The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-16
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1899.
COMING Sc SION OF CONGRESS.

Congress is about to convene at
Washington. For weeks president Nc
Kinley has been busily engaged in the
preparation of his annual message to
congress. Coming as this message does
at the very inception of a presidential
campaign every word which the presi-
dent is about to utter will be taken up
by both friends and enemies of the
president and used as campaign watch
words for and against the nominee in
the next convention. Several momen-
tous questions will be treated of in the
coming message, among them the pres
ent status of the war in the Philippines,
the situation in Cuba, the Isthmus
canal, and monetary reform. Each of
these questions will engage the atten-
ton of congress.
Although the question of a waterway
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
through the Isthmus of Panama has
been before congress for % years or
more, the matter never seemed as near
solution as at the present time. From
a strategic and commercial standpoint
arguments are all in favor of the con-
struction of the canal by the United
| States at the present time.
The greater part of the attention of
the coming congress will be consumed
in revision of our monetary laws. For
fifteen years the committee on banking
and currency, under the leadership in
! more recent years of ex-Congressman
Joseph H. Walker, has been endeavor-
ing to formulate a bill which would
meet with the approval of all sections
of the country, but without avail Now
that the leadership of this committee is
to pass into other hands, it will be in
teresting to note the effect such
change will have in uniting various sec
tons
In addition to these questions, the
subject of the tariff may be made a
leading issue with congress, now that
another presidential campaign is upon
US. Taken all in all this session of con
gress promises to be the most important
in many years. The discussion will have
a direct bearing upon the national cleo
ton next November
The constituency of the new member
from the third Massachusetts congress-
ional district will await with interest
to hear what he may have to say on
these important questions of the day.
Congressman Thayer is a man of broad
mind and has a clear insight into the
various questions which vitality affect
the welfare of the country today He is
a man believed to be above mere party
dictates and is relied upon to render a
good account Of his stewardship. His
antipathy to the free silver faction Of
his party is well known, but he is as
bitterly opposed to the views held by
the president on the Philippine question
as any of the nti-expansionists. In
the matter of finance he is likely to sur
prise even his opponents by looking at
the question from a sound business
point of view.
Existing industrial conditions do not
call for any radical changes in our Gus
tom duties. We are today enjoying one
of the most prosperous periods in the
history of the country. To tamper with
the tariff would seem like tampering
with prosperity. The manufacturers of
the third congressional district, one of
the largest and wealthiest in the coun-
try, would feel satisfied if nothing was
said in congress upon that subject.