The silver star., 1899-06-09

The Duke OF ARGOS. the new Spanish
minister. and his American wife are
passengers ON the steamer Kaiser VIII
helm. and are expected TO come 10
Washington Immediately after their ar
rival They will have hearty wei
come. The Duke OF Arcos was very
popular member of society here when
he was known as Jack Brunetti and
was an atfachc of the Spanish legation.
As Virginia Lowery the duchess was
recognized belle. and her friends say
she once Tilted Admiral Dewey. IL
was happy idea of the Spanish gov
ernment TO select the Duke OF ARGOS TO
reopen diplomatic relations between
the two countries. and he ard the ducn-
ess will be conspicuous figures Ill
Washington society next winter.
All of the British colonies In Amerf-
ca are about to send agents to the
United States to negotiate reciprocity
treaties. and the first delegation is eN-
pected this week. The industrial ana
commercial condition of the British
colonies is deplorable. particularly
those where sugar Is grown. and that
is the staple of most of them. The
price paid by the sugar trust for raw
sugar after the tariff duty is deducted
a profit. but If they did not have to pay
the duty sugar planting would pay.
They ship all their sugar to the United
States In the raw state. and the trust
Is their only customer. therefore il can
regulate prices in most arbitrary
manner. They cannot ship their prod
uct to England or other parts of Eu-
rope, because it Is impossible to com
pete with the bounty-paid beet sugar.
Therefore they must sell in the United
States. and the only way they can
make money is to induce the sugar
trust to increase the price or Uncle
Sam TO lower the duty. They natur-
ally consider the latter alternative the
more easy to accomplish. and are pre-
pared to offer concessions in the way of
reduced duties on the goods they I'M
port from us as an induccmcnt.
The Post says: General Otis has in
formed the War Department that h
will be satisfied IL the army under hil
command be kept mt n maximum of
10000. The President will give him
this number. The situation in the
Philippines was the snb]ecr OF an ex-
tended conference to-day between the
President and Adjutant General Cor
bin. In view of the more or less alarm
Ing reports which have been sent TO
the United States from Manila. it l.
important TO know that the President
does not share In the anxiety which
these dispatches have nearly created.
General Otis has kept in close touch
with the authorities here. and if he
WIS In a tight position. which the
press reports seem to Indicate. II is
felt that he would not hesitate about
making his dilemma known. On the
contrary. the advices received from
him show that he * not in need Of n
largely increased army. Tie has cabled
that press reports Of activity Of the In
surgents south of Manila have been
greatly exaggerated. and he thinks 80.
900 men will be ample 10 meet all re-
quirements. The present strength OF
the army In the Philippines. including
volunteers who are still In the service.
is 10000. When the volunteers return.
some 24.OOO regulars will remain. or
5000 less than the number estimated
as necessary by General Otis. The re-
Inducements now en- route to Manila.
or under orders TO depart. will bring
the total regulars up to the required
figure but as there will be consider
able loss through sickness II Is pro-
posed to decrease the companies now
stationed in garrisons in this country
to the minimum and increase the COM
pnnies in the Philippines to the maxi
mum.
A newspaper correspondent speaking
of the revenues of the government
says: The monthly report of the con-
dition of the government finances.
which will he issued from the treasury