The times., 1899-02-16
GENERAL WASHINGTON
NEWS AND GOSSIP.


VIII There He nn Extrn Session:-
The question of whether there will or viii
not be an extra session of the Fifty-siXth
Congress will probably be settled definite
ly within the next few days. In the
minds of the great majority of conserva-
tive observers the question has already
been answered in the affirmative, but an
extra session of Congress is always le-
garded by the Administration in power as
very serious matter. not to be entered
upon lightly, and to be avoided If posi-
Bile. So long as there is even a remote
chance of avoiding an extra session it is
not safe to bet that there will be one.
However, the chance appears to have
passed, in the judgment of the impartial
onloOkers; they believe that nothing short
of miracle can now prevent an extra
session. The day for miracles, it is point
ed out. has gone by.
The failure of Congress to pass an army
reorganization bill will be made the eX-
cuse for calling an extra session, but it
is an open secret that Senator Hanna and
other Republicans who are in touch with
the Ohio Senator are not displeased at
the prospect of an extra session. They
have desired an extra session, 1t is said,
all along, but have refrained from saying
so publicly, as they wished, if possible 10
place the responsibility for the special
session of Congress upon the Democrats.
The Democrats who are antagoniZing the
army bill in the Senate are playing into
the hands, perhaps unconsciously, of Sena-
tor Hanna and his friends. They are
giving them the pretext that they have
been looking for. The responsibility for
an extra session, they believe, can now
be successfully charged up TO the account
of the Democratic party. This is the
first move on the part of the Hanna con-
tingent in the great Presidential battle
which Will open next year. 1t may prove
TO be OF more Importance and to have more
far-T reaching consequences than Chairman
Jones, of the Democratic National Com
mittee, and his confreres dream of at the
present time. 1t will be obviously TO the
advantage OF the Republican party to have
the questions and issues growing out Of
the expansion policy of the Administration
settled as far in advance of the opening
of the Presidential campaign as possible.
If they should be left open until next
year the Republican managers fear that
there would not be time to fully demon
strate the advantages of the expansion
idea to the people before the election in
November, 1900. Senator Hanna, il is
said, has a vivid recollection of the fate
that befell the Republican party right af-
ter the passage of the Mckinley tariff bill
in 1890. The bill was passed late in the
autumn and at the Congressional cleo
tions that ensued in November the Repub-
lican party was defeated all along the
line: even Mckinley himself failed of
reelection. If the Mckinley bill could
have been passed in the spring instead of
the autumn Senator Hanna believes that
the verdict at the polls in the following
November would have been different.
Speaker Reed and the Nicaragua
Cnnnl.-The test vote on the PROPOSE
tion 10 incorporate the Nicaragua Canal
project in the sundry civil bill, which was
taken in the House yesterday. is regarded
as a hard blow TO the chances of the meas
ure in the present Congress. The friends
of the Administration are openly charging
Mr. Reed with the responsibility for the
defeat of the Nicaragua Canal bill in the
House. They say that but for his opposi-
tion the matter would have been arranged
satisfactorily. BY taking a stand against
the Nicaragua Canal project, it is asserted
in Administration circles that Mr.. Reed
has incurred the open hostility of the Ad-
mnistration. The peace protocol that was
signed by the President and Speaker Reed
recently, it is said, has been broken. Mr..
Reed naturally expects to be the next
Speaker Of the House. 1t was stated last
night by close friends of the President that
prevent it. The Administration has not as
yet, it is understood, selected a candidate
10 oppose Mr.. Reed, but it is believed that
its preference is for either Henderson of
Iowa or Hopkins of Illinois. General Gros
venor would not be Objectionable to the
President. Grosvenor is inclined to be
errstic at times and fly off on tangent
but his heart is believed to be true TO Nc
Kinley and Hanna, which Is, after all. the
Il
view.
That man Mckinley" Mr.. Reed is re-
ported TO have said, .:shall not have the
credit of building the Nicaragua Canal if
can prevent it.
That man Reed" Mr.. McKinleys
friends are now saying, must not be the
Speaker OF the Fifty-sixth Congress"
1t is an interesting situation. truly, and
bids fair TO become more so as the days
On by