Saint Mary's beacon., 1899-11-30
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular correspondentl
Washington, Nov. "a, 1899

Washington, Nov. %, 1899.
Gag Law is 10 rule the House again,
and, unless present indications are at
fault, the Mckinley gag Is likely to be
even worse than the Reed gag. All the
pretty talk about changing the House
Rules, in the interest of more liberty for
individual members, has been shushed up
by the application Of the gag, even be-
fore the House assemblies Even Hep
burn, of Iowa. who defied Reed In the
last House and made a savage attack on
the injustice Of the rules which made o
tyrant OF the Speaker. has allowed him
self to be gagged and has acquiesced in
the programme which includes q re-
adoption OF the Reed rules without any
changes that will lessen the Speakers
authority over legislation. The order
for the re.adoption Of the Reed rules
came from Mr. Mckinley, who feared
that without them. he would be unable
to jam some of the legislation he will
ask for through the House, with its mar
row republican majority.
According TO present plans. the gag
rule is also to be applied 10 the gold
standard bill prepaTed by the House re-
publican caucus committee, which is now
being considered by the republican men,
bers Of the Senate Finance Committee.
who for some reason persist in withhold
ing their endorsement OF It. Instead of
having the bill follow the usual routine
of being referred TO committee, it hes
been decided TO have IL endorsed by the
Republican caucus when it meets to
nominate House officers and ordered
passed by the majority of the House.
At the last meeting of the Washington
Anti-Imperialist League. resolution
was unanimously adopted, calling atten-
tion to the anniversaries of the death
and birth of George Washington-Dec.
14th, and Feb. 22nd-the trend toward
Imperialism on the part of his successor,
now in Office, in direct contradiction to
the lessons taught by the life and laid
down by the farewell address of Wash
ington, and the necessity of keeping the
life OF Washington, as a beacon light
before his countrymen. As one of the
ways of doing this, the League offered
aprize of $40, for the best essay, to be
written by school child of the City of
Washington, on the lessons to be learn
cd from the life of Washington.
Representative De Almond, Of Mis-
souri,, on" of the candidates for the dem
ocratic leadership of the House, has very
positive opinions ss to the policy that
should be followed by the democrats of
the House, during the present session of
Congress. He thinks the democrats
should be aggressive from start TO finish
in order to place the republicans on the
defensive and expose their weak spots
to the country; that they should put
themselves on record as fayoring the
withdrawal of U. s. authority from the
Philippines, and the establishment of
free government by the Filipinos;
that they should advocate the return to
the Cubans of their own-theirs not on.
Iy by natural right, but by the solemn
promise and declaration of Congress at
the opening of the war with Spain that
they should make plain TO the country
that the administration party Is the pro.
tector, as In large degree 1t is the Gre
asor Of trusts; that they should vigorous
ly cpnnee the enactment of gold stand
ard legi islation. il the majority dares to
attempt TO carry out plans which the
money kings are trying to compel them
to accept; that they should oppose the
creation of large standing army as one
of the methods of crippling imperialism.
If II cannot be headed of, and THAI they
should ruthlessly expose the steadily
growing extravugance in public expen-
ditures. and the unequal burden Of tax
alton borne by the poor. fthe coming
session of Congress. Judge De Armond
said: 1t promises to be an important
aud far-reaching one. IL will not be
surprising IL IFS influence upon the ap-
preaching national election should be
great, III not controlling"
Representative Ball, OF Texas, who is
supporter of Representative Bankhead
for the Democratic leadership of the
House, says that while the contest is
spirited, it is being conducted in such a
friendly way that M wounds will be
les, at its close to mar democratic har.
mony, and that as yet. no candidate has
enough votes pledged TO win. Mr.. Ball
saws the talk of deadlock in the inter
est of re-electing Mr.. Bailey leader, il
arrant nonsense; that Mr. Bailey always
makes an 0peH fight or none, and that
be meant exactly what be said, when he