The Springfield herald., 1899-12-22

l
The rosewood gavel which was made
by Colonel Henderson's Iowa friends
| from wood taken out of Admiral Mon
tojo's flagship in Manila harbor hangs
in the Speakers room and Is greatly
admired.
| The House committee has decided to
prove II possible unlawful cohabitation
on the part of Mr.. Roberts, and will
| summon his two extra wives as wit
nesses on that point. Some members
of the House think this Is going Z little
too far-that such police court proceed
| ings are beneath the dignity of the ma
| tional Legislature of the greatest coun-
| try in the world-but the members of
the committee argue that the only way
Roberts can be kept out of the House
| is by conyicting him Of that crime, and
his wives are the only witnesses that
can prove the act conclusively. They
| hoped that Roberts would make either
n confession or denial under oath, but
he positively refuses TO do either, and
| insists that the committee shall prove
the charges without his assistance.
Lieutenant Thomas NJ. Brumby, flag
lieutenant to Admiral Dewey during
the Manila campaign, who has been i'll
with typhoid fever for several weeks,
died at Garfield hospital shortly after
s o'clock Sunday evening. The death
of Lieutenant Brumby. while not un-
expected, was great shock to Ad-
Hiiral Dewey. The relations of the two
for several years past have been init
mate, and strong friendship had
grown up between them. Lieutenant
Brumby went out to the Asiatic sta
tion with the Admiral and had been
there with him until they both re-
turned to the United States. In his
oar, fu, MT
Brumby was thrown with Dewey
practically all the time and acted as
his personal representative in many
matters of detail delegated to him by
the commanding officer.
The personnel of the majority COM
mittees of the Senate was formally an
nounced Thursday. Senator Warren
of Wyoming succeeds Senator Teller
as chairman of the committee on
claims. Mr.. Teller was offered a con-
tinuance of the craftsmanship but an
swered that he would prefer to take his
position with the minority. thus forEi-
ally separating himself from the Re
publican party. Mr.. Wolcott. in addi-
ton to retaining his old committees, is
given place on the foreign relations
committee. Senator Clark of Wyom-
ing adds mines and mining and public
lands. The three new Republican mem
bers of the appropriation committee
are Senators Carter. Wetmore and
Warren. The Post says: Senator
Warren's appointment is peculiarly ap-
propriate in view of his knowledge of
western Matters
Secretary Gage will do nothing to re
lieve the money market unless the con
ditions should become more serious
than they are now, which he does not
aDfirinnfa "a Tho nj r,,,I,lin
debt due January 1st, which amounts
to about S5.0OO.0O0, will be paid with
IN the next few days as usual. The
checks will be mailed to the bondhold-
ers as fast as they are prepared, with
out waiting for the exact date, and cou-
pons will be cashed at any of the gov
ernment repositories. There still re-
mains outstanding S5.6OO,OOO OF the AZ
and 8 per cent. bonds included In the
recent call, which the treasury is ready
to redeem upon presentation. The
market price of these bonds, however,
is trifie above the figures offered by
the treasury, but Mr.. Gage will not in
crease his offer, and If he should make
another call it would be on the same
terms as the last.
The feature of the opening day of the
debate on the currency bill in the
House was the speech of Mr.. Dolliver
of Iowa. 1t was characterized by all
the wit and eloquence for which the
1owan Is noted and held the members,
without regard to party, for more than
an hour. Mr.. Dolliver declared that the
last doubt In the Republican party as
to the wisdom of enacting the gold
standard into law had been resolved
by the experience of the business world
during the past three years. He scored
Mr.. Bryan and generally ridiculed the
alleged false prophesies of the Demo-
Gratis in 1896. Mr.. De Almond of Mis-
souri, was the heavy gun on the Demo-
cratic side. He warned the Republl-
cans from the West that they could
not deceive their constituents In the
coming congressional elections by
claiming that they had yielded to the
wisdom of their colleagues In caucus.
The President and Secretary Root
are anxious to secure some legislation
for permanent form of government In
Porto Rico as soon as possible, and 1t
Is probable that special message on
the subject will be sent to Congress i'm
nieuiately after the holidays recon-
mending n form of government similar
to that planned for the territory of
Louisiana by President Jefferson in
1903. Delegations and petitions of the
most urgent nature are coming in nj
most every day from Porto Rico repre-
senting that business is stagnant and
that all transactions are suspended un-
til the status of the island is deters
mined and its laws promulgated. The
President thinks Congress will recog-
nize the necessity of immediate relief
from this anomalous situation. 1t Is
also proposed to reopen the block
AIDED ports of the Philippine islands at
the earliest possible moment in order
that business may be resumed and the