The times., 1899-04-02
GENERAL WASHINGTON
NEWS AND GOSSIP.
Mnyornlty ooutes.-rb


! ChicaEo's MnSoralty Contest.-The
mayoralty fight in Chicago is attracting at
tention- There are three candidates in the
| held-Carter H Harrison, the present
mayor and regular Democratic nominee; s.
R. Carter, Republican, and John Peter Alt
geld, Independent. The election will take
place on Tuesday next. The situation has
| been complicated somewhat by the Demo-
! cratic National Com .fiittee taking a hand
in the contest in behalf of Altgeld A cir
cular has been issued from the Democratic
headquarters, apparently by the authority
of Chairman James X. Jones, of the Demo-
cratic National Committee. and other
Democratic leaders of national prominence
denouncing Harrison and charging him
with dis!oyalty to the Democratic party
| Democrats who believe in the principles
enunciated in the Democratic platform OF
1896 are urged to support Atgeld. The
| latter has thus received the stamp of reg
| ularity' so far as il can be conferred by
the National Committee. In the mean time
Mayor Harrison is going ahead and max
ing red-hot canvass. He has the advan-
tage of being in power and having a we'll
organized army of Office holders. includ-
ing the police. at his back. Upon the sur
! face of things the chances are believed to
| be in favor of Harrison. The betting is
| that way, but a great deal will depend
upon the size of the vote that will be polled
| by Altgeld The Republicans seem to think
! that the action of the Democratic National
Committee in pronouncing in favor of Alt
geld will elect their candidate. Carter
Harrison can hardly win. however, without
the aid of Republican votes. Chicago is
pretty evenly divided politically and under
normal conditions neither party can be
| dead certain of electing its ticket. a good
many conservative Bryan Democrats be-
| lieve that a mistake has been made by the
Democratic National Committee mixing up
in the Chicago contest. There was no oc-
casion for it. they say, and even If Altgeld
should win 1t would be establishing bad
precedent and encourage revolts against
the regular Democratic nominees In the
future.
The Democratic National Committee"
said prominent Democrat yesterday, has
I needlessly jeopardized Mr.. Bryan's polit-
ical prospects by endorsing the candidacy
OF Altgeld. 1t is almost certain that Alt
geld will not be elected and that he will
be the last man in the race. The result can
hardly fail TO injure Mr.. Bryan and Incl
dentally the Democratic party Harrison
and his friends. even if he should win. will
do all they can TO get square with the Dem
ocratic National Committee. They viii en-
deavor to prevent the election of any Bryan
| delegates TO the Democratic National Con-
vention next year from the State of Illinois.
| Illinois is third in point of population in
the Union. 1t has forty eight delegates and
| Is likely to be quite factor in the party
! problem"
A Porto Rican Expedition.-It was
! announced to a limited circle yesterday
that Perry S. Heath, the First Assistant
| poStmaStar Canaral wnuId laaya in y fr.y
days for Porto Rico, ostensihly to inspecs
! the postal service in that territory. Ii can
4 be said, however that Mr.. Heath will have
! more important mission to fulfill. He
4 will go. it is understood, as the personal
!, representative of the President to investi-
! gate the conditions of the island and will
| make a report as to whether II would be
advisable to establish an independent gov
| ernment in Porto Rico II is said 10 he
] the Administrations idea to have Porto
Rico admitted into the Union as State in
1 the near future Mr. Heaths report will
| deal with this subject and will. il is be-
| lieved, determine the course OF the Ai
| ministration regarding the matter. Mr.
| Heath expects to be gone about month.
Miles Presidential Boom.-The chief
reason why the Administration has kept
/ General Miles in the background as much
as possible has been because it was afraid
that he might become a serious Presiden-
| tial candidate. This is admitted in Admin
| istration circles.
General Miles," said one of his c'oset
| friends last evening, has had the misfor-
| tune to be mentioned for the Presidency.
| All his friends know that he is amb tious
and would not be averse to accepting the
nomination If it should be rendered TO him.
At the same time General Miles has not
gone out of his way to push himself to the
| front as Presidential candidate. l do not
believe that he has personally even given
the matter any serious attention. the ef-
| forts OF Alger and his friends, however to
keep General Miles in the background and
| belittle his military ability have only
served to make him strong candidate for
that high Office. While General MiieV has
been classed as a Republican. he has not
been sufficiently Identified with any party
TO prevent his accepting the nomination of
the Democratic National Convention for
| President should IL be rendered TO him.
| When the smoke OF the Alger and Eigan
| business has cleared away General Mics
will stand out in bold relief. He Will un-
doubtedly be a conspicuous figure. | know
of my own knowledge that direct overtures
have been made TO General Miles recently
| by certain representative Democrats with
the view OF making him the Democratic
standard bearer next year. Just how far
these negotiations have proceeded and
what encouragement they have received
| from General Miles are unknown quanti-
| ties