels; three bat
tleships of the most formidabletype,
one of them to be named Maine;
six torpedo boats, and six torpedo
boat destroyers.
The ordinary government ofhcial'e
annual report is only interesting to
a few persons, but the annual report
of the Patent Office for 1897, pre-
pared bY Hon. A. p. Greeley. Acting