The silver lance., 1899-09-15
WASHINGTON NEWS.

Phillips. I'VE have declined their Of
fers," he said, because we considered
them Illegal and. furthermore, because
of our lack of faith in the men from
whom the proposition came, having
had previous experience with them" )"
In reply to Mr.. Phillips, he said he
did not claim that the propositions
were unfair or unjust" but illegal.
Information reaching officials here
from Venezuela is to the effect that
while no actual outbreak has occurred,
yet a latent agitation is going on
which may at any time assume Sc
rious proportions. This accords with
Senior Pulido's advices that no actual
outbreak has occurred at La Guayra.
1t appears that there has been two
distinct movements, one Of a national
character, headed by the Conservative
leader, Hernandez, and the other of n
local character, headed by General
Castro. Hernandez led a revolution
against President Andrade last
autumn and within the last month has
been imprisoned for the fourth time
as a political prisoner and the lnciter
Of a movement to overthrow the gov
ernment. He is now in the military
prison at Caracas, where it is believed
the agitation leading up to the dis
patcn of the cruiser Detroit was caused
by the arrest of number of Herman
daZ' adherents in and about Caracas.
Throughout this movement the An
drade administration has maintained n
large military force. The peace foot
ing is 5000, but of late this has been
raised to 10000 or 1900. The soldiers
are armed with Mausers and have Il
I,or <,c mt fi,.., s,1I
The Navy Department expects to be
gin the manufacture of smokeless pow
der at its mills few miles back from
the Potomac river, fiear Indian Head,
within the next two or three months.
Work on the mills has been pushed
energetically and at present about
1,2O0 men are employed. Already
about dozen buildings are completed.
the electric light plant = said to
be one of the finest in the world
= is installed, and the stand pipe,
40 feet high, Is up. There are
ten or twelve other buildings well
along towards completion. Altogether
the group of buildings will number
twenty four or twenty-five, with a ca
pacity Of 1000 pounds Of smokeless
powder daily This output seems large
at first thought, but one of the big
thirteen-inch guns of the Indiana uses
1000 pounds Of powder at a single
shot. The various buildings of the
powder plant cover wide area about
four miles back from the river. The
general purpose has been to keep the
buildings as far apart as the require
ments Of manufacture would permit,
in order to avoid the danger of ex-
plosion. For that reason there is no
large central building, but many small
ones, each having q distinct branch of
the powder making. They are also ar
ranged with a view to the prevailing
fumes of acids borne by the wind is
reduced to a minimum.
Orders will be issued from the War
Department in a day or two announc-
ing the field and staff officers Of two
additional volunteer regiments which
will be organized after the manner of
the so-called immune regiments sent to
Cuba last year, their company officers
and privates being exclusively col0red
men. 1t Is expected that these regi-
ments will be recruited with greater
rapidity than the white regiments and
that experienced men will I'LL them 30
quickly that the two commands will be
ready to sail for the Philippines early
in November The addition Of these
regiments to the army almost exhausts
the quota Of $4,000 volunteers allowed
by Congress. There will then be twen-
ty-five regiments of 1900 men each,
which, with the Porto Rico naval bat
TALON Of 400 men, leaves a margin of
only 1875 in the authorized strength,
or not quite enough for another regi-
ment and a half General Miles had
recommended three colored regiments.
while General Otis had reported that
negroes were not desired in the Philip
pines, the friendly natives being
strongly prejudiced against them. It is
likely that one of the new organiza-
tions will have its temporary quarters
at Richmond and be commanded by
Captain William p. Duvall, First ar
tillery, who was major in the inspec-
tor generals department and lieuten-
ant colonel in the ordnance corps last
year. The other regiment will prob8-
bly, be organized at Admission, Ala
bama. All the officers have already
been selected for the two organizations
and it only remains for the President
to issue the commissions and for the
War Department to direct the begin
ming of recruiting.
1t has not yet been determined
whether General Miles and his staff
will go to Manila next month or not.
If he does go, it will have to be in a
similar capacity to that which he oc-
cupied at Santiago, rather than In the
exercise of such authority as that in
which he was clothed in Porto Rico,
for no idea appears to be entertained
by Secretary Root of having General
Otis SuDerseded Notwithstanding the
popular demand for his recall to the
United States. Under the circum-
stances it is thought General Miles will
prefer to maintain his headquarters of
the army in Washington, where he
may exert his influence more effective
ly in directing the campaign as the
chief military instrument Of the Presi-
dent and the secretary of war. An en-
couraging feature of the coming cam