The Republican., 1899-08-03
oUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, d. c., July 31st, 1899.

generally, they do not always get on
to things as soon as they occur. For
instance, none of the Washington
correspondents knew until day or
two ago, that President Mckinley
had ordered a cablegram sent to Gen.
Otis more than a week ago, telling
him that the President was entirely
satisfied with what he had accom-
plished and believed that he had done
all that could have been done under
the circumstances. The following is
a portion of the answer of Gen. Otis !;
Il appreciate very much the conf
dence the President has expressed in
me and assure the President that |
have no other ambition or thought
than to carry out his instructions.
With the plans, now matured, be-
lieve that we can suppress the rebel
lion in a reasonably short time, with
honor to the United States and salts
faction to the President 1t is high
ly ereditable to the President that
while the yellow journals are demand
ing the recall of Gen. Otis, because
he had failed to please some of the
correspondents and to accomplish
impossibilities, he should have shown
his confidence in him in such a
marked manner That the President
and the entire administration had
implicit confidence in Gen. Otis, has
been known in Washington all the
time.
Secretary Root arrived in Wash
ington to-day and will. tomorrow,
formally succeed Gen. Alger as Sec
retary of War. There 'are many
rumors in circulation rs to what his
policy is to be, but they are merely
guesses, mostly wild. There is no
occasion for u Secretary of War to
have any policy other than that of
the President, under whom he serves,
and no reason to believe that in that
respect, Secretary Root will differ in
any radical way from his predecessor.
\ great many kind words will ac-
company Secretary Alger into private
life, and being spoken at this time,
there is no possible reason to doubt
their sincerity. The following re-
marks made by Representative Joy
of Missouri, are a fair sample of what
is being said by many Republicans of
prominence II ain not surprised to
see Gen. Alger's election to the Sen
ate predicted | make the same
prophecy. Instead of being the tar
get of all manner of abuse and the
victim OF everybody's persecution,
Gen. Alger will become the hero, and
this will be especially true i'll his own
state. As Senator Elkins has said, he
was at the head of the War Depart
ment during a most successful war.
He equipped and put 250,000 men in
the field in an increditably short space
of time, and when everything had to
be obtained at almost a moment ;
notice 70 be sure. the soldiers did
not have pie for breakfast, nor were
feather beds carried around for them.
but on the whole, they Jared remark
ably well. The time will come when
Gen. Alger will be given credit for his
great work and the kindlinesS of
heart which accompanied his execu-
tive administration"
Representative Smith. OF Illinois,
thus summed up the amusing wob-
bling of the Democrats on the issues
of the Presidential campaign; The
Democrats may try to run their cam
paign on Il dozen issues, but the mo-
ment they nominate Bryan, they will
force the silver issue TO the front.
They cannot escape it if he is the
nominee. as now seems practically
settled. Mr.. Bryan cannot subordi-
nate silver unless he descends to mere
pettyfogginS in politics. for he is the
embodiment of the idea. If silver is
not mentioned in the platform. and
Bryan is nominated. the people will
not be deceived. They know Brvan's
position too we'll"
Three hundred million bushels OF
corn and S50,000,000 on deposit in its
banks" said Representative Custis,
have drowned out the calamity wall
ers and restored Kansas to its old
place among the sure Republican
states. Thousands who voted for
Bryan in '96 will vote for Mckinley
next year, and it can be classed among
the certainties that Kansas will give
the Republican presidential electors
not less than $4,000 majority
All the Democratic talk about polit-
ical favors to be bestowed by the
granting of public franchises in Porto
Rico, was rendered useless, not to say
silly, by the opinion of Attorney Gen.
eral Griggs, to whom the question
was referred several weeks ago, by
Secretary Alger, that the right to
grant these concessions is vested in
Congress alone. This case is another
indication of the wisdom of waiting