The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-12-06
FROM THE NATIONS CAPITAL.
From Onr Orn Correspondent.


|
The hotel lobbies and committee
rooms ut the Capitol are filling with
Legislators and politicians and the city
is taking on rapidly its customary mid
session appearance.
From the best opinions obtainablc it
seems improbable that much lcgisla
lation will be accomplished or serious
ly attempted before the holiday recess,
whichNwill run from about December
20 to .January ,. 1t is said that Speak
cr Henderson is not disposed 10 an
nOunce the appointments of commit
tees until after the House recOnvcncs
i'll January, and this of itself will pre-
cliit!c the vigorous undertaking OF iii-
portant legislation III December. \
notable exception to this plan, howcv-
er. may be the proposed gold standard
bill, which has been prepared by the
Republican Caucus committee OF the
House during the recess. The gold
men demand that it be passed before
the adjournment for the holidays
They now distrust the intentions of the
republican managers in Congress with
regard to currency Legislation. In
[ fact, the bill devised by the caucus
committee does not contemplate gcncr-
al currency amendments, but ,lcrrly
proposes to fix more firmly the single
gold standard upon the Treasury, icav-
ing plan OF general currency iegisl:,-
ton to be drawn. if deemed advisable,
later OH.
1t seems to be taken for granted by
the party leaders that there will be no
ter. Nor will there be any general
provision for new public buildings.
These important works must await
better treasury conditions, and de-
creased expenditures for the army and
navy. Right here the American people.
will find another illustration of the
wastefnlncss OF IL war, which entails
upon them the loss sOIc0untlcss millions
abroad, and cnfOrccs strict parsinony
upon public improvements ut home. a
tenth of what the war in the Philippines
has cost already, would provide hum
drcds of fine public buildings through
out the country, and would have fur
nished the means for continuing need
ell works upon rivers and harbOrs, by
which commerce would have been fa-
cilitatcd and rates of transportation
lessencd.
There will be no reduction of the
army proposed during the coming scs-
sion. Willie the reports of better pro
gress against the Filipinos arc cncour-
aging, yet there are many prominent
legislators who recall the unrcliability
OF dispatches from Manila heretofore.
Fhey appreciate the fact that Congress
is about to.assemble, and that it is ad-
visablc for the administration to re-
port apparent progress in the Philip
pines. They point out the fact that
the insulTectiOn broke ont in February,
and up to two weeks ago no substan-
tial work had been done in suppressing
it. They hope for its suppression in
time, but they do not reconcile the as
| ,tnd y,%a4
Congress is meeting with the long
I months of lnactiOn, even retrOgression,
received up to very short time ago.
Legislation concerning Hawaii and
Porto Rico will be undertaken, and
there will be little ii any purity division
upon thQse questions. They arc both
admitted to be undisputed territory of
mental systems for them will be de-
vlsed this winter. With regard to Gu
ba and the Philippines, the belief is
general that some time must elapsc be-
fore serious effort to fix the permanent
status Of these islands can be made.
There will be nothing done in the
way of actually beginning work upon Il
Nicaragnan canal. Another report of
an investigating. commission is 20 be
made, and it's absence will serve the
opponents of the scheme further req
sOnablc ground for resistance. But
the treasury conditions are not propi-
tious for this project ut present, even
if the preliminary steps had been COM
pletcd and there was no other ground
for opposing the canal.
The organization of the House by the
republicans will be n tame affair, mas
much as the speallership has been set
tied in advance. The only change in
House officials will be that Mai. Russell
OF Missouri will be supplanted by Hen
Ty CaSsOn of Wisconsin, rs sergeant at
arms.
The Democratic caucus for nominal
ton Of speaker will be held Saturday
ing IL sharp contest for the honor, De
Almond of Missonri; Richardson Of
Tennessee; Bankhead Of Alabama and
Sulzer of New York. The friends of
these candidates seem to be equally
confident of the success of their rcspec
tive favorites. The contest appears
however how Eve to be between e;,e e RichardsDn 'I son
former nominee for speaker, dleader
of the House dems in the last congress,
favors Bankhead, and it remains to be
seen what strength the Texan and his
former adherents can muster in the
new contest. The Candidates say that
the contest is entirely friendly and
that all hands will accept cheorfully
and in good spirit the result Of the
caucus.
In general, the outlook is for ses-
sion of important and at times excit-
ing debate, as might be expected pre-
ceding national election. But the
general opinion is that the republicans
will feel their way with caution and be
complishment of legislation. The
Philippine policies promise to over
shadow other questions in congressiOn-
al debate, but the currency, tariff and
trust questions will not be lost sight
of.