Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-04-20
WASHINGTON LETTER.
from oar Regular Correspondent)
WASHINGTON, April 18th, 1899.

from oar Regular CorreSpondeRtJ
WASHINGTON, April 18th, 1899.
President Mckinley has no APP
prehension that the trouble on the
Samoan islands will lead to inter
national complications Of serious
nature, but he is fully determined
that the Commission, representing
the L. S, Great Britain and Ger
many, which will sail from San
Francisco on the 25th inst, on the
[. 5. auxiliary cruiser Badger,
shall fix the responsibility for all
the mischief done over there. in
Guiding the ambuscading of the
American and British marines, re-
sulting in the killing of two Amer
lean officers and two privates, and
one British officer and two privates.
In order that he may fully COM
prehend his instructions, Hon.
Bartlett Tripp, has been summoned
to Washington, by telegraph, to
confer with the President and Sec
retary Hay.
Spain has been notified, through
the French Ambassador, that the
$40, 100000 called for by the
treaty of peace, will be paid on
demand, in New York, in [. S.
gold coin, or in gold bars, as may
be preferred. This is anticipatOry,
as this government has the right,
under the treaty, to defer the pay
ment until six months after the
date Of the exchange of copies of
the treaty.
Secretary Alger, who has just
returned to Washington and re-
sumed his duties. after a tour inCuba
and Porto Rico, for the purpose of
making a personal inspection of
our Military Government on those
islands, said: II return to Wash
ington with renewed faith. All
that l had ever imagined has been
more than realized. Under no cir
cumstances would | now consent
to the surrender of Porto Rico,
which is now our territory, nor
would | place the slightest check
upon the great work which is being
done for Cuba. The duty we have
taken upon ourselves, of holding
Cuba in trust for civilization, is
noble one. Every cent of money,
every hour of time, which we are
expending, is being wisely invested.
The army officers have entered
upon their work with earnestness
and industry and the good results
of their labors are already APP
parent"
The only reason why the instruc-
tions given the U. S. Commission
ers to the Cars disarmament con-
ference have not been made pnblic
is that it it would not be proper to
state the official attitude of this
government on the matters to be
considered at the conference in
advance of it's meeting. There are
reasons for the belief that arbitra-
ton fills q large part in the instruc-
tions.
1t is not likely that any official
notice will be taken of the demand
of Gov. Lee, Of South Dakota, that
the volunteers from that State,
now in the Philippines, should be
at once mustered out Of service
and sent home, because notice is
not considered necessary. The
whole matter Of mastering out the
volunteers in the Philippines was
placed at the discretion of Gen.
Otis, weeks ago-March, 16, to be
cXact-no positive order being is
sued to him by the War Depart
ment except that whatever the
exigency, no individual who had
good reason for wishing his dis
charge, should be kept in the
service. Had he cared to have in
formation on the subject, before
writing demand which struck
most men as being silly, to the
President, Gov. Lee could easily
have ascertained that no volunteer
in the Philippines from South
Dakota or any other state is being
kept in service against his will
But he wanted the notoriety he got
by writing his open letter to the
President, or rather by signing a
letter believed to have been pre-
pared by Senator Pettigrew, with
the hope that it would be embar
ED,g.t.H,-fI MIX i,I .,-.