Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-08-17
No DOUBT Mckinley is more anx-
ious about the White House than he
is in regard to Pekin.
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON. August "a 1ooo

WASHINGTON, August ID, 1900.
Russia dickering with China in.
dependently; England landing troops
at Shanghai, where there had been
no serious trouble; Germany reming
the Commander-in-C Chief of the
foreign troops in China, and the
government of China trying to trick
the foreign ministers at Pekin, in
GLIDING the American Minister, into
going out Of Pekin to be killed by
Chinese soldiers. These are a few
of the important items of news which
have come to Washington during the
last few days, and have had to be
handled by the subordinates in charge
during the continued absence of Mr..
Mckinley and Secretary Hay. One
message was sent to Minister Conger
that was made public, and one that
was not The first left him free to
act in is discretion, which leaves the
administration free to make an Off
cial scrapegoat of him if he should
be so unfortunate rs to make a
mistake. That is also the sort of
order that General Chaffee, who is in
command of the handful of Ameri-
cans who are with the so-called
allied army, which has fought its
way about one-fourth of the distance
between Tien Tsin and Pekin. is
acting under. They are so conven-
lent You know. If everything goes
right, they can be claimed as imply
ing the perfect confidence felt by
this government, etc; while if any,
thing goes wrong it can be charged
to lack of judgment or brains on the
part Of the agent.
Every disinterested man who goes
into any portion of the Middle West
reports the existence of conditions
which are calculated to increase the
confidence OF Democrats in the cleo
ton OF Bryan and Stevenson. Mr..
j. II. Ralston, well-known Wash
ington lawyer, has just returned
from q visit to Quincy, H., his old
home. Speaking of his trip he said:
81 did not go West to observe politi-
cal conditions, but in the course of
my journey had numerous oppor-
tunities to learn how things were
going. At Quincy / had many init
mate friends, and / talked politics
With a large number of them without
indicating which side was disposed
to favor. The character of nv in
formation was very favorable to the
Democrats.
Mr.. j. Il. Bailey, who is a drum.
mer with headquarters at Little
Rock, Ark, is visiting Washington
friends. He said of the political at
tltude of the drummers: "The
drummers realize that their onIy
hope is in the election of the Demo.
cratic ticket. The Democrats are
pledged TO enact legislation to con-
troll trusts, and unless something is
soon done to correct the evils of
trusts it will be but very little
while before the drummer will find
his occupation gone. The drummers
see the drift of the Republican party.
which is controlled by the trusts, and
therefore it is to our interests to do
all we can to ipsure the election of
Bryan and Stevenson. / have failed |
TO meet any man who believes IN
changing the Republic into an
Empire, as the Republicans seem
bent on doing. have recently met
a number of gold Democrats who
Supported Mckinley in 1896, and
they told ME they were for BRYAN !
and would work day ard night to |
secure his election, because he repre- |
sentS the people in tins fight against
imperialism. 1t is my opinion.
based on what | know of the situa-
ton, that Mr.. Bryan will sweep the
country as Mr.. Cleveland did in
1892"