The times., 1899-04-21
GENERAL WASHINGTON
NEWS AND GOSSIP.

The sPeakership Contcst.-The fight
for the Speakership of the Fifty-sixth Con-
gress has opened in earnest since the an
noancement that Thomas 3. Reed had de-
cided to resign his seat in Congress and
| engage in the practice of the law in New
York. The Indications are that the Ad-
ministration will be drawn into 1t in spite
| OF itself before the matter is settled. II
is an open secret that Hanna and other
gentlemen who are supposed to be close
| to the President are anxious to have Rep
resentative James S. Sherman. Of New
| York, elected Speaker. They believe, it is
stated, that Sherman will obey their Or
ders implicitly without asking any ques-
tions. se0
Republicans Of the Hanna school," said
a Republican last night, 'are planning to
reap rich harvest during the next two
years. They realize that the succeeding
| Congress, in the natural order of things.
is almost certain to be Democratic; there
fore. the present is the time for making
hay. With Sherman in the Speaker S
chair in the House and Mr.. Hobart pre-
siding over the Senate at the other end
of the Capitol. the corporations and trusts
would not suffer to any extent. They
would practically control Congress and
obtain any legislation that they wanted.
|
| llama corporation outfit. He has given
evidence Of that fact in number of in
stances / will make this prediction If
| MIR. Sherman is made Speaker there will
be nothing left of the Treasury Building
except the bare walls. One of Senator
| Hanna's pet schemes is to get q marine
subsidy bill through Congress. He calls
1t "A measure for the encouragement of the
American merchant marine. 1t will be
| mil anfl loIla
and his friends to have the subsidy bill
that he has prepared enacted into law.
This is only one of a number OF similar
projects, and they will all go through il
the right kind of a man is elected Speaker.
do not mean to charge that Mr.. Sherman
has made deal with Mr.. Hanna or anyone
connected with the present Administra-
ton; but it is quite significant that he is
being supported by the representatives of
nearly every large corporation in the coun-
try. Men who have got millions of dollars
at stake do not as a rule indulge in the
| luxury OF such commonplace thing as
sentiment. When Ii comes to picking out
man for Speaker of the House, for in
stance, they generally select the man
whom they believe will best serve their
interests"
| If the Western Representatives will con-
centrate on either Hopkins of Illinois. or
Henderson of Iowa, or some other Western
man. they will undoubtedly be able to
name the pext Speaker. as they largely
outnumber the Eastern contingent in the
| House. The only show Mr.. Sherman or
any Eastern man will have to win will be
through division among the Western
| Representatives.
Is Reed Out of Politics There seems
to be quite a divergence of opinion as to
| AZ
litically by leaving Congress and going into
! the practice CT law in New York. Quite a
number of so-caled statesmen believe that
Mr. Reed will be found to be very much
in evidence next year.
"Mr. Reed, said a Republican Senator
yesterday, will be a candidate for Presi-
dent next year. | know what l am talk
ing about. He will go to the Republican
National Convention with the delegation
| from the State Of New York at his back,
and. OF course. he will also have the sup
| pert of practically solid New England
delegation. Reed has good many friends
| in the West. | believe he could get two
thirds of the delegates from Illinois as the
situation stands today Algerism. Eagan-
ism. and the many other scandals connect
| ed with the present Administration. have
created very strong sentiment throughout
the West antagonistic to Mr.. Mckinley.
| There is no getting away from the fact
and If Ii should prove to be as The Times
has stated, that the Miles Court of En-
| quiry intends TO report against General
| Miles. and syindicate the beef combine
| do not believe that it will be possible to
| bring about a denomination of Mr. Nc
| kinley, even with all the Federal office
holders working for him. If he should he
nominated under the circumstances he
would be defeated worse than Harrison
was in 1892. =
Industrial PrObiems.-"Fhe principal
issue In the Presidential campaign next
year said a member OF the Industrial
! Commission last night, will be on
the trusts and the growing tendency to-
ward the Capitalization of industrial en-
terprises. The general public have no
conception of how far this has gone and
how many people are directly affected by
it. l am Informed, for illustration, that
the number of travelling statesmen or drum
mers has been reduced during the past
year by nearly so per cent. The reason
is that competition in so many lines having
been wiped out by consolidation the
services of drummers are rendered unnec~
sary. 1t is estimated that over 10000 COM
mercial travellers have been thrown out of
| employment since the first of January on
account of the trusts, and that. of course,
is only single item. Every man. il seems
10 me, is entitled to the privilege of work.
| ing and earning his living. Any scheme
| that denies that privilege TO any class Of
men must be radically wrong.
The country is undergoing an evolution,
but whether it will lead to a revolution or
not remains to be demonstrated.