Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-03-16
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondence
WASHINGTON, March 10, 1899

Mr.. Mckinley hasn't gone to Thomas
VILE. Georgia, where be will be the guest
of Boss Hanna for several weeks, solely to
get rest and recreation. Not by a jugfull,
there is political scheming, and lot Of it,
in the trip While they are in Thomas
VILE the leading administration Senators
and Represent atives will visit them, and
in addition to clinching Mr.. McKinley's
re nomination next year, the question OF
whether the administration will try to
prevent Gar Reeds reelection as Speaker
of the House, will be carefully gone over
and decided. If il were only question of
inclination, it might be considered as
clearly decided. Mr. Mckinley and a
number of his closest friends are sore on
Reed because of his attitude towards all of
the administration measures that came
before the late Congress, and would gladly
antagonize his reelection as Speaker, If
they thought they could beat him, but
there's the rub. They are afraid to fight
Reed, unless they are reasonably certain OF
being able to control enough votes to down
him. because if they do so and fail, they
know he would fight back during the life
of the Fifty-sixth Congress, which will be
as long as that of the administration.
While the friends of Gen. Miles do not
90 so far as to make the direct charge that
The canned meat furnished our soldiers in
Cuba and Porto Rico was horse meat,
although labeled Roast Beef" they do
not hesitate to say that suspicion strongly
points that way. 1t is known that 800 OOO
cans of the meat was bought in Europe,
where it had been shipped from this
country. The labels on the meat said 1t
was packed in Chicago, but the firm
alleged to have packed it -" The Prairie
State Packing Co.'s said to be unknown
either in Chicago OF to the wholesale trade
of the country. That horse meat is being
canned in Chicago and shipped to Europe
is known, and persons who ought to know
have declared that the meat in question
was horse meat. If the Military Court Of
INQUIRY really wishes to get at the bottom
of this business, it ought not to be q
difficult matter. The contractors who
supplied this meat could be made to tell
who canned it and where it was canned
The Court is already accused of failure to
call witnesses known to have information
tending to prove Gen. Miles contention,
and if it's members are not careful their
report will meet with the same reception
the country gave to the report of the Alger
withdrawing Commission.
Navy Department officials say that
armor for our warships cannot be bought
for $500 a ton, the limit set by the last
Congress. A statement made before the
House Naval Committee shows conclusively
that it could be if there was not an armor
trust, formed to bleed the government
One of the members OF this trust sold
Russia three thousand tons of the same
armor for $240 ton. 1t was claimed by
a representative OF that Company that
$4,000 was lost on that order, for the
purpose of introducing their armor IN
Europe. This claim was a direct admis-
sion that the armor only cost S253 ton ;
vet, the trusts got the price fixed at $3.50 a
ton in the bill as first passed by Congress
The reduction was made by the Senate.
That is the sort of business that makes
rich trusts and disgusts those who believe
in old fashioned honest dealing with the
government as well as with individuals. 1t
the trust can make armor for 1888 ton,
which its agents say it can, it can certainly
afford to sell it to the government for $500
a ton, but, of course, that is no reason that
it will 1t will probably prefer making
the next Congress raise the price, and the
next Congress, being Republican in both
branches, will probably be easier to control
than the last was.