The Washington weekly post., 1899-11-28
Chairman Hull Thinks Re-
serve Force May Be Needed.
SPECIAL MILITARY LEGISLATION
'naieations Are that Congress VIII BE
'rsed to Pass n Great Mary Measures
inkeeegnitisn IN of fIndiyiduais-The Iowan
Thinks that Topics Affecting the New
FoSsessiens aud Routine Legisla ton
VIII Consume Most.of the session.

's-1AA VI AllF 'UUHllItee on AllIlTN
AHairs, which proved one OF the most i'm
Por'aht House committees in the last
congress, and which will be very import
ant IN the coming Congress on account OF
the military legislation in prospect, Is in
the city. He arrived from his home at
Des Moines yesterday noon. and is settled
with his family at 1720 Twenty-frst street
for the winter.
In matters affecting the military estab-
lishment," Mr.. Hull said last evening. II
snail be IN favor Of following the admin
istration. Whatever is needed for the
army ! shall want TO grant promptly The
Committee on Military Affairs will un-
doubtedly have several bills TO consider
this winter. Something may be done on
the reorganization Of the army. That will
more probably be in perfecting details Of
the present organization, rather than
dealing with the question Of numbers"
You will prefer to postpone general
legislation for permanent standing army
until the next session 90 Congress?"
81 am not so sure or that" answered
Mr.. Hull.
There promises to be considerable
pressure for special military legislation at
the coming session." he continued. ~
suppose ] know of twenty cases already
where there is a reques, for Congressional
recognition"
Against Recognition by Congress-.
What is your personal attitude toward
such cases?T
II think the proper recognition in such
cases is from the President. If we once
establish a precedent and grant Cne man
special legislative favOrs, there will be
many others at hand, clamoring that their
cases are just as meritorious as the other.
MY own view is that il will be some
time before we can withdraw any large
portion of our army from the Philip
pines" added Mr.. Hull, in speaking of
the prospects for legislation regarding the
size of the army. at seems probable that
we shall require quite a large force TO
garrison those islands and TO enforce law
and order. Then / think it will be found
necessary to maintain a reserve army in
this country, as our soldiers probably will
not be able to stay in the Philippines the
year round. In addition. ii seems to me
that we must keep a considerable force
( in Cuba for some time TO come"
The military operations in the Philip
pines have been conducted satisfactorily
from your standpoint as chairman of the
House committee?" Mr.. Hull was asked.
The operations have been very sue
cessful and satisfactory" he answered,
| "and ii seems that the most of the heavy
I fighting is over. When one regiment can
participate in seventeen battles with only
/ one man being killed the battles are not
very sanguinary. 1t is impossible 10 tell
how long the guerrilla warfare can be
kept up. Just what could have been done
/ if 10000 men had been sent TO the islands
/ last year cannot, of course, be told now.
! There is no occasion to criticise under
/ the present conditions.
Hawaii as a Territory.
Are you expecting a busy session of
| Congress?"
THE most important legislation will
! probably be concerning our island posses
sions," answered Mr.. Hull. Outside OF
| that / look for little except routine legis-
/ lation. / think that Hawaii should be or
ganized as a territory without any refer
ence TO its becoming a State. Laws fol
Porto Rico should also. in my judgment
be passed. The present status in that
island is very confusing. The Old Spanish
laws are in force, and We have added a
few of our own. The same is true to q
large extent of the Philippines"
THE people in your section are enthu
siastic for holding all the islands We
have?'
"Our people of the West are thoroughly
American" replied the Iowan, 'and W.
want TO keep all the islands not only fol
the large trade and commercial oppor
tunities that they will bring US, but We
also want to show the rest of the work
that we are able to keep them. Th'
strong expansion ideas of our people hat
much to do with the large Republican
majority in Iowa this year. If cam
paign were waged solely on the expansion
issue in Iowa. the Republicans would VIII
by a majority of 100000 votes The Dem
ocrats tried this year 10 talk anti-expan
sion in their campaign, but it was com
plete failure"
What of immediate legislation 10
| Cuba?'
Il am in favor of keeping a governmen
of our own in the island" said Mr.. Hull
IF we withdrew from there, revolts ant
instructions and bloOdshed would be tn
result"
! Representative Hull said that he re
garded the financial bill prepared by tn
| caucus committee as a very proper meas
ure and he predicted that il would pas
the House before the holidays, very liEel,
without amendment.