El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-03

Special Correspondence of the HERALD.
WASHIN GTON, Feb. 25.-The D. A
R.-which is an extremely respectful
abbreviation for the daughters of tn,
American Revolution''-have beef
pervading the town for q week. Goins
over the genealogical rolls, it is as
to nishing to note how many officer
above the rank of colonel there were
In the revolution and how few
psrently built on the general lines O.
tine late lamented confederate army
| One of the estate regents recon
| mends that the D. A. r. make an eff
| fort to recruit the descendants OF the
private soldiers who left their bleed
ing footprints in the snow at Valley
Forge" Which sounds like praise
worthy idea, but 1 doubt the finding OF
anybody who dates back to a mere
private in the rear rank.
The senate has been varying the
grind of foreign relations and the con-
slant iteration of the virtues and woes
of Gen. George Washington Aguinal
do, by locking into the teaching OF
spelling in the local schools. Senator
"Crime-of-'73" Stewart believes in-
ability to spell "prestidigitstor" in
simultaneously is almost immoral, and
thinks the future of the count lies in
the chaste pages of the spelling book.
Our schools only devote a month a year
to the subject, and Senator Stewart OBJ
jects.
The state governors-fifteen or TWEEN
ty of them-have been assembled here
as part of grand committee arrang.
ing for the celebration of Washing
toms centennial. South Carolina and
their own regarding the liquor cues
ton, their governors felt natural
hesitancy about repeating their ia
nous remarks in public, but the gov
ernor Of North Dakota at the Airing
ton banquet stepped into the immi-
uently deadly breach of temperance
principles in their lieu by asking the
governor of South Dakota: Govern
or, Isn't it long Time" etc.
Porto Rico has been the bone of
contention in the house all week, and
the situation is much mixed. The
president of course wants regular in
terstate freedom of trade beswee this
country and the island, but the house
republicans are not with him to any
great extent. The most popular thing
with them appears to be the proposed
bill imposing 25-per-cent-of-Dingle
tariff on trade. In the first place they
want to avoid creating q precedent of
free trade with our iusular possessions
until the subject has been thoroughly
thrashed out, and in the second place
the sugar and tobacco people are up in
arms. The democrats are lining up
on the free trade end of the PROPOSE
ton partly out OF natural ingrsfned
opposition to anything the republicans
want and partly out of ditto ditto to
and everything which hap
pens to be proposed. In the meantime
the Porto Rico merchants are going to
carry the question up through the
courts until they reach the supreme
court. 1t is thought that Porto
Rico Ia now an integral portion of the
Sammies and that the decision will be
shat any duties are unconstitutional.
The belief that such decision would
be rendered is q strong factor towards
free trade now Porto Rico is
On different basis as regards US
TO Cuba and the Philippines, but a
ruling for free trade by the supreme
court in the case of the fret island
would hamper US immensely in hand
ling the others. Probably Porto
Rico will get her free trade, but her
path is strewn with barbed wire and
dornicks at present.
Representative Littlefield, OF Maine,
made telling speech in favor of free
trade with Porto Rico. It is regarded
as one of the strongest presentations of
the constitutional bearings of the
questions which has been made. Lit
tlefield is a new representative but he
Ia rapidly forging to the front, and is
regarded as one of the fore
most lawyers of the house. Rapid
progress on mis- part, it may be men,
toned psrenthetically, is rather de-
sirable since at the next apportion-
ment Names representation will prob
ably be reduced by dropping one rep
and none of the present
delegation wants to be Sit" AS the
state takes pride in having a strong
Littlefield's new repu-
'ation is likely to prove advantageous.
New York has none of this state
pride in her congressional delepstiop