The Portland daily press., 1900-01-20


WASHINGTON, January AT the con-
clusion of morning business in the Senats
today the resolution of Mr.. Allen OF Ne
0raska calling upon the secretary Of state
for Information as TO whether any repre-
sentative Of the Transvsal had applied to
the United states government for rscog-
milton and IL such application having
been made. had been accepted, II 80 why
1t had not been laid before the Senate.
Mr.. Spooner OF Wisconsin m owed that
the resolution he directed to the President
and he be requested to furnish the inior-
nation II not inoom patible with public
interest. The Senate had NO right TO de-
mand information from the President but
the President was the absolute judge as
to whether 1t was proper to communicate
tho information aske for. ~ He utterly
repudisied, he said, the doctrine ad
vauced repeatedly by Senators that the
people were entitled to Information from
day to day regarding the conduct of our
foreign business. IL wss parfectly mani =
fest, he thoughs that diplomacy to be sue
oeessfni must be secret. 1t was quite evil
de mt, too, that from tire status OF foreign
fairs the secretary OF state was the ser
want of the President and not OF Con
gress. Mr.. Spooner maintained that the
President ought TO have Discretionary
power abort giving out information, as
i5 was given not only to the American
people, but to the world.
MIR. Allen b Id that the secretary of
state could with perfect propristy be
reached by such u resolution as his.
Gan we want" said Mr.. Allen, SIS
information. II Ii be true that the South
African repul lie has sent representatives
here and they have not been received, we
ought to know why they have not been
recognized"
Mr.. SpooIer regarded 1t as a piece OF
gross impudsnce to call upon the score.
tary of state, snd reflection upon the
Ssnate to ask for the transmission Of con-
fdsntial information for which the Presi-
dent alone was responsible.
Mr.. Allen replied at length tn Mr..
Spconer. He said 1t had been reported
throughout the country that the Populist
party had gone to pieces. II say TO you
MIR. President" said Mr.. Allen. "tha
these statements are clroulsted with po-
litioal purpose. There are more Populists
In the country today than ever before.
Ne can cast 9, 800. 600 votes and not all Of
these voters are fools either. The organi-
cation is stronger today than at any pre-
vious time"
in the courss Of brief spesch Mr.. Tel
Ter said he would not say word that
would be offensive to the government of
Great Britain, yet he felt his sympathy
60 out to the Trapsvaal republic In Its
great contest at arms with England.
Mr.. Hale of Maine, did not regard the
amendment as essential that either the
Pres dent or the Secretary of State should
give to the American people Information
regarding the negotiations between the
United States and Great Britain and the
TransvaRl. He said he could not pelieve
that any accredited repres entative of the
Transvaal republic bad been rejected by
the President.
81 should" he eaid. "deem that most
unfortunate event II 1t occurred. do not
believe 1t has occurred. / have heard
that Irresponsible, accredited persons
(perhaps United States oitizens) have ap-
pearsd in Washington claiming to repre-
sent the gallant people who are struggling
for liberty, but no such mission could be
Feoongized. have yet to be made to be-
lieve that any duly accredited representa-
tive of that brave people of South Africa,
has appeared before the President of the
United States and been denied a hearing.
If that be true, the sooner we are in
formed about It, the better.
"I do not fail to take notice that the
sympathies Of the great American people
are In favor of the struggle which the
Beers are making today to preserve a re-
publican government against one of the
greatest powers of the world. I do not
doubt that the American people agree
with me that the war which Great
Britain Is waging is the most felt blow at
human liberty that has been struck In the
last century. II do not donbt that the ad-
ministration representing the people Of
thu IInitad Statas feala todAy as I faal ON